AD, AI Engineering Model Lifecycle & Governance

Optus is an Australian telecommunications company, delivering more than 11 million services to our customers every day across mobile, broadband and digital solutions. As AD, AI Engineering & Model Lifecycle, you will lead the engineering, operationalisation and lifecycle management of AI capabilities used across Network Operations, ensuring models are trusted, reliable and scalable. You will operate within Optus AI governance, security and operational risk guardrails, and enable the progressive adoption of AI-assisted and increasingly autonomous operations with appropriate human oversight, explainability and cost efficiency. What You’ll Do Own and evolve the Operational AI Engineering and Model Lifecycle strategy, capability roadmap and engineering direction across Network Operations. Translate operational priorities into a prioritised portfolio of AI engineering capabilities aligned to reliability, resilience, productivity and customer outcomes. Lead the engineering and industrialisation of production-ready AI capabilities, including feature engineering, model integration and deployment patterns. Establish reusable AI engineering standards and components that enable consistent, scalable delivery across network and service domains. Own the lifecycle of operational AI models, from production acceptance through monitoring, retraining, optimisation and retirement. Establish model registries, performance monitoring and controls for accuracy, drift, bias, reliability and operational effectiveness. Implement AI governance, explainability, traceability and human-oversight controls within operational AI engineering and model lifecycle practices. Partner with AI & Architecture, Operational Security Engineering and governance functions to keep operational AI compliant, secure and trusted. Integrate AI engineering with trusted operational data, service topology and Operational Intelligence to deliver context-rich models and decisions. Partner with Automation Engineering and Orchestration & Autonomous Operations to safely convert trusted AI decisions into governed operational actions. Drive the transition of validated AI capabilities into sustained operational use, with clear ownership, support models and lifecycle accountability. Establish outcome measures for model accuracy, drift, adoption and realised business value, and optimise AI engineering and model operating costs. Build and lead a high-performing AI Engineering capability combining AI/ML engineering, telecommunications, software engineering and operational disciplines. What makes you perfect for the role? Extensive leadership experience across telecommunications, AI/ML engineering, Network Operations, data engineering or large-scale technology environments. Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-scale AI engineering, MLOps/ModelOps or production AI capabilities across complex, distributed environments. Strong knowledge of AI/ML engineering, feature engineering, model deployment, registries, monitoring, drift management, retraining and lifecycle governance. Strong understanding of operational data, service topology, observability, Operational Intelligence and automation, and how they combine to enable AI-driven operations. Experience implementing responsible AI, model assurance, explainability, security and human-oversight controls in production environments. Demonstrated ability to lead cross-domain teams and influence senior stakeholders across Operations, Engineering, Architecture, Data and Technology. Strong commercial, financial and vendor management capability, including AI operating cost optimisation and value realisation. Excellent strategic thinking, communication and executive stakeholder engagement skills. Relevant tertiary qualifications in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, Telecommunications or Technology, or equivalent significant industry experience. The good stuff… Competitive remuneration and employee discounts. Make life easier (and more affordable) with $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and unique shopping discounts with our retail partners. Flexible working arrangements with opportunities to work three days in the office, two days remote or home. Vibrant and collaborative office campus that includes cafes, convenience store, chill out zones, GP, post office, gym and on-site childcare centre. Competitive leave policies, including additional 'Connected’ days to focus on culture, family, health, community, or whatever’s important to you. We support growing families with inclusive, carer-neutral paid Parental Leave of up to 16 weeks. Build meaningful connections through employee-led networks and diversity initiatives including Culture Connect, Elevate Women, Disability Network and Express Yourself (LGBTQIA+). Put your wellbeing first with free access to counselling and support services, 24/7 — in-person, by phone, SMS, or video. Free Optus bus from Macquarie University Metro Station (every 6-8 minutes); morning and afternoon. 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. We also want to do our best to make our recruitment process inclusive. If you require any adjustments or accessibility support to participate fairly and equitably in the recruitment process, please email or call 1800 309 170. For more information on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Optus, please visit #LI-EB1