AI Engineering Model Lifecycle & Governance Lead

About the role

Optus, an Australian telecommunications company, is hiring a leader for its AI Engineering and Model Lifecycle team in Macquarie Park, NSW. You will lead the engineering, operationalisation and lifecycle management of AI capabilities used across Network Operations, keeping models trusted, reliable and scalable while working within AI governance, security and operational risk guardrails.

Key responsibilities

• Own and evolve the Operational AI Engineering and Model Lifecycle strategy, roadmap and engineering direction across Network Operations.
• Turn 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 for consistent, scalable delivery.
• Own the lifecycle of operational AI models, from production acceptance through monitoring, retraining, optimisation and retirement.
• Set up model registries, performance monitoring and controls for accuracy, drift, bias, reliability and operational effectiveness.
• Implement AI governance, explainability, traceability and human-oversight controls.
• Partner with AI & Architecture, Operational Security Engineering and governance functions to keep AI compliant, secure and trusted.
• Integrate AI engineering with operational data, service topology and Operational Intelligence, and partner with Automation Engineering and Orchestration & Autonomous Operations to turn AI decisions into governed actions.
• Define outcome measures for accuracy, drift, adoption and business value, and optimise AI operating costs.
• Build and lead a high-performing AI Engineering capability combining AI/ML, telecommunications, software engineering and operations.

Required profile

• Extensive leadership experience in 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.
• 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 cost optimisation.
• Tertiary qualification in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, Telecommunications or Technology, or equivalent significant experience.

Required skills

• AI/ML engineering, feature engineering, model deployment and registries
• Monitoring, drift management, retraining and lifecycle governance
• Operational data, service topology, observability, Operational Intelligence and automation
• Responsible AI, model assurance, explainability, security and human-oversight controls

What we offer

• $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and retail partner discounts
• Flexible working, with the option of three days in the office and two days remote or home
• A campus with cafes, a gym, on-site childcare and a free bus to Macquarie University Metro Station
• Leave policies including up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Employee networks and diversity initiatives, plus free 24/7 counselling and support services