Director, AI and Data Foundations Full-time

Director, AI & Data Foundations

Optus & AI
At Optus, our vision is to become Australia’s most loved everyday brand with lasting customer relationships. For decades we’ve said yes when others have said no. This optimistic challenger spirit makes us who we are today.

We’ve been using AI to improve the lives of our customers for almost ten years. From understanding the root cause of customer issues and proactively resolving them, to using it to inform our investment decisions, AI is embedded into what we do.

With new cutting-edge tech at our fingertips, exciting partnerships under our belt and around every corner (Google and Samsung to name a couple), and a growing collective of talented people, we’re taking AI at Optus to the next level.

We’re bringing together the most curious-minded people to solve real problems, connect Australians like never before, and help shape the future of Optus while we’re at it. And your future too. We’re already on our way, and ahead of lots of the competition. Now’s the time to go bigger than ever.

This is no ‘quick win’ – we’re in this for the long haul because we know the positive impact it can make on our customers, communities and colleagues. We’re committed to doing it responsibly and ethically and we want you to be a part of it. You’re invited to join the Optus AI division.

Take AI further

Optus is at the forefront of AI, where we’re not just using existing tools but finding ways to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Like AI, the data landscape is changing rapidly so the intersection of data and AI is a big focus for us. In this role, you can truly help lead the way.

Your day to day will consist of…

• Shape AI strategy and vision by leading the development of secure, multi-cloud, agentic AI capabilities to drive transformative business outcomes
• Driving commercial outcomes with data and AI.
• Innovate at scale by architecting and delivering cloud-native, reliable, low-latency AI products and components for our customers, network and organisation.
• Drive excellence in AIOps by developing data pipelines and observability systems for performance monitoring, data drift detection, and actionable insights that measure business impact
• Build and optimise secure solutions aligned with Responsible AI frameworks and policy.
• Drive actionable insights from big data using Big Query, Azure Databricks and Mosaic.
• Lead and inspire a high-performing AI team fostering collaboration across corporate and startup-style teams to deliver innovative results

What makes you perfect for the role?

• 10+ years experience with AI/ML solution development in large, complex, regulated organisations undergoing significant change,
• Expert level proficiency with Python, SQL, Machine Learning, LLMs and agentic frameworks such (e.g. LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen)
• Strong technical proficiency with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), automation tools (CI/CD pipelines, Terraform, Kubernetes), and AI/ML tools (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Hugging Face, MLFlow)
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to inspire and influence senior executives, technical teams, and cross-functional business units
• Masters Degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science or equivalent
• Experience with AIOps/MLOps, commercial monitoring, and developing attribution systems that measure the business impact of AI initiatives
• Experience with multi-cloud environments, including cloud brokerage, cost optimisation strategies, and vendor management
• Experience with Big Query or Databricks required
• Experience with Kafka, microservice architectures, secure API development preferred

Optus is a place where we let you do you. We offer a range of benefits including:

• 3 days in the office, 2 days remote – with flexible hours to suit!

• Inclusive paid parental leave with up to 14 weeks for the primary care giver

• All Optus employees have access to resources, webinars and support via the ‘Parents at Work portal’

• Own your own growth by accessing an extensive online and facilitator led learning catalogue – even earn a MBA micro-credential via OptusU (University)

• Connect at work through one of our employee-led volunteer groups: Elevate Women, Disability Network, Express Yourself (LGBTQIA+), United Veterans and Yarn Network

• Vibrant campus life and a variety of facilities including restaurants, cafes, gymnasium, GP, and post office.

• Easy travel to Sydney Campus: Macquarie University Metro Station (every 6-8 minutes); morning and afternoon!

Curious about our culture? Go behind the scenes with our people by searching #OptusLife on LinkedIn!

Intrigued but don’t tick every box? We are building our AI capabilities and value diverse perspectives. If you’re driven to join us on this journey, apply now – your passion matters more than a perfect match.

At Optus, we are strengthened by others and that means valuing diversity and saying ‘yes’ to embracing individual differences. We are committed to ensuring that our application process provides an equal employment opportunity to all job seekers, including individuals from diverse gender, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, individuals with a disability, individuals identifying as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, individuals who may have served in the armed forces or who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. If you require any adjustments or accessibility support to participate fairly and equitably in the recruitment process, please email AccessibleRecruitment@optus.com.au along with your preferred method of contact and we will be in touch.

For more information on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Optus, please visit https://www.optus.com.au/about/inclusion-diversity.