AI Value Manager

We’ve been proudly serving Australian communities since 1914 and have grown to become a top 30-listed company on the ASX with a portfolio of iconic homegrown brands. At the heart of our continued success is over 115,000 team members working across the country, all contributing to bringing our customers smiles. You’ll not only get to see your work make a difference, you’ll be part of a team working together to help Australians eat and live better every day.

About the team

As the way Australians shop continues to evolve, our Data and AI Team keep Coles at the forefront of modern retail. We combine data, artificial intelligence, and applied engineering to reimagine how our stores, supply chain, and digital channels operate — creating smarter, more connected, and seamless experiences for our customers and team members.

Operating as a centralised development and enablement function within Coles Technology, the team unites product, engineering, and platform capabilities to deliver the intelligence layer of the enterprise. We serve every part of Coles — from computer vision applications that enhance in-store experiences and reduce loss, to forecasting, optimisation, and decision-support solutions that drive efficiency, accuracy, and agility across our supply chain, retail operations, and corporate functions.

The scale and impact of this work are significant. Coles serves millions of customers each week across more than a thousand stores nationwide, and our AI and data capabilities provide the intelligence that underpins how we plan, move, sell, and serve. By combining deep data capability with applied AI and modern engineering, we’re enabling Coles to become a truly AI-enabled enterprise, transforming how we operate and how Australia shops every day.

About the role

As the AI Value Manager for our Data and Artificial Intelligence team, primary purpose of this position will be to will be to establish and operate an enterprise capability to identify, define, track and realise business value from AI initiatives across Coles. This role ensures AI use cases have clear, credible business cases, well-defined measurement and attribution approaches, and an ongoing value tracking cadence that supports prioritisation and investment decisions.

The role partners closely with Finance, HR productivity teams, and Technology (product and engineering) to translate technical delivery into measurable commercial outcomes, and to ensure benefits are realised in practice — not just projected.

Key responsibilities will include:

Value framework and standards (enterprise)

Design and implement an AI value capability, which includes establishing common approaches for:

• benefits identification and categorisation (financial and non-financial)
• baselining, measurement plans and attribution logic
• business case quality standards (assumptions, sensitivity, risks, dependencies)

Build stakeholder capability by educating leaders and teams on what “good” looks like for AI value measurement and commercial decisioning.

Business case development and challenge

Partner with initiative owners to develop credible business cases for AI use cases, including:

• investment rationale and value drivers
• quantified benefits and assumptions
• delivery and adoption dependencies
• risks, mitigations and measurement approach 

Measurement approach and attribution support

Work with engineering, product and analytics teams to ensure statistical measurement and instrumentation plans to support objective benefit attribution (e.g., A/B testing approaches, control groups, baselines).

Translate experimental design and results into clear commercial narratives for non-technical audiences.

Ensure consistent interpretation of results, including confidence, limitations, and appropriate claims of value.

AI cost structure and unit economics

Develop a clear understanding of the cost structure of AI use cases, including:

• platform and infrastructure costs
• licensing/vendor arrangements

Portfolio reporting and governance

Establish portfolio-level reporting of AI benefits, including progress, realised value, forecasts, confidence levels, and key risks/issues.

Build reporting assets (e.g., Power BI dashboards, standard packs) that support Finance reporting rhythms and senior leadership decision-making.

Value realisation and issue escalation

Maintain an enterprise view of where value is being realised (or not), and proactively identify:

• initiatives not demonstrating value
• measurement gaps or weak attribution

About You and Your Skills

• Strong commercial and financial analysis skills, including ability to build and interrogate business cases and value models.
• Ability to understand AI and technology concepts well enough to engage effectively with engineering/product teams (without being a hands-on engineer).
• Strong communication skills: able to translate technical outcomes into clear, decision-ready commercial insights for senior stakeholders.
• Structured thinking and governance mindset: builds repeatable standards, processes, and reporting cadences.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building greenfield capability.

Skills and Qualifications

• Background in one or more of: commercial/finance analyst, strategy consulting, transformation, data/analytics value management, product finance, or investment evaluation.
• Experience working with measurement approaches such as A/B tests or other experimental/quasi-experimental methods, and interpreting results for business audiences.
• Familiarity with technology commercial models: licensing, cloud cost drivers, and “unit economics” approaches for scaling digital/AI solutions.
• Tools: strong Excel modelling; Power BI reporting; working knowledge of SQL to self-serve analysis where needed.

Please note that our ideal candidate will work with high trust and high influence role with senior stakeholder exposure. They will require strong partnership orientation across Finance, HR and Technology and operates as an individual contributor, with scope to grow as the capability scales.

What’s in it for you?

• Flexible working options: We know that work is only one part of your life, so we actively encourage a positive work-life balance and provide hybrid working options to help you achieve it.
• Office perks: Take advantage of our gym facility and fitness classes, free parking, BBQ area, mini-Coles supermarket, fooderie hub where you can sample new products before they hit the shelves, school holiday program and so much more when you come in.
• Discounts: Eligible team members receive 5% discount all year round on your Supermarket and Liquor online and in-store purchases. We also offer additional periods of double discount (10%) at various times throughout the year. As well as hotdeals exclusive to team members that translate into additional savings.
• Reward through recognition: Give and receive recognition, linked to our Coles values, through our digital recognition platform ‘mythanks’. You can accumulate points to redeem in the online shop for exciting gifts and electronic gift cards from an extensive range of retailers.
• Opportunities for learning and development: No matter where you start within our diverse business, you’ll have experiences, exposure, and education to satisfy you. Discover and explore a variety of career development programs and job-specific training.
• Paid parental leave: We understand how important your life outside work is and offer permanent team members paid parental leave to support you in balancing work and family.
• Investment in your future: Our annual team member share plan offer allows eligible team members to make regular pre-tax salary sacrifice deductions to purchase Coles Group shares.

About the recruitment process

We’re continuing to build a gender equitable team, and a culture that is just as diverse, inclusive and welcoming as the communities we serve. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe and respectful for our team. We encourage applications from people of all ages, cultures (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples), abilities, sexual orientation and gender identities.

We’re happy to adjust our recruitment process to support candidates with disability. For further information and additional contact details visit the ‘Our Recruitment Process’ section of our careers site or email inclusionrecruitment@coles.com.au

Job ID: 166087

Employment Type: Full time