AI recruitment and executive search, in Sydney.

A generalist agency fills an AI role from the people who answer an advert. A specialist maps the people who already do the work, most of whom are employed and not looking, and screens them against the specific mandate: build, adopt or transform. Galileo Search recruits only AI leadership and the AI team that follows it, so every search starts from a mapped Sydney bench and live salary data rather than an advert.

Plan for three to five months from brief to start date for a permanent hire. US benchmarks put a well-run Chief AI Officer search at 19 to 22 weeks from kickoff to day one (MSH), and Sydney runs similar because the senior pool is small and almost entirely passive. Shortlists for the engineering and architecture seats that follow take 48 hours from our screened pools. If the business cannot wait, an interim AI leader can start while the permanent search runs.

A Head of AI at a large Sydney employer benchmarks at a median total package of $291k including super at principal level, with interim day rates around $1,536 (Galileo P1 salary dataset, July 2026). A Chief AI Officer at enterprise scale sits higher; the full bands are on the Head of AI salary page.

Executive search in Australia is usually charged as a fee tied to the first-year package, either on success or partly retained. We agree ours in writing on the brief, before any search starts, and it does not move afterwards. We do not publish a standard percentage because a confidential Chief AI Officer search and a senior engineer hire into an existing team are different pieces of work. Every permanent placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee.

Yes. Contract AI engineers, architects, platform and governance specialists for builds of twelve weeks or more, plus interim and fractional AI leaders. Published day rates for the roles we place run $753 to $2,582 per day at Sydney, large-company medians, and the margin is disclosed on every brief.

Yes, and most of our leadership mandates are confidential. We approach candidates without naming the client until both sides agree to proceed, and candidates are only ever presented for a specific role with their permission.

No. We are Sydney based and recruit nationally. Beyond the 1,020+ Sydney candidates on the bench there are 390+ in Melbourne and smaller pools in Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Adelaide, and the salary dataset covers all six cities.

Level 36, 1 Macquarie Place, Circular Quay, Sydney NSW 2000. Call 1300 449 845 or brief a role online; we reply within one business day.