Sydney CBD | Lead a high performing team | Permanent

Lead what’s next for AI and innovation at Uniting

Applications close Wednesday, 16 September.

This is an opportunity to lead Uniting’s enterprise innovation and AI agenda at a genuinely exciting point in our digital journey.

As Head of Innovation and AI, you’ll lead a team of four and work across the organisation to identify, develop and scale digital solutions that make a real difference — improving frontline service delivery, enhancing employee and customer experiences and reducing the administrative burden on our people.

You’ll also take direct product leadership responsibility for Buddy, Uniting’s AI-powered digital assistant. Buddy is already part of our innovation story; your role will be to take it further — expanding its functionality, increasing adoption across Uniting and developing a sustainable pathway to make Buddy available more broadly across the aged care and community services sector.

This is not innovation for innovation’s sake. It’s about finding better ways to solve real problems, using AI and emerging technology to deliver measurable outcomes for our people, customers and communities.

What you’ll lead

You’ll shape and execute Uniting’s AI strategy, identifying where artificial intelligence and emerging technologies can deliver the greatest value across our organisation.

You’ll lead a multidisciplinary AI Development Squad, bringing together specialists across AI, automation, development, design, business analysis and product to turn business challenges into practical, scalable solutions.

Your work will span:

- AI strategy and governance — setting the direction for responsible AI adoption,



investment priorities and the enterprise AI roadmap.
- Innovation and incubation — taking ideas from opportunity and proof of concept through to solutions that can operate at scale.
- AI development — leading the development of agentic AI, digital assistants, intelligent automation, generative AI and emerging technology solutions.
- Buddy product leadership — owning Buddy’s product vision, roadmap, development, adoption and continuous improvement.
- Buddy commercialisation — developing the product, pricing, partnership and go-to-market approach to expand Buddy beyond Uniting across the aged care and community services sector.
- People leadership — leading, coaching and developing a high-performing team of four, while building capability in AI, human-centred design, agile delivery and emerging technologies.
- Innovation culture — creating an environment where experimentation, curiosity and new ideas translate into meaningful outcomes.
- Stakeholder leadership — working with executives, business leaders and frontline teams to understand problems, build confidence in recent technology and drive adoption.

Why this role is different

You’ll have the opportunity to shape something that is still evolving.

You’ll be working at the intersection of AI, digital product development, innovation and human-centred design,



with the scope to influence how technology is used across a large and complex human services organisation.

And you’ll have something particularly tangible to lead: Buddy.

You’ll help determine where Buddy goes next, how it evolves in response to user needs and emerging AI capability, and how it can create value not only within Uniting but across the wider sector.

About you

You’ll typically bring 10+ years’ experience in your field, with a strong track record of leading digital innovation, AI or emerging technology initiatives.

You’re an experienced digital innovation leader who can move comfortably between strategy and delivery. You understand that successful innovation starts with a real problem to solve, and you know how to take an idea from early experimentation through to adoption and measurable business value.

You’ll bring:

- Significant experience leading digital innovation, AI or emerging technology initiatives.
- Experience developing and executing digital or AI strategies within a complex organisation.
- Solid product thinking, with experience taking digital products or solutions from concept through development, adoption and continuous improvement.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and creating the conditions for experimentation and high performance.
- A strong understanding of AI, automation, generative AI and emerging technologies, with the ability to distinguish genuine opportunity from hype.
- Experience working with senior stakeholders and influencing across organisational boundaries.
- A human-centred approach to technology, with an understanding of user rese

📌 Head of Innovation and AI (Sydney)
🏢 Uniting
📍 Sydney