ABOUT US
Purpose: To lead, promote, unite, develop and regulate football
Vision: To unite and elevate Australian football to become a world class, globally respected system to inspire our national, developing excellence at every level
Mission: Working with our stakeholders everyday – to build the capability, capacity and capital we need now and in the future – to transform every football dream into reality
To achieve the above, we live by our company values which are:
-
Welcome: Open doors, open minds, open hearts – and respect
-
Ready: Always ready, Always ahead
-
Connect: Together, united
-
Excel: Our best, every day in every way
-
Protect: Guarding the game, Securing the future
WHAT WE OFFER
At Football Australia we want to look after our people and below are just some of the many benefits of joining our team:
- Flexible work arrangements
- Birthday Leave
- Study Leave
- Wellbeing & Lifestyle Leave
- Paid Parental Leave in addition to statutory government offering
- Volunteer Leave
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Partner discounts
- Workplace Banking Program
- Social Activities such as 5-a-side futsal
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
The Head of Product & Innovation is responsible for leading Football Australia’s product management, product design and innovation capability, ensuring digital products, services and customer experiences are aligned to organisational strategy, customer needs and measurable business outcomes.
This role provides leadership to Football Australia’s Product function, driving product strategy, roadmap prioritisation, investment recommendations and customer-led product development across the organisation. It is responsible for ensuring product decisions are aligned to strategic priorities, deliver value to customers and stakeholders, and support long-term digital growth and innovation.
Working closely with the Chief Technology Officer and business leaders across Football Australia, the role translates strategic priorities into product roadmaps, business cases and customer-centric solutions. The role champions innovation, user experience and continuous improvement while ensuring products deliver measurable customer, commercial and organisational outcomes.
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead the development and ongoing evolution of Football Australia’s product vision, strategy and enterprise roadmap.
- Lead portfolio prioritisation, balancing customer value, strategic importance, commercial return, risk and organisational capacity.
- Develop business cases, investment recommendations, value propositions, success measures and benefits realisation frameworks.
- Lead Football Australia’s Product Management and Product Design functions, embedding best-practice disciplines and ways of working.
- Lead, coach and develop a high-performing product team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and innovation.
- Own and maintain prioritised product roadmaps and backlogs aligned to business priorities, customer needs and delivery capacity.
- Translate business and customer needs into clear product requirements, user stories and acceptance criteria.
- Champion customer-centred design principles, including user research, service design, accessibility, usability testing and customer feedback.
- Ensure digital products and customer experiences are intuitive, engaging and aligned to organisational objectives.
- Lead product discovery, customer research, testing and validation activities.
- Monitor product performance, customer outcomes and value realisation to support ongoing optimisation and improvement.
- Drive innovation, experimentation, agile product management and continuous improvement practices.
- Identify opportunities to enhance fan engagement, participation experiences, digital services and operational efficiency.
- Partner with Technology and business stakeholders to ensure successful delivery, adoption and value creation.
- Establish effective product governance, investment prioritisation and reporting frameworks.
- Provide regular reporting on roadmap progress, investment performance, customer outcomes, risks, dependencies and benefits realisation.
ROLE OUTCOMES / DELIVERABLES
Success in this role will see:
- A clear product strategy and prioritised roadmap aligned to organisational strategy, customer needs and measurable business outcomes.
- A high-performing Product team operating with strong leadership, accountability and embedded product management and product design disciplines.
- Product investment decisions supported by robust business cases, value propositions, ROI measures and benefits realisation plans.
- High-value digital products and customer experiences delivering measurable customer, commercial and organisational outcomes.
- Product and design decisions informed by customer feedback, user research, service design, usability testing and performance insights.
- Strong collaboration across Product, Technology and business teams supporting successful delivery and adoption.
- Transparent governance and reporting across roadmap progress, product performance, risks, dependencies and realised value.
- A culture of innovation, experimentation and continuous improvement embedded across Football Australia.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
- Proven experience leading a high-performing Product function and team.
- Significant experience in product management, digital delivery or innovation leadership roles.
- Strong understanding of product lifecycle management, including discovery, prioritisation, roadmaps, backlogs and optimisation.
- Experience developing business cases, investment proposals, ROI measures and benefits realisation plans.
- Demonstrated ability to translate customer and business needs into clear product requirements and outcomes.
- Strong capability in customer experience, UX, customer journey design, user research and product validation.
- Experience working in agile environments with cross-functional teams.
- Strong stakeholder engagement, communication and influencing skills.
- Innovative and practical problem-solving mindset with a focus on measurable customer and business outcomes.
- Understanding of the football ecosystem and/or sports participation and fan engagement environments is highly desirable.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Tertiary qualification in business, information technology, digital design, engineering or a related discipline.
- Postgraduate qualifications (e.g. MBA) highly regarded.
Applications close – 5pm Friday 31 August 2026 AEST.
