Optus is a leading telecommunications company delivering innovative solutions that connect Australians every day. As we continue to evolve as a technology-driven organisation, cyber resilience is critical to maintaining trust with our customers, partners and communities.

We’re looking for a Director, Cyber Incident Response and Readiness to play a pivotal leadership role in strengthening Optus’ capability to prevent, prepare for, detect, respond to and learn from cyber incidents at scale.

What You’ll Do
Partnering closely with the Cyber and Risk leadership teams, and senior leaders across Optus, you will be responsible for:

• Leading the Cyber Incident Response and Readiness Centre of Excellence, establishing clear operating models, standards and best practices across incident management, crisis coordination and operational preparedness
• Owning and evolving Optus’ cyber incident response framework, including playbooks, escalation models, governance, and assurance mechanisms
• Driving organisational readiness and resilience, including tabletop exercises, simulations, control testing, and continuous improvement of response maturity
• Providing technical and operational leadership during major cyber incidents, acting as a trusted senior authority to guide decision-making under pressure
• Embedding strong integration between incident response, threat intelligence, detection engineering, SOC operations, legal, risk, communications, and business teams
• Setting strategic priorities, policies, standards and controls to ensure alignment with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and critical infrastructure obligations
• Championing a culture of learning, accountability and continuous improvement through post-incident reviews and insights-driven remediation
• Coaching and developing high-performing cyber response leaders and specialists, lifting capability across Optus through structured development pathways

What You’ll Bring

• Significant experience in cyber security, with deep expertise in incident response, cyber crisis management and operational resilience
• Proven leadership in complex, enterprise-scale environments, influencing senior executives and cross-functional stakeholders
• Strong understanding of the cyber threat landscape, attack lifecycles, detection, containment, eradication and recovery practices
• Demonstrated ability to operate decisively during high-impact incidents while balancing risk, customer impact, legal and regulatory considerations
• Experience designing and running incident exercises, simulations and readiness programs at executive and board level
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management and decision-making skills
• A strategic mindset with a track record of delivering measurable improvements in cyber maturity and resilience
• A passion for people leadership

The Good Stuff…

• Competitive remuneration and employee discounts, including $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products
• Flexible working arrangements with a hybrid model (three days in the office, two remote)
• A vibrant campus with cafes, gym, GP, childcare and collaborative spaces
• Inclusive parental leave (up to 16 weeks), additional “Connected” days, and competitive leave benefits
• Access to Optus U micro-credentials in partnership with leading universities
• Strong wellbeing support, including free 24/7 counselling services
• A genuinely inclusive culture supported by employee-led networks and diversity initiatives

At Optus, we believe we are stronger together. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you need adjustments or accessibility support, please let us know — we’re here to help.

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