Strategy & Operations (AI & Engineering or Generalist track)

Neara; Sydney; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP program

Flexible working

Redfern office

Annual offsite

Meritocratic culture

Impactful projects

Diversity & inclusion

Job summary

Neara is hiring for Strategy & Operations roles in Sydney, Australia, across two tracks: Generalist and AI & Engineering. You will work hands-on with Product, Engineering and Customer Success to ensure top strategic priorities are executed, de-risk stalled projects, and uncover cross-sell opportunities.

We value a dirt-under-the-fingernails mindset, credible communication, and the ability to move fast with ambiguity.

Qualifications

• Strong analytical ability to turn raw data into structured decisions.
• Adaptability and comfort with ambiguity in a fast-moving startup.
• Credibility across the business, with engineers and execs alike.
• Hands-on technical foundations in product, data or engineering.
• Dirt-under-the-fingernails mindset focused on execution over theory.

Responsibilities

• Identify and drive the top initiatives with leadership each quarter.
• Lead high-impact internal projects from diagnosis to implementation.
• Structure, track and unblock cross-functional programs to meet milestones.
• Partner with Sales and CS to de-risk critical projects and uncover value.
• Build operating structures and GTM processes for new verticals, including first projects.
• Embed with teams to fill gaps and pivot quickly as needed.

Skills

Analytical ability

Adaptability

Credibility with execs

Hands-on technical

Execution mindset

Job description

Imagine having the power to stress-test an entire power grid against a hurricane or thunderstorm before the clouds even gather. That is the reality we are creating at Neara.

We use advanced machine learning to create engineering-grade, physics enabled digital twins of electricity grids across four continents, this helps asset owners understand their biggest challenges and bring the most viable solutions to life across millions of kilometres of infrastructure.

By simulating extreme weather and structural stress at a network-wide scale, we empower the world’s largest utilities to pinpoint risks, optimise investments and build a more resilient global energy future.

Our team is a collection of brilliant minds who are fanatical about making a tangible difference in the real world, utilising AI and machine learning to accelerate everything from data classification to complex scenario analysis. We have built a special culture where innovation thrives because everyone owns the mission and we need smart, creative people to help us scale this impact to every corner of the globe.

What it means to be in Strategy & Operations at Neara

At Neara, Strategy & Operations work on making sure our top strategic priorities are executed. When we do it well, the signal is unmistakable:

• A new vertical goes from idea to its first delivered customer project, with the processes, GTM motion and operating structure built as it goes.

• A stalled, high-stakes customer project gets de-risked and back on track.

• An account team finds the cross-sell and expansion value sitting behind a customer it already has.

You figure out where to help, and drive those outcomes.

Every quarter, we step back and ask: what has to happen for Neara to achieve it's goals? Then we go and help make it happen. That might mean pairing with an exec or our c-suite on a critical initiative, laying the groundwork and temporarily acting as a new role the business needs, working with Sales and CS to get more value out of every customer, or reviewing and rebuilding a process that's slowing teams down.

A note on what this role isn't: this isn't a classic strategy role. You won't spend much time on market maps, partnerships, M&A or slides. You'll be hands-on, embedded with teams and shipping real outcomes, often with some code, data or product work along the way. If you'd rather be in the room building the thing than presenting on it, read on.

We're hiring for Strategy & Operations roles in Sydney, Australia across two tracks: Generalist and AI & Engineering. We're open to hiring at a range of levels, from Analyst through to more senior roles, depending on your experience. Great candidates share the same fundamentals, and the track reflects where your experience runs deepest.

What You'll Do

• Help the most important things go right: Each quarter, work with leadership to find the initiatives that matter most for Neara's trajectory, then embed with the teams delivering them.

• Execute high-impact internal projects: Run projects across functions that deliver immediate and long term strategic and operational value, from diagnosis through to implementation.

• Drive execution and transparency: Structure, track and unblock major cross-functional initiatives so milestones land and leadership has a clear view of progress towards our biggest strategic priorities.

• Unlock customer value: Partner with Sales and CS to de-risk strategically important projects, quantify the value behind every customer, and open up cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

• Build new verticals: Work with technical and commercial teams to stand up the operating structures, GTM motion and processes for new business lines, including helping deliver the first projects.

• Gap-fill and pivot quickly: Embed temporarily wherever the business has a critical need or to help reach our north star goals, most often in Product, Engineering or Customer Success.

What You'll Bring

• Relevant experience: Typically 3+ years in operations or strategy at a high-growth startup, in consulting, or in a technical or product role, ideally with a bias toward execution. We'll calibrate the level to your background. Bonus points for enterprise SaaS or energy/utilities experience.

• Strong analytical ability: You turn raw data into clear structure, sound logic and decisions people can act on.

• Adaptability and comfort with ambiguity: You pick up new concepts, industries and technical contexts quickly, and you create momentum without waiting for the perfect brief.

• Credibility across the business: Excellent written and verbal communication, and you're as effective with engineers as you are with commercial leads and execs.

• A "dirt-under-the-fingernails" mindset: Practical and low-ego, and as excited about operational execution as you are about shaping team strategy.

• Hands-on technical foundations: Some experience with coding, product or engineering. You don't need to be an engineer, but you need to be comfortable getting technical.

Two Tracks, One Standard

Tell us which track fits. We assess the fundamentals first and specialisation second.

AI & Engineering
Embedding with our AI and engineering teams to accelerate delivery and adoption
You're most at home close to the technical work: working with data, understanding how models and pipelines behave, and helping AI and engineering teams turn capability into customer and business impact. You can hold your own in technical conversations and roll up your sleeves on the data yourself.

Ideal background: data science or data engineering, with experience working alongside AI or engineering teams.

Generalist
Moving across the business to solve whatever matters most right now
You thrive on variety. One quarter you're de-risking a major customer project, the next you're redesigning a process or building out a new vertical. You bring structure to messy problems and follow them through to execution.

Ideal background: startup operations, consulting with a strong execution bent, or a product or technical role, plus enough technical fluency to work credibly with technical teams.

Why work here

• Competitive salary + ESOP. Significant career development and growth opportunities.

• Fully flexible working arrangements with a well-stocked office in Redfern.

• Annual company-wide offsite.

• Highly meritocratic, non-bureaucratic, and no-ego work culture.

• The opportunity to work on complex, meaningful products and real-world problems.

• The opportunity to play a direct, critical role in the trajectory of a high growth company.

• Neara values diversity, belonging, and equal employment opportunities. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply.

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