Program guidelines

Digital Jobs - AI Career Conversion Program Guidelines PDF (PDF 445.64 KB)

Digital Jobs - AI Career Conversion Program Guidelines DOC (DOCX 212.47 KB)

About the program

Training will be available in the following areas:

• Responsible AI – governance and risk
• Agentic AI - using AI agents
• Prompt engineering and conversational design
• AI-powdered software delivery
• AI in professional practice

Training is designed to upskill leaders and workers on the job, offering a mix of 1-day intensive workshops and 4 to 6-week specialist AI skills courses. The specialist AI skills courses will typically be delivered part-time over 6 weeks. Intensive workshops will typically be delivered over one day and in-person.

For further details on course information, please refer to the Digital Jobs – AI Career Conversion handbook (insert link).

The program will run approximately 2 training rounds per year.  Round 1 will commence from October 2026 until March 2027. Round 2 will commence from April 2027 until July 2027.

Eligibility criteria

The applicant business

To be eligible to apply, the business must:

• Be an employing business operating in a key industry listed below
• Be applying to upskill an employee currently working in a target occupation listed below
• Be a legal entity with an operating presence in Victoria
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN) and held that ABN on and from 1 January 2026
• Have been registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST) on and from 1 January 2026
• Have met all industrial relations obligations as an employer in accordance with the National Employment Standards.

To be eligible for the 4-6 week training courses, the applicant business must be a small to medium sized business, employing fewer than 200 employees in Victoria.

Key industries currently include the Economic Growth Statement priority sectors of:

• Advanced Manufacturing and defence
• Health technologies and medical research
• Circular economy
• Digital Technologies
• Agribusiness

These key industries may be updated at any time at the department’s discretion. Updates will be published on the program website.

The business must also agree:

• That they will make their nominated employee/s available for training in the selected training round;
• That they will provide an opportunity for the employee to apply the training ‘on the job’; and
• That both the business and their employee/s will participate in program surveys and future program evaluation activities.

The  participant employee

Participant employees can undertake a 4-6 week course or one-day intensive course.

Participants can only apply for one voucher per round.

Employees participating in training must:

• Be employed directly by the applicant business and undertake this employment within the state of Victoria
• Be 18 years of age or older
• Be full-time or part-time (not a casual employee)
• Have the capability and skills (e.g. technical skills) to complete the proposed training
• Meet any of the pre-existing requirements of the nominated training course.

The nominated employee/s must currently be employed in one of the AI Career Conversion target occupations, which include:

• Data & analytics
• Software development
• Product management
• UX design
• Web development
• IT systems & solutions
• Digital marketing, media and communications
• Business management operations, legal, finance, human resources.

The list of occupations may be updated each round as industry demand for AI skills evolves. Updates will be published on the website.

What you get:

Eligible businesses can apply for training vouchers to enrol their staff in free AI training courses that are delivered by leading training providers in Victoria.

An eligible business can apply for up to 5 vouchers per round to undertake courses or workshops, subject to availability.  Only one voucher is available per employee per round. Nominated employees must be based in Victoria.

Requests by businesses for additional vouchers per round may be approved at the department’s discretion.  Reasons could include businesses in regional Victoria undertaking a digital transformation; and/or businesses upskilling underrepresented cohorts e.g. upskilling women for tech roles, and/or businesses undergoing significant structural adjustment.

Applications will be processed in order of receipt of application.  If the program is oversubscribed, preference may be given to businesses that have accessed fewer vouchers.

How to apply:

Please read all the information on this page, including the Digital Jobs – AI Career Conversion Program Guidelines and the frequently asked questions (FAQs) before applying.

Program Frequently asked questions (FAQs)