Associate Director, Workforce Planning Retail

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

We’re seeking a strategic and commercially minded leader to own workforce planning for our national company‑owned retail network. As Associate Director – Workforce Planning (Retail), you will lead the end‑to‑end workforce planning and labour optimisation agenda across 245 stores nationally, supporting around 2,300 frontline team members. You will translate AOP and longer‑term plans into demand‑led staffing strategies that balance sales performance, customer experience, cost efficiency and compliance.

This role partners closely with Retail Operations, People & Culture, ER, Payroll and IT to embed a modern workforce management capability, leveraging AI, cloud platforms and predictive analytics, during a period of significant network growth.

What You’ll Do

• Shape and deliver the retail workforce strategy and AOP roadmap, converting strategy into actionable, measurable outcomes
• Lead demand forecasting, rostering and centralised scheduling, ensuring the right skills are in the right place at the right time
• Responsible for labour OPEX modelling and governance across retail, driving productivity and cost‑to‑serve improvements while ensuring sales and NPS are protected.
• Act as Retail’s business owner for the enterprise WFM platform, leading system uplift, standardisation and data integrity
• Ensure compliance with Fair Work, enterprise agreements and OH&S, proactively managing labour risk
• Design and govern leave and wellbeing strategies that balance engagement, coverage and cost
• Lead and develop a team of workforce analysts and schedulers, and coach senior stakeholders through change

What makes you perfect

• Proven experience leading large‑scale workforce planning in complex, multi‑site retail or customer‑facing environments
• Strong expertise in labour forecasting, scheduling, budgeting and performance optimisation
• Demonstrated experience implementing or transforming Workforce Management systems
• In‑depth knowledge of Fair Work and industrial agreements in retail contexts
• A collaborative leader with strong influencing, facilitation and change leadership capability
• Highly analytical, with advanced Excel skills and experience using Power BI, Tableau or similar

What's in it for you?

• Competitive remuneration and employee discounts. Make life easier (and more affordable) with $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and unique 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 employee-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. When you contact us, please advise your preferred method of contact and we will be in touch within 48 hours.

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