Job Description

Hello. We’re Virgin Australia.

We’re the airline that dares to be different. Bold, down-to-earth and built around giving our guests real choice. Safety is our backbone, service is our heartbeat, and our people are our superpower.

We’re on a mission to be Australia’s most loved airline, for our people, our guests and our owners. To get there, we need talented people who are curious, commercially sharp and passionate about making work better, smarter and more human.

We blend heart and smarts to deliver experiences that feel good, work brilliantly and bring a spark of fun back to flying. We value real diversity and inclusion, bold thinking, practical execution and doing the right thing, always.

What you’ll be doing

As our Manager, AI Transformation, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping how Virgin Australia embeds AI into the way we work.

Sitting within a greenfield AI team, this role operates at the intersection of strategy, business transformation, AI solution delivery and change management. You’ll work closely with business leaders, SMEs, technology teams and delivery partners to identify high-value opportunities, shape practical AI use cases and lead the adoption of solutions that deliver measurable impact across the organisation.

This role will suit someone who brings a consulting-style mindset. You may have built your experience in management consulting, digital transformation, technology advisory or an internal strategy/transformation environment where you’ve worked across complex problems, ambiguous stakeholder groups and enterprise-wide change.

This is a highly visible leadership role reporting to our Head of AI, who reports to the CIO. You’ll lead a small team, as well as contractors as required, and will help build the capability, cadence and confidence needed to scale AI adoption across Virgin Australia.

You will:

• Identify, prioritise and shape AI use cases in partnership with business leaders and SMEs.

• Translate strategic opportunities into clear problem statements, business cases and delivery pathways.

• Redesign business processes and workflows to enable effective human-AI collaboration.

• Partner with engineering, data and technology teams to take AI solutions from concept through to production.

• Lead adoption, change management and training activity to embed new ways of working.

• Establish feedback loops that bring the voice of our people, guests and customers into AI solution design.

• Drive continuous optimisation post-launch, ensuring solutions remain useful, scalable and aligned to business outcomes.

• Challenge assumptions, ask better questions and bring analytical rigour, creativity and courage to complex problems.

• Ensure AI initiatives operate within Virgin Australia’s data privacy, security, governance, safety and operational resilience requirements.

• Lead, coach and develop a small team, building capability and a strong delivery mindset.

You’ll be great in this role if you have

• Experience in management consulting, technology consulting, digital transformation, strategy, innovation or enterprise transformation.
• Strong experience shaping business cases, operating models, transformation roadmaps or strategic initiatives in complex organisations.
• Strong understanding of modern AI concepts, including LLMs, RAG, agents and prompting strategies.
• 5+ years’ experience delivering technology-enabled transformation, digital product delivery or business-led change in complex organisations.
• Proven experience taking AI, automation or digital initiatives from idea through to production, adoption and optimisation.
• Strong commercial judgement, with the ability to connect technology opportunities to business value.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, influencing and communication skills, including the ability to work with senior leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Experience simplifying complexity, making practical trade-offs and driving momentum in ambiguous environments.
• Familiarity with compliance, governance, privacy, security and operational resilience requirements.
• A leadership style that is collaborative, curious, outcome-focused and grounded in continuous improvement.

Why Virgin Australia?

If you love big thinking, sharp execution and influencing the future of an airline that dares to be different, this is where your impact can truly take flight.

We’re committed to looking after you, with some of the best benefits and conditions in the industry, including:

• Discounted flights for you and your loved ones, including $1,000 worth of travel credits per year.

• A flexible, hybrid work style with some work from home..

• Cheaper hospitality, retail, technology, beauty and wellness services.

• Free counselling and access to a wellbeing app to support your physical, mental, social and financial health.

• Dress for Your Day, giving you the freedom to wear what works for the type of work you do and the day ahead.

When everyone is included, everyone wins

We’re all individuals. And we love that. That’s why we encourage applications from Indigenous Australians, people with disability, those from diverse cultural backgrounds, our friends in the LGBTQIA+ community, and anyone else who wants to join our family.

Ready to apply?

We’re ready to hear from you. Apply now.