Associate Director, Portfolio Management

Optus; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discounts

Monthly credit

Flexible work arrangements

Parental leave

Professional development

Diversity networks

Wellbeing support

Job summary

Optus is seeking an Associate Director, Portfolio Management in Sydney to lead portfolio governance, project execution, and delivery across the Networks domain. The role requires deep portfolio management expertise, strong commercial acumen, and experience managing complex technical environments in a Tier 1 telecommunications network.

You will establish governance forums, coach delivery teams, and drive capital governance, risk management, and annual operating planning to achieve strategic

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Telecommunications with portfolio-related roles.
• Proven experience in portfolio management, project management, financial management and risk management.
• Extensive problem-solving skills, commercial acumen and networking technology fluency.
• Ability to influence with and without authority, drive decision making and execution discipline.

Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio governance, project execution, and delivery disciplines, embedding standardised methodologies, tools, reporting, and review frameworks across the domain.
• Establish and maintain governance forums, including Steering Committees, portfolio reviews, stage gates, health checks, and performance reporting cycles.
• Coach and uplift delivery teams to strengthen project management capability and continuously improve portfolio execution maturity.
• Lead annual operating planning, prioritisation, investment categorisation, and portfolio execution aligned to Networks-wide objectives.
• Embed robust risk management practices, ensuring proactive identification, mitigation, reporting, and alignment with enterprise risk frameworks.
• Drive capital governance, including investment planning, forecasting, spend management, benefits realisation, and achievement of annual business outcomes.
• Identify and resolve issues for all delivery initiatives within the portfolio as appropriate and act as interface into other domains for driving cross-domain integrated planning and execution.

Skills

Portfolio management

Project management

Financial management

Risk management

Commercial acumen

Networking technology fluency

Influence without authority

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.

The Associate Director, Portfolio Management leads project execution, capital governance, and risk management within a Networks domain, embedding enterprise frameworks and driving operational excellence. Success in this role requires deep portfolio management expertise, strong commercial and project delivery capability, and experience managing complex technical environments in a Tier 1 telecommunications network.

What You’ll Do

• Lead portfolio governance, project execution, and delivery disciplines, embedding standardised methodologies, tools, reporting, and review frameworks across the domain.
• Establish and maintain governance forums, including Steering Committees, portfolio reviews, stage gates, health checks, and performance reporting cycles.
• Coach and uplift delivery teams to strengthen project management capability and continuously improve portfolio execution maturity.
• Lead annual operating planning, prioritisation, investment categorisation, and portfolio execution aligned to Networks-wide objectives.
• Embed robust risk management practices, ensuring proactive identification, mitigation, reporting, and alignment with enterprise risk frameworks.
• Drive capital governance, including investment planning, forecasting, spend management, benefits realisation, and achievement of annual business outcomes.
• Identify and resolve issues for all delivery initiatives within the portfolio as appropriate and act as interface into other domains for driving cross-domain integrated planning and execution.

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years of experience in the Telecommunications sector with proven experience in within or supporting network and technology divisions.
• Proven experience in portfolio management, project management, financial management and risk management.
• Extensive problem-solving skills, commercial acumen and Networking technology fluency.
• Ability to influence with and without authority, drive decision making and execution discipline.

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.