Partner Innovation Lead

Company Description

At Open Universities Australia (OUA), we believe everyone should have access to quality education, no matter their background or stage of life.

For more than 30 years, we have helped over 400,000 students take their next step. Often during some of the most important moments of their lives. Whether someone is changing careers, returning to study or pursuing a lifelong goal, the work we do helps open new possibilities every day.

That is what makes working at OUA meaningful. Every experience we create, every conversation we have and every decision we make can have a real impact on someone's future. When we do our best work, we help change lives.

The Opportunity

Australia's tertiary education landscape is changing in significant ways, and OUA is at the forefront of that shift. As Partner Innovation Lead, you will help shape how OUA responds to structural transformation across the sector, translating emerging learner trends, market signals and partner expectations into scalable propositions, new capability and sustainable marketplace growth.

This is a senior enterprise role for someone who thinks in systems, thrives in ambiguity and knows how to turn big strategic ideas into practical, measurable outcomes. You will influence executive decision-making, lead innovation from concept through to operational reality and build the organisational capability OUA needs to adapt and grow.

You will not be doing this alone. You will work closely with partner teams, product leaders, technology and operational functions to make sure OUA's marketplace stays relevant, competitive and genuinely valuable for students and partners alike. If you want to lead work that shapes how Australians access and experience education, this is the role for you.

What you’ll be doing

• Analysing market, portfolio and sector trends to identify risks and opportunities that shape OUA's marketplace relevance, partner value proposition and commercial performance
• Leading the evolution of partner product strategy and marketplace offerings in response to changing learner behaviour, workforce participation trends and sector reform
• Developing new partner product concepts and taking them through design, pilot, evaluation and into scalable business-as-usual operations
• Building the evidence base for business cases, investment decisions and strategic recommendations that inform executive-level prioritisation
• Establishing and embedding innovation practices, governance frameworks and ways of working that improve experimentation and cross-functional delivery across Product and Partnerships
• Providing strategic insight, market analysis and portfolio reporting to support enterprise decision-making and high-stakes partner conversations
• Supporting OUA's tertiary harmonisation roadmap by identifying opportunities that enable more connected, flexible and accessible learner pathways across the ecosystem
• Building alignment across Product, Partnerships, Technology, Student and operational teams to ensure innovations translate into outcomes that last

Who we’re looking for

• You are the person who reads the market before others see it coming. You track what's shifting across the tertiary sector — learner behaviour, workforce trends, policy reform, partner expectations and you turn those signals into clear opportunities and risks that shape how OUA competes and grows.
• You lead the evolution of what OUA takes to market. You shape the partner product strategy, refine the marketplace offering, and make sure OUA stays relevant and valuable for the partners and students who depend on it.
• You take new ideas all the way. You develop partner product concepts from opportunity through to design, pilot and evaluation.
• You build the case for what matters. When investment decisions need to be made at the executive level, you have already done the work: the market analysis, the evidence base, the strategic framing. You make sure the right priorities get the resources they deserve.
• You make innovation stick. You establish the practices, governance and ways of working that mean experimentation isn't a one-off event. You embed it across Product and Partnerships so that trying new things becomes part of how the organisation operates.
• You connect the dots others miss. You spot the opportunities in OUA's tertiary harmonisation roadmap, the places where learner pathways can become more connected, flexible and accessible, and you turn them into something actionable.
• You bring people with you. Across Product, Partnerships, Technology, Student and operational teams, you build the alignment that means innovations don't just get launched. They land, they last and they deliver.

Why you’ll love working at OUA

OUA is a not-for-profit organisation with a strong people-first mindset. We do meaningful work that helps change lives through education, while creating an environment where our people feel supported, valued and empowered to grow.

When you join OUA, you become part of a warm, inclusive and curious culture where your ideas matter, your wellbeing is prioritised and your development is encouraged.

Flexibility and ways of working

• Hybrid working, with three days working from home each week
• Workation leave, work from anywhere for up to 10 days each year

Leave that supports you

• 12 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers, regardless of gender
• Additional purchased leave to support greater flexibility
• Menstrual and menopausal wellbeing leave, with up to six additional paid days each year
• Inclusive leave to celebrate cultural, religious or personal events

Health and wellbeing

• Discounted health insurance
• Annual flu vaccinations
• A paid Calm subscription to support your wellbeing

Learning, growth and financial benefits

• Short term incentives and not-for-profit salary packaging, including novated leasing
• Subsidised study opportunities and study leave
• Learning and professional development opportunities

OUA is committed to building and fostering an inclusive, diverse workplace. Our marketplace is for everyone, so is our workplace. Come and share your personal experiences, your perspectives and your background with us as we continue to help students transform their lives.

We strongly encourage candidates of all backgrounds to get in touch, even if you don’t meet all the requirements of the advertised position. It’s highly likely you’ll bring something to the workplace that we haven’t thought of yet, and we would love to hear from you.

Qualifications

Additional Information