Permanent AI search · Australia
Ashrel finds the AI talent Australia can’t.
Forward deployed engineers, applied ML, AI delivery and transformation leads. A shortlist you can interview, not a pile of CVs.
Melbourne-based · National coverage · Permanent and contract where the brief is real
Practice
Where we go deep
We hire the people who put AI into the business: FDE, applied engineering, MLOps, AI product and delivery, strategy and governance. Not generalist software. Not volume staffing.
Machine Learning Engineering
Engineers who ship models into regulated production environments, not notebook prototypes.
Senior → Principal · Staff · Team lead
Data Science & Applied Research
Applied scientists with commercial judgement across pricing, fraud, credit decisioning and claims.
Senior · Lead · Head of Data Science
MLOps & AI Platform
The platform layer that makes AI repeatable: feature stores, serving, evaluation, observability.
Platform engineer · SRE for ML · Head of Platform
Generative AI & LLM Engineering
Retrieval, evaluation and agent architecture built by people who have run it at scale.
LLM engineer · Solutions architect · Lead
AI Risk, Governance & Assurance
Model risk, validation and assurance talent fluent in APRA and privacy obligations.
Model validator · AI risk lead · Head of Governance
AI Product & Delivery Leadership
Product and delivery leaders who can hold a roadmap between the business and the model.
AI product manager · Delivery lead · Chapter lead
Forward Deployed Engineering
Engineers who sit inside the client, translate the problem and build the thing: commercial instinct with real depth.
Forward deployed engineer · Solutions engineer · Lead
AI Strategy & Governance
Leaders who set the AI agenda and the guardrails around it: operating model, investment case, policy and board reporting.
Head of AI · AI strategy lead · Chief AI Officer
Banking, insurance and superannuation are our core. We take selected mandates in health, government, energy and retail where the AI role profile is the same.
Process
A shortlist you can act on, not a stack of CVs
Calibrate
A structured briefing session produces a written scorecard: must-haves, trade-offs, compensation reality and the two profiles most likely to succeed.
Map
We build the full addressable market for the role in Australia, not a keyword search. You see the map, including who we deliberately excluded.
Shortlist
Three to five candidates, each with a written assessment against the scorecard, motivation, notice period and salary expectation stated up front.
Land
Interview coordination, structured feedback loops, offer strategy and counter-offer management through to the signed start date.
✓ You always speak to the person running your search. No handoff.
✓ No candidate is presented without a written assessment.
✓ We tell you when a role is not placeable at the salary on offer.
The hire behind the headcount
Good candidates already have a job they like.
Which is why the pitch matters as much as the search. We represent your team the way you would.
Start a briefWhat clients say
“The first shortlist was the shortlist. Three people, all of whom we would have hired, with the trade-offs written down before we met them.”
“We had been told the role was unfillable at our band. Ashrel showed us the market data, we adjusted, and the hire was made in a month.”
“The difference is that the person briefing us is the person doing the search. Nothing was lost in translation.”
Attributed on request. Several clients prefer their AI hiring stay off the record.
Insights
The AI talent market, read closely
Salary & benchmarks
What AI engineers actually earn in Australia
Four published sources put the same role between $115,000 and $250,000. What each number is really measuring, and why no financial-services benchmark exists.
AI governance
The AI governance hire nobody budgeted for
APRA’s April 2026 letter introduced no new prudential requirements. That is precisely why it is harder to resource than a new standard would have been.
Hiring strategy
Why your AI job ad is filtering out the best candidates
Six requirements that appear on almost every AI brief, what each one actually excludes, and what to write instead.
Questions
Before you brief us
Do you work on contract or permanent roles?
We take permanent mandates first. Contract only when it is a genuine AI delivery seat, not a body-shop placement.
Which sectors do you cover?
Banking, insurance and superannuation are the core of the practice. We take selected mandates in health, government, energy and retail where the AI role profile is comparable.
How is Ashrel different from a large agency?
You deal with the person running the search. No account manager handoff, no CV forwarding, and no candidate sent without a written assessment against your calibration brief.
What does the engagement cost?
A percentage of first-year fixed remuneration, agreed in writing before the search begins. Retained and exclusive terms carry different rates, which we will quote on the call.
Do you guarantee the hire?
Every placement carries a replacement period agreed in the terms. In practice, calibration up front is what prevents the problem.
Can you work confidentially?
Yes. A large share of our mandates are unannounced roles or replacements, and are handled without the market knowing the client.
Tell us what you need to hire
Thirty minutes is enough to tell you if the role is placeable. No obligation, no database spam.
- [email protected]
- Based in
- Australia, national coverage
- Response time
- One business day
Brief received
Thank you. We will be in touch within one business day.
You will get an initial market read on the role before the call, so the thirty minutes are spent on decisions rather than background.