APRA 2023 Graduate Program (Jan 2023)

About the Graduate Program

The APRA Graduate Program is one of the most in-depth and diverse in the financial services industry.

Our Graduate Program runs for 18 months. During this time, you will complete three six-month rotations, across our frontline supervision, policy and advice, and data analytics divisions, giving you the opportunity to build the core foundations of prudential regulation. 

As one of our graduates, you’ll benefit from:

• Being assigned a buddy - who is part of our recent graduate alumni, and is fresh with understanding the challenges of being a graduate at APRA.
• Connection with an experienced mentor, who will support you through your 18-month program and beyond.
• Support from several key managers and executives – all who are very invested in seeing graduates grow.
• Working as part of an APRA team doing meaningful work from the outset, whilst carving out a unique career like no other.

In joining the graduate program, you will be offered an ongoing permanent position meaning, at the end of your Graduate Program, you will remain an employee of APRA and have the opportunity to drive your career in any of APRA's diverse Divisions.

About the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

We are Australia’s prudential regulator – banks, insurance companies and most superannuation funds operate under our supervision. As a graduate, you’ll be ensuring that the savings, insurance policies and superannuation nest eggs of millions of Australians are in safe hands. 

The work we do is to protect today, and prepare for tomorrow. We are at the frontier of ensuring security for the Australian community. 

Why Join Us?

As an APRA graduate, you are intrinsically motivated by our purpose and can see the possibility of thriving in a rotational program. APRA is not a place where you will be siloed. You may have a Mathematics or engineering background and could end up in Policy or have a non-data heavy degree have ended up in our data division.  The rotation experience is designed to open the possibilities of what you can do and stretch how far your degree can go by giving you exposure like no other. 

From the moment you join APRA, you will be entrusted and given autonomy to deliver high profile, big thinking work in your rotations, while being supported by technical leaders in the industry to share insights and learned experiences. At APRA, we pride ourselves on fostering an environment where our team want to grow with us, and we want to invest in the next generation of leaders and experts.

APRA is committed to supporting its employees to build a path to mastery. This could be as a leader a knowledge specialist, and/ or a leader of people. We understand that every graduate is unique, so we want to work with you to create a career path that is unique to you. A graduate journey that is like no other. 

You’ll be joining a team that is passionate about the work we do for the Australian community.

There is no one else in the industry that does the work that we do and in joining us, you’ll be in a unique position where you’ll be making an impact that directly relates to your future and the future of all Australians. 

Your Development Journey

As an APRA graduate, you will be supported by an in-depth learning and development program, including access to an extensive range of in-house training programs that are provided to all APRA employees. These are designed to support you to grow your technical and personal capabilities and help jump start your career as a financial professional.

Professional development is ongoing throughout your career with us. In fact, professional development is an integral part of ensuring we maintain our excellence as a regulator. 

You will have an extensive development plan designed for you to build your technical and behavioural capabilities based on APRA’s Enterprise Capability framework. This framework will guide you and help you develop as well-rounded professionals at all levels and to prepare for your future roles at APRA.

You will have access to over 40 technical training courses to learn what prudential supervision is and have many opportunities to learn from and be coached by the experts at APRA. You will also be invited to join world-class courses on developing your personal enabling skills, mindset and behavioural capabilities, such as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the Power of Habit. 

In addition, you will have access to the LinkedIn learning platform, where you can access business, technology, and creative-related courses on demand. Access to LinkedIn learning lets you create a learning pathway that is personalised to you. It could be a beginner guide to Photography! It does not have to be APRA related. Supporting our minds to learn and grow, supports us in being exceptional, inquisitive, and engaged employees!

Inclusion & Diversity

APRA actively seeks to attract, develop and retain employees and leaders from across the full spectrum of Australian society. We believe diversity encompasses more than our visible differences, such as age, gender, ethnicity and physical abilities, or unseen differences such as religion or sexual orientation. We aspire to the diversity of thought, recognising that a broad range of perspectives, approaches and ideas makes us stronger, improves our judgements, and better enables us to meet our obligation to protect the financial well-being of the Australian community. 

More information about APRA’s commitment to inclusion and diversity is available here.

Why work at APRA

Our employees enjoy a range of benefits including working in a flexible, inclusive and diverse environment. 

We offer competitive salaries with opportunities for career growth based on contribution. 

Some benefits offered to staff include:

• Health and wellbeing checks
• Annual flu vaccinations
• Employee Assistance program (professional and confidential counselling sessions for employees and their immediate families)
• Wellbeing Ambassador network
• Ergonomic workstations
• Regular social events
• Subsidised corporate team sports, running events and pedometer challenge
• Discounted gym memberships

More information on the benefits of working at APRA are available here.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to ensure Australians' financial interests are protected and that the financial system is stable, competitive, and efficient.

Our vision

To reflect APRA's forward-looking philosophy, our Vision is focused on two strategic themes: Protected today, prepared for tomorrow.

Our values

Our values underpin the critical role we play in protecting the financial well-being of the Australian community. Our values were selected to help everyone at APRA to achieve the high standards necessary for us to protect the financial well-being of the Australian community. In our work and in our interactions with others, we seek to demonstrate:

• Integrity – we act without bias, are balanced in the use of our powers, and deliver on our commitments.
• Collaboration – we actively seek out and encourage diverse points of view, to produce well-founded decisions
• Accountability – we are open to challenge and scrutiny, and take responsibility for our actions
• Respect – we are always respectful of others, and their opinions and ideas
• Excellence – we maintain high standards of quality and professionalism in all that we do

Working and acting in these ways helps us achieve the high standards necessary for us to protect the financial well-being of the Australian community. Our supervisory approach is forward-looking, primarily risk-based, consultative, consistent and in line with international best practice. This approach also recognises that management and boards of supervised institutions are primarily responsible for financial soundness.

Look at some of the recent projects we have been involved in:

• Strengthening the resilience and crisis readiness of Australia’s financial system
• Enhancing stress testing
• Improving cyber resilience
• Transforming governance, risk culture, remuneration and accountability
• Strengthening recovery and resolution capability
• Managing financial risks from Climate Change
• APRA Connect – industry data collection
• APRA’s superannuation data Transformation project
• Regulatory collaboration & engagement
• Enforcement activities

More information on these projects can be found in APRA – A year in review

You can also check out News and publications | APRA that is a great resource to continue to understand the great work we do, and how your skills can help us achieve purpose.

As part of its goal of protecting the Australian community today, APRA intends to:

• preserve the resilience of banks, insurers and superannuation funds, with a continuing focus on financial strength; cyber risks; governance, risk-culture, remuneration and accountability; and implementing the Government’s Your Future, Your Super reforms;
• modernise the prudential architecture to ensure it is effective and accessible, less burdensome for entities, and more adaptable to the rapidly evolving financial sector; and
• better enable data-driven decision-making by continuing to invest in and embed data as a core enabler for achieving APRA’s purpose and strategy.

Under the banner of “preparing for tomorrow”, the Corporate Plan outlines APRA’s aim of:

• increasing its understanding of, and ability to respond to, the impact of new financial activities and participants, such as technological innovations and new business models that do not fit traditional regulatory approaches;
• helping to find solutions to important challenges, such as superannuation retirement income products, insurance accessibility and affordability, and the financial risks of climate change; and
• adopting the latest regulatory tools, techniques and practices in areas such as specialist regulatory services, enforcement actions, transparency and resolution.

In addition to strengthening the resilience of the entities it regulates, the Corporate Plan also outlines APRA’s goal of enhancing its own performance by fostering a modern, highly-skilled and flexible working environment.