ICT Operations Manager

ICT Managers nec oversee information and communication technology operations, teams, and projects within organisations that do not fit into more specific ICT management categories. They direct the planning, implementation, and maintenance of technology systems and infrastructure, manage ICT budgets and vendor relationships, and ensure alignment between technology strategy and business objectives. This role typically operates in enterprise or large-scale settings where multiple technology domains or emerging technologies require coordinated management.

Develop and communicate ICT strategic plans aligned with organisational business goals and budget constraints. Manage ICT team members and specialists, including recruitment, performance management, and professional development planning. Oversee procurement and contract management for software licences, hardware, and ICT services in compliance with organisational procurement policy. Implement and monitor cybersecurity and data protection frameworks, including liaison with ASIC or other regulators where required. Budget and forecast ICT expenditure, track costs against approved budgets, and justify technology investments to executive leadership. Direct cloud migration, infrastructure upgrades, or technology refresh programmes, including risk assessment and change management. Manage vendor and service provider relationships, including performance monitoring and escalation of service issues. Oversee compliance with Australian data privacy legislation including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and industry-specific regulations.

The standard entry pathway requires a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Skill Level 1). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The job is mostly politics and firefighting: you spend your days justifying spend to finance, managing difficult vendor contracts, and dealing with security breaches that weren't your fault but are now your problem. Burnout from on-call expectations is real.

Practically speaking, senior roles concentrate in CBD office towers. Regional Australia has very few positions. Remote work exists but most employers expect you in-office for at least 3 days weekly.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 1351, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Apply change managementcore
• Coordinate technological activitiescore
• Define technology strategycore
• Ensure compliance with legal requirementscore
• Escalation Managementcore
• Goal Setting and Planningcore
• ICT project managementcore
• Implement ICT risk managementcore
• Manage budgetscore
• Manage staffcore
• Monitor technology trendscore
• Outsourcing strategycore
• Perform procurement processescore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Process Improvement Identificationcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Reporting and Analyticscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Stakeholder Communicationcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Agile project management
• Business processes
• Conflict Resolution
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Decision support systems
• Digital systems
• Incident Reporting
• Microsoft Teams Collaboration
• Negotiation
• Power BI Reporting and Dashboards
• Process Documentation
• Provide cost benefit analysis reports
• Quality Assurance Monitoring
• Research and Analysis
• SLA and KPI Adherence
• Systems development life-cycle
• Train employees

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What ICT Operations Manager workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026