This is not a “big corporate CIO” role.
It is also not a hands-on systems lead role.
This is a rare opportunity for a balanced, commercially minded technology leader who can run a lean, trusted technology function, build confidence across the business, and make technology feel useful, human and easy to engage with.
Our client is a highly regarded Australian property and accommodation business with a strong service culture, beautifully designed physical environments and a clear focus on customer experience. Technology is seen as a critical enabler of the business, but the right person will need to bring structure without over-engineering, commercial discipline without slowing the business down, and warmth without losing rigour.
The brief
You will lead a small internal technology team and manage key external partners across infrastructure, cyber, applications, data, service desk and property technology.
The role reports to the Head of Corporate Services and will work closely with Operations, Finance, Sales, Brand, Property teams and Directors.
The business is looking for someone who can hold three modes at once:
Rigour — the detail person
Cyber, infrastructure, Microsoft 365, vendor contracts, service levels, change control, audit-readiness, asset discipline, risk and cost control. You know when to push back and you are comfortable saying no when no is the right answer.
Warm hospitality — the bridge person
You can translate technology into plain English. Operations trust you. Finance understands you. Sales and Brand want you in the room. You can work with ambiguity around booking journeys, customer experience, AI, data and systems without making everyone feel like they need a computer science degree.
Capability uplift — the teacher
You lift IT literacy across the leadership team. You explain systems, data, cyber and AI without condescension. You build shared language and confidence so non-technical leaders can make better decisions.
What you’ll own
You will be responsible for leading a lean, trusted technology function that protects the business, enables Operations and Finance, and supports a better customer/resident journey.
Key areas include:
- Ownership of the technology roadmap across infrastructure, systems, cyber, data, communications and applications
- Help desk / service desk model, including internal support and MSP performance
- Vendor governance, contract discipline, renewals, SLAs and value-for-money outcomes
- Cyber governance and risk framework, including Essential Eight / ISO 27001-aligned thinking
- Cost transparency, budget control, licence management and investment discipline
- Microsoft 365, network, cloud, end-user support and property technology oversight
- Application architecture across platforms such as booking, billing, finance and customer-facing systems
- Data/reporting decisions, including data warehouse options and external delivery partners
- Technology input into new property mobilisation and portfolio growth
- Coaching and developing a small technology team
- Building trusted relationships across Operations, Finance, Sales, Brand and property leadership
What good looks like
You are probably operating as a Head of IT, GM Technology, Technology Lead, Senior IT Manager or similar in a mid-sized business.
You may not come from student accommodation. That is fine. But you must understand service-led, operational environments where technology has to work for people on the ground.
We are especially interested in people who have worked in:
- Property
- Accommodation
- Hospitality
- Retail / multi-site services
- Facilities or operational services
- Professional services with distributed offices
- Customer-facing environments with booking, billing, CRM or resident/customer systems
The non-negotiables
Please only apply if most of the below genuinely applies to you:
- You have led a technology function at roughly 100–250 person business scale
- You have carried or strongly influenced a technology cost base of around $1m–$3m
- You can talk clearly about a specific cost decision you made and why
- You have managed vendors, MSPs or outsourced technology partners
- You have improved, reset, exited or replaced a service provider or support model
- You understand cyber governance without needing to be the cyber engineer
- You are comfortable discussing Essential Eight, ISO 27001, risk posture and director-level reporting
- You have worked closely with non-technical leaders and operational teams
- You can present to Directors, Boards or senior governance forums
- You default to buy-not-build unless there is a very good reason not to
- You are commercially sharp enough to write a one-page business case without being asked
- You are pragmatic about AI: interested, informed, but not breathless or gimmicky
- You are warm, low ego and able to build trust with people who do not speak “tech”
This probably is not right for you if…
- You want a pure CIO strategy role with a large team under you
- You want to build a big technology empire
- You prefer to stay away from service desk, vendor, cost or operational detail
- You need a highly mature enterprise technology environment already in place
- You are most comfortable talking to engineers and least comfortable with Operations
- You oversell technology, AI or transformation without understanding the business problem first
- You struggle when challenged on cost, culture or commercial value
Why this role is interesting
The business has recently completed a technology function review and has strong alignment from the Directors on the shape of the role.
You will not be walking into a vague “fix IT” mandate. The priorities are clearer now:
- Build a service and support model the business trusts
- Strengthen cyber governance and risk conversations
- Improve cost transparency and investment discipline
- Bring structure to application architecture and vendor ownership
- Help the business make sensible data and reporting decisions
- Lift technology confidence across the leadership team
- Partner with Operations and customer-facing teams in a practical, human way
There is a real opportunity here to create legacy without needing to create noise.
The Location
The role is Sydney CBD based, with a 5 day onsite requirement and occasional travel to properties in Melbourne and Brisbane.
How to apply
Please apply with your CV and a brief note outlining:
- The size of technology function and budget/cost base you have managed
- A vendor/MSP relationship you have improved, exited or reset
- An example of a technology decision where you had to balance cost, risk and business value
- The type of operational or front-line business environment you have supported
Applications that clearly address these points will be reviewed first.
