Job Description

Optus is an Australian telecommunications company, delivering more than 11 million services to our customers every day across mobile, broadband and digital solutions.

The Associate Director, Hardship Operations is a senior leadership role responsible for end-to-end oversight of hardship operations, driving service quality and delivering an exceptional customer experience across both Consumer and SMB segments. You will ensure that important customer journeys, like hardship applications, in-life hardship support, and hardship enquiries, remain reliable, compliant, and effective for customers dealing with financial hardship.

Role can be based in Sydney or Melbourne.

What You’ll Do | Your day to day will consist of

• Driving the day-to-day operations of the Hardship Contact Centre, ensuring service delivery across all hardship channels.
• Coordinating partner relationships and performance outcomes, with a focus on encouraging a positive and high-performing working environment.
• Ensuring full compliance with ACCC, ACMA, TCP Code, and relevant industry guidelines, while advocating for customer protection.
• Leading geographically dispersed teams across Australia and the Philippines to embed Optus values and operational standards.
• Managing governance and reporting frameworks, including operational reviews and performance updates.

What You Bring | What makes you perfect for the role?

• Proven leadership experience in a senior operations role within the telecommunications, finance, energy or insurance sector.
• Outstanding ability to manage and optimise the performance of onshore and offshore teams.
• Strong understanding of regulatory compliance and customer protection standards.
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills.
• Decisive judgement and executive-level presence, particularly in fast paced situations.

The good stuff…. | What’s in it for you?

• Competitive remuneration and colleague discounts. Make life easier (and more affordable) with $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and outstanding 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 colleague-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 to participate fairly and equitably in the recruitment process, please email AccessibleRecruitment@optus.com.au or call 1800 309 170. We're here to help.

For more information on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Optus, please visit https://www.optus.com.au/about/inclusion-diversity