Dear future colleague,

I recently had the privilege of joining other CTOs and CEOs for a week in San Francisco and Seattle seeing all the big tech and AI firms. The tools have evolved (a lot!) and now have more potential than we can hope to harness as a firm. As an existing market leader, our business has many advantages, but when it comes to leveraging AI, the biggest constraint is the ability to change ourselves.

I was struck by how little this was appreciated in discussions with executives in the tech firms. I assume this is because many have themselves grown up in a tech ecosystem that doesn’t resemble traditional/conventional business. I am looking for an AI lead who understands this reality and is motivated to have a tangible transformative impact on our business.

This includes not just business transformation of our existing operations, but potentially creating a standalone capability as part of our investing playbook. They will do this by working alongside leaders, domain experts, technology teams and frontline employees to identify opportunities, co-design practical solutions and build the capability of others.

This is the first job posting I have drafted as a CEO. I deeply believe in the importance of this role. I recognize that the best talent in this domain has unlimited options, and most importantly, that both the successful candidate and I will be dependent on each other for their future success.

ABOUT US

We’re an 800-person investment firm that invests in real estate and infrastructure assets in Australia. We create assets and manage them. This includes some of the most complex projects in the world. We have a long-term track record of innovation in asset development and delivery. Sustainability is embedded in what we do. Many of our projects push and redefine boundaries.

We’re an asset-backed company. We are a profitable, stable business with real resources, with a quality workforce, and with tangible assets you can touch and feel. We have the funds to innovate, so you get to spend your time solving problems rather than sitting in investor meetings raising money.

We’re ready to fundamentally transform how we operate using AI. We are not starting from scratch with AI. We have a curious workforce, high penetration of AI personal productivity tools, and a couple of fully autonomous workflows.

Our purpose is to “unlock potential, create tomorrow” and we think of this as much about the physical assets we manage as we do our people. I believe AI has the potential to materially add to both. We don’t have a generic list of values. Things like ‘integrity’, ‘empowerment’, ‘innovation’ are assumed and don’t define us. We have two values: “build trust through action” and “rally to achieve more, together”, which better describe what differentiates and guides us as a team.

THE ROLE

What You’ll Actually Do





You’ll quickly immerse yourself in our various business lines and divisions over a three-month period, understand what we do, and identify the biggest areas of opportunity. During that time, you will build relationships and goodwill by working side by side with our people to create and ship solutions to smaller problems.

You will work with the CEO, executive team, and technology leaders to agree the higher priority targets to mobilize around, and help guide the broader change management approach required. You will partner closely with the technology teams to build a strong foundation for AI at scale across Dexus, while staying close to the business and focussed on solving real problems. Success will depend on bringing people with you, combining deep technical expertise with the knowledge and experience that already exists across our business.

Year 1 Focus

Identify and prioritize 3–5 high-impact transformation opportunities

Build and ship 2–3 AI systems that drive measurable value and build demand from other teams to embrace AI and change

Work directly with project managers, site teams, technology colleagues and leadership to reshape processes and change the mindset of our people.

Establish credibility and prove the case for AI-driven transformation through practical, shared wins

Mentor 1–2 engineers and lift AI capability across the teams you work with to scale your work

Year 2+

Scale the foundation you’ve built

Build organizational capability around AI-driven decision-making by developing others, sharing knowledge and creating repeatable approaches teams can own

Explore opportunities to create an “AI transformation capability” as something we can deploy into companies and assets we invest in—turning AI into a source of investment outperformance (I think this is a truly exciting extension for a candidate with an investing mindset or interest)

This is NOT

A lab role where you work in isolation A management role where you delegate everything A consulting engagement A one-off project

This IS

Hands-on. You build. You ship. You also work closely with the people who understand the problems and will ultimately use what you create.

Strategic. You reshape how people work.

Real. Problems are concrete. Impact is measurable.

Autonomous. CEO mandate. You own the transformation. You operate with solid sponsorship, but success comes through influence, partnership and shared ownership.

Working with people and teams. You build trust,



create momentum and leave teams more capable than you found them.

Opportunity to build a team and hire great talent.

WHO YOU ARE

Experience

At least 8 years building AI/ML systems in production

3–5+ years shipping systems that required organizational adoption to be successful

Deep comfort with software engineering fundamentals: architecture, systems thinking, infrastructure

You’ve learned domains to solve problems (not imposed generic solutions)

The Core Signal

You actively choose hands-on work even as you get senior

You can connect technical solutions to business problems naturally

You’ve proven you can move from “I understand the problem” to “I built the solution” to “the organization adopted it”

You prefer impact over title or management

You’re energized by real constraints and domain-specific problems

You like understanding business problems and you get satisfaction from seeing the impact that solutions have on people and customers

You are as comfortable listening, facilitating and co-designing as you are building. You know that technically strong solutions only create value when people trust them, adopt them and can continue to improve them.

Example Backgrounds

Principal or Staff Engineer at a large tech company (Google, Meta, Amazon, etc.) who wants to actually build impact

Early employee at an AI-native company (Anthropic, OpenAI, Scale AI, Mistral) who’s been there 3–5 years and is thinking “what’s next”

Founder or early CTO of an AI startup looking to apply your lessons to an existing business

Someone from operations/logistics/manufacturing who learned AI and shipped systems that changed how work happens

Must-Haves:

Production AI systems shipped end-to-end (you own it from problem to adoption)

A strong track record of partnering with non-technical stakeholders (e.g. ops teams, executives, project managers) to turn their knowledge into practical solutions

Ability to scope ruthlessly and ship 80/20 solutions (not perfectionist)

Genuine interest in returning to Australia or life impact over startup grind

Track record of mentoring/lifting others A liking for people and working in teams

Low ego and a collaborative mindset. You share credit, invite challenge and build solutions with people rather than imposing solutions on them

Compensation dependant on experience. Will include base salary, short term incentive and potentially longer term incentives linked to equity participation and value creation.

If this resonates, please send a short-form CV or link to your LinkedIn profile along with examples of your work (e.g website and GitHub/code repository) no more than 1/2 page outlining why you are interested in the role and anything you think relevant I should consider in assessing your fit for the opportunity.

Thank you.

Ross

📌 Head of AI Transformation (Australia) - CEO sponsored role - Tangible business (Sydney)
🏢 Dexus
📍 Sydney