AI Strategy and Leadership Career Accelerator

LEADERSHIP ACCELERATOR

Monash AI Strategy and Leadership

Develop the AI leadership capability to identify opportunity, secure investment and lead transformation in your organisation – designed for Australian leaders and backed by a Monash University Digital Credential.

Developed in collaboration with industry leaders

6 months online

+ 2 weeks Orientation

6-9 hours per week

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Flexible for busy professionals

Weekly goals. Your schedule.

Download the program brochure

Receive more details about program benefits, the curriculum, and the experts you’ll learn from.

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Get more than skills – get results

Built on Australia’s regulatory reality

Every governance conversation is grounded in the Australian context: from the Privacy Act to Fair Work obligations. Global AI programs teach governance in general – this one teaches it for Australia.

Learn from documented AI leadership

Study cases of AI succeeding and failing, from Australian organisations like CommBank and Atlassian to global names like Nvidia and DBS Bank. You build the judgment to separate genuine capability from vendor hype.

A credential recognised where it counts

Earn a Monash University Digital Credential: TEQSA-registered, recognised by Australian boards and employers, and built on work you produce for your organisation, not exams.

What you’ll learn

Across four practice-led courses, you’ll develop the strategic, commercial and change leadership capability to take AI from opportunity to organisational impact. You’ll work with AI tools at every stage, apply each course to your own organisation, and build toward a board-ready deliverable in every course – all grounded in the Australian regulatory context.

Please note: Course titles and content are subject to change during development.

2 WEEKS

Onboarding and Goal Setting

Begin with a two-week orientation to get familiar with the platform, connect with your cohort, and align your goals. You’ll also meet your Success Manager and Leadership Coach, who will help tailor your experience to support your leadership development and strategic outcomes.
6 WEEKS

Course 1: The AI Ready Leader

This course builds the fluency to evaluate and direct AI across machine learning, generative AI and agentic systems, at the level of understanding a leader needs to make decisions. You'll work with AI tools in your own role from the first week, design a personal AI operating model, and map how AI creates value across business functions. You'll then assess your organisation's current practices against responsible-AI standards, including the Privacy Act and Australia's AI Safety Framework, and apply a structured method for identifying and prioritising the opportunities worth pursuing.

Deliverable: A Strategic AI Opportunity Map – a boardroom-ready assessment of where AI creates the most significant value in your organisation, with prioritisation logic and a clear recommendation on where to start.
6 WEEKS

Course 2: The AI Investment Case – Value, Risk and Governance

This course develops the full investment case for your highest-priority AI opportunity. You'll assess your organisation's readiness and select an opportunity, testing it against strategic fit, feasibility and risk. From there you'll weigh the build, buy or partner options and construct a value case across financial and non-financial returns, with a clear view on when to proceed, pause or decline. In parallel, you'll develop an AI governance framework setting out decision rights, oversight and accountability, aligned with Australian expectations including the Voluntary AI Safety Standard, Privacy Act obligations and APRA guidance.

Deliverables: An AI Investment Proposition and an AI Governance Framework – two separate documents that work together – one makes the case for investment, the other demonstrates it will be governed responsibly. Together, they give senior leaders everything they need to say yes.
5 WEEKS

Course 3: Embedding AI in the Organisation

This course develops the capability to lead the organisational and human side of AI adoption. You'll build a stakeholder engagement plan, assess how AI will affect the workforce and redesign work accordingly, develop an approach to building AI capability across the organisation, and establish the implementation governance to manage delivery. Throughout, workforce change is set within Australian obligations, including the Fair Work Act and DEWR guidance on AI and employment.

Deliverable: An AI Transformation Roadmap covering stakeholder engagement, workforce impact, capability building and implementation governance.
4 WEEKS

The AI-Augmented Executive

The final course turns to your own practice as a leader working alongside AI. You'll apply AI to your executive decision-making and build in the verification routines that keep automation bias in check, work directly with AI agents and set the boundaries and governance for what they handle, and define the AI operating norms for your team.

Deliverable: An AI Leadership Playbook – your integrated AI operating model, team operating model and 12-month leadership agenda.

Who you’ll learn from

Industry Experts

The program is co-developed by Monash faculty and industry leaders at the forefront of AI transformation.

Facilitators

Receive live and on-demand support from experienced professionals who guide you through complex content and real-world business applications.

Leadership Coaches

Set yourself up for long-term success in your career through a mix of one-to-one sessions and interactive industry sessions.

Get proof of what you know and of what you can lead

Most leaders are now familiar with AI tools. Fewer have the capability to turn that into organisational impact.

This program builds that capability, and the Monash University Digital Credential is the proof – carrying the standing of one of Australia’s leading universities to boards, peers and stakeholders.

You’ll graduate with five professional deliverables built around your own organisation and grounded in the Australian regulatory context, ready to use in your role immediately.

Different ways to invest in your career

Accessing our flexible payment plans is easier than you think (it takes less than 5 minutes). Book a call with an Enrolment Advisor to see if you qualify – chances are, you do.

INAUGURAL COHORT DISCOUNT:

~~AU$13,250~~

AU$12,250

(incl. GST)

Save AU$1,000 on the full program fee, for the August intake only.

Once-off

pay in full & save

Save AU$500 when you make a one-time payment before the program begins

~~AU$12,250~~

AU$11,750

UPFRONT

6 months

10% deposit, no added fees

Start with a AU$1,225 deposit, followed by six monthly payments of AU$1,837.50

AU$1,837.50

MONTHLY

Monash University alumni receive AU$1,250 off the program fee. If paying upfront, Monash alumni receive an additional AU$500 off (paying AU$11,500).

What could you earn in AI leadership?

As organisations across Australia accelerate AI adoption, demand is growing for leaders who can translate emerging technologies into measurable business outcomes. According to Australian salary benchmarks, professionals leading AI strategy, transformation and innovation can expect salaries such as:

Director of AI Strategy: AU$233,000

Chief AI Officer (CAIO): AU$350,000–AU$500,000+

Chief AI Transformation Officer: AU$300,000–AU$450,000+

Head of AI / Head of Data & AI: AU$250,000–AU$350,000+

AI Transformation Consultant / Leader: AU$250,000–AU$500,000+ (depending on scope, industry and organisation size)

If you’re a business, you could be our next partner

We work with industry partners in a few different ways, and we’re open to finding a way that works for you. Here are some of the benefits.

Outsource a project

Co-design a business project to get access to the minds of a group of ambitious and diverse professionals who are solely focused on solving your business problem.

Train your team

We’ll work with you to find a custom solution for your team on all or part of a program. As learners or mentors, they’ll benefit from relevant skills and university-approved knowledge.

Make recruitment easier

Transform the way you recruit for complex digital roles with exposure to a highly relevant pool of talent and tangible proof of what they’re capable of.

“Currently, there is a lot of hype around AI, and a lot of fear. Participants will leave this program with a balanced, nuanced understanding of what AI is (and isn’t) and the ability to apply this knowledge to their workplaces and careers.”

– Dr Mallory Avery,
Lecturer, Department of Economics, Monash University

Why learn AI leadership?

As AI moves from experimentation to enterprise-wide implementation, organisations are looking for leaders who can turn AI investment into measurable business value.

Research shows that AI leadership roles grew by 40–60% during 2025 as organisations expanded their AI initiatives and sought executives capable of driving transformation at scale.

At the same time, 92% of business leaders expect to increase AI investment over the next three years, creating growing demand for professionals who can align AI strategy with organisational goals.

The role of dedicated AI leadership is also becoming increasingly mainstream. Organisations with a Chief AI Officer are 24% more likely to outperform their peers on innovation and report stronger returns on AI investments, highlighting the strategic importance of effective AI governance, adoption, and value creation.

For professionals looking to lead transformation and influence strategic decision-making, AI leadership is rapidly becoming one of the most valuable capabilities in today’s business landscape.

If you’re not sure, speak to someone

Find out if this program will suit you and your goals by talking to an Enrolment Advisor. They’ll help you feel confident in your decision (whether it’s a yes or a no).

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