Associate Director, Operational Intelligence

Optus; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Monthly $80 credit

25% off Optus products

Flexible working arrangements

Parental Leave 16 weeks

Job summary

Optus is seeking an experienced leader to own and evolve the Operational Intelligence strategy, turning telemetry into actionable insights for proactive network operations. You will drive correlation, anomaly detection, root cause analysis and predictive analytics to improve customer outcomes and reduce manual effort through AI and automation integrations.

Leading a cross-functional team, you’ll set governance, standards and performance metrics, while engaging stakeholders and guiding capability

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience in telecommunications or large technology environments.
• Expertise in operational intelligence, analytics and service assurance.
• Strong knowledge of event correlation, anomaly detection and predictive operations.
• Deep understanding of observability, AI/ML and automation to enable intelligent operations.
• Demonstrated ability to define strategy, roadmaps and standards.
• Strong stakeholder, commercial and people leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive the Operational Intelligence strategy, roadmap and maturity journey, enabling proactive operations.
• Lead the development of intelligence capabilities including correlation, anomaly detection, root cause analysis, service impact assessment and predictive analytics.
• Deliver service-aware intelligence that links network events to customer and business impacts.
• Integrate Operational Intelligence with observability, operational data, AI and automation platforms.
• Establish governance, quality standards and performance measures for accuracy and scalability.
• Drive adoption, stakeholder engagement and team capability development to improve efficiency and outcomes.

Skills

Leadership

Operational intelligence

Event correlation

Anomaly detection

Predictive analytics

Observability

AI/ML

Automation

Strategy & roadmaps

Stakeholder leadership

Job description

Every day, millions of Australians connect, work, stream, and stay in touch on the Optus network. When it works seamlessly, it's easy to take for granted. But behind it is a team making thousands of decisions every day - decisions that keep people, businesses and communities connected.

Right now, Optus is passionate about getting the fundamentals right - simplifying how we work, lifting standards, and building a more reliable, resilient experience for our customers. It's not about surface-level change. It's about how we make decisions, how we work together, and how we deliver.

The AD, Operational Intelligence leads the strategy, development and evolution of operational intelligence capabilities that transform network and service telemetry into actionable, service-aware insights, enabling faster, more proactive and predictive Network Operations. The role is responsible for delivering scalable and explainable analytics, service impact modelling and decision-support capabilities that improve fault detection, service visibility, operational decision-making and customer outcomes while reducing manual effort through integration with observability, AI and automation platforms.

What You’ll Do

• Own and drive the Operational Intelligence strategy, roadmap and maturity journey, enabling the shift from reactive monitoring to proactive and predictive operations.
• Lead the development of intelligence capabilities including correlation, anomaly detection, root cause analysis, service impact assessment and predictive analytics.
• Deliver service-aware intelligence that links network events to customer and business impacts, improving operational prioritisation and decision‑making.
• Integrate Operational Intelligence with observability, operational data, AI and automation platforms to create a trusted end‑to‑end decision layer.
• Establish governance, quality standards and performance measures to ensure intelligence outputs are accurate, explainable, scalable and operationally effective.
• Drive adoption, stakeholder engagement and team capability development while continuously improving operational efficiency, fault detection, customer outcomes and business value.

What You’ll Bring

• Extensive leadership experience in telecommunications, Network Operations, service assurance and large‑scale technology environments.
• Proven expertise in operational intelligence, analytics and service assurance across complex enterprise environments.
• Strong knowledge of event correlation, anomaly detection, service impact analysis, predictive operations and decision‑support capabilities.
• Deep understanding of observability, operational data, service topology, AI/ML and automation to enable intelligent operations.
• Demonstrated ability to define strategy, roadmaps and standards, delivering measurable operational and business outcomes.
• Strong stakeholder, commercial and people leadership skills, including cross‑functional influence, vendor management and executive engagement.

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.
• 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.
• Direct your own development and build future‑ready skills with Optus U’s industry‑focused micro‑credentials, developed with La Trobe and Macquarie Universities.
• 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.

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, please email [e-mail] or call 1800 309 170. We’re here to help. When you contact us, please advise your preferred method of contact and we will be in touch within 48 hours. For more information on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Optus, please visit https://www.optus.com.au/about/inclusion-diversity.