At Nine, we’re more than just a media company – we’re a thriving technology powerhouse. We build incredible software that millions use daily, powering applications like AFR, SMH, The Age, and Australia’s leading streaming destination, 9Now and Stan. Our AI for Engineering Excellence Program is set to transform how we create and deliver these amazing products. We’re not just exploring AI; we’re fully integrating it into the core of our engineering operations.
By Kelli Dudley, Director of Technology, Data and AI & Craig Bruce, Director of Technology, Streaming
The “why” behind our AI journey: unleashing human ingenuity
Our guiding belief is simple yet powerful: “The future is AI-augmented”. We strongly believe artificial intelligence will empower our teams, boosting their capabilities and amplifying our collective impact. AI isn’t here to replace human creativity or skilled individuals; it’s here to enhance them. Our primary objective is for AI to handle repetitive, data-intensive, and boilerplate tasks. This will free up valuable time and mental energy, allowing our teams to focus on more complex problem-solving, creative design, and ground-breaking work. This program aims to accelerate development, streamline processes for creators, and ignite innovation across all of Nine’s technological endeavours. We view AI not as an obstacle, but as a gateway to new skills.
For Engineers: your new development superpower
For our engineers, we’re seamlessly integrating AI into the development workflow to significantly enhance our capabilities. Imagine having a smart partner that takes care of the more predictable parts of coding, leaving you free to focus on tricky problem-solving, big-picture design, and building products that genuinely make an impact. We’re creating an environment where AI feels like a natural extension of what you already do.
Our development environments are evolving to be more intelligent and supportive, streamlining everything from code generation to understanding complex systems. We’re also excelling at prompt engineering, providing clear instructions to AI, and creating internal platforms to fine-tune our interactions with these advanced models for optimal results. This collaborative learning and refined teamwork enable us to integrate AI across the entire software development lifecycle, accelerating the creation and improvement of even large-scale projects. Our AI coding assistants have already significantly contributed to code production and facilitated countless interactions with AI chat features. It’s evident that AI tools are becoming an integral part of engineers’ workflows.
Rapid innovation for Product Managers & Designers: “vibe-coding”
Our program’s transformative changes extend beyond engineering, empowering product managers and designers to shape our future. We’re introducing “vibe-coding” exploration, a powerful approach that enables these teams to rapidly bring ideas to fruition. This method facilitates the creation of functional prototypes and significantly accelerates early-stage development.
This means tapping into advanced AI-powered tools that understand design principles and can turn concepts into interactive prototypes at an incredible pace. By thinking of creative challenges as problems for AI to solve, our teams are discovering that AI can come up with more thoughtful and effective design solutions. This approach significantly reduces the initial technical workload for engineers during early exploration, allowing design and product teams to test ideas with greater flexibility and confidence.
Fostering a culture of continuous learning and collective achievement at Nine
At Nine, we’re dedicated to cultivating AI expertise throughout our digital organisation. We’ll provide extensive training and specialised learning resources to empower everyone to confidently understand and utilise AI tools and techniques. Our dynamic internal social channels maintain a vibrant community, brimming with shared ideas and best practices.
We’re also keen on assessing the impact of AI adoption, focusing on how these tools enhance overall productivity, accelerate delivery, and improve the quality and maintainability of our work. This ongoing check-in ensures that our investment in AI is always delivering real value, helping our existing teams achieve more and supporting our big-picture business goals.
Join Nine: a future built on innovation and augmentation
Upon joining Nine, you’ll be part of a team that’s actively shaping the future of software development, using AI to amplify human capabilities, spark innovation, and build truly incredible products. We are, at our core, a technology company, committed to delivering cutting-edge software solutions and driving digital transformation across everything we do. If you’re an engineer, product manager, or designer ready to embrace AI as a powerful extension of your skills and be at the forefront of this exciting journey, we invite you to explore career opportunities with us. Come and build the future at Nine.
