Great Place To Work Australia is proud to announce the 2026 Australia’s Best Workplaces in Technology, recognising 50 companies across three size categories: micro, small, and medium-to-large.
There has never been a more exhilarating, or uncertain, time to be a human working in technology, and these organisations know that better than most. Even during this complex moment in time each workplace on this list had the courage to be measured honestly by their own people.
In return they’ve won not only a place among technology companies recognised globally, but the honour of being called a great place to work by their own people. In the medium-to-large category, Smokeball, Mantel Group and CrowdStrike take the top three positions, joined by global names like Cisco, Adobe, Salesforce and ServiceNow alongside homegrown leaders like Ansarada, carsales and Tecala Group.
In the small category, Macquarie Cloud Services, V2 AI and Corto Pty Ltd lead a 20-company list spanning HR tech, data consulting and cybersecurity. In micro, A1 Technologies, Adora and Causeis are ranked first, second and third.
What connects them isn’t size, funding round or tech stack. It’s the deliberate, measurable decision to build workplaces where every employee has the opportunity to decide if their organisation earned a spot on the list. Behind the scenes, four practices show up across this year’s winners again and again.
FULL LIST OF 2026 AUSTRALIA’S BEST WORKPLACES IN TECHNOLOGY WINNERS
1. They build AI-ready skills at scale
The winning companies invest in learning and growth, especially in a cultural moment of high anxiety around AI integration. Luminary, for example, has decided to provide every employee with a $4,000 annual training budget and runs weekly team-led learning sessions where AI skills are shared across disciplines.
“By combining top-down leadership guidance with bottom-up knowledge sharing, we have moved from experimentation to measurable process enhancement,” says Claire Dunton, a Digital Content Creator at Luminary.
V2 AI gives every employee a $5,000 learning and development budget, five days of study leave, and funding for personal AI tooling. Their proprietary AI Dojo provides a hands-on environment where people build AI engineering skills through real experimentation.
At carsales, learning is always-on. Their TryAI provides an open channel for anyone to discover and trial new AI tools, the AI Expert Series runs monthly showcases, and the AI Partner Series brings in external perspectives from AWS, Google, and Salesforce.
CyberCX dedicates a full day per month to development. Mantel Group has logged 2,275+ hours of internal AI enablement learning. Codex ties every team member’s learning journey directly to their role and career aspirations, making upskilling business-as-usual. The pattern is consistent in that learning is funded, frequent, practical, and tied to tangible job-related outcomes.
2. They turn employees into co-designers of tech change
Across the list, winning organisations also give their people a direct role in shaping how AI lands, rather than handing down decisions from the top. Some do this through formal governance, for example CyberCX launched an AI Advisory Group in September 2025, placing an AI Champion within each practice and function to own the roadmap and prioritise initiatives.
Protecht formed an AI Council embedded into monthly company meetings. Novigi established Group AI as a formal function after acquiring AI specialist Turning Point Advisory, creating a central framework for governance and organisation-wide engagement.
Others let adoption grow from the ground up. At intelia, the team organically launched a dedicated internal space to discuss their AI journeys and ran competitions to explore emerging tech. “Rather than a rigid top-down rollout, our leadership acted as vocal champions while giving the team freedom to explore,” says Darcy Roach, Marketing and Operations Coordinator, at intelia.
A1 Technologies’ initiatives came directly from Kaizen improvement projects led by their own engineers. Tecala Group built Agentverse, an internal ecosystem of purpose-built AI agents, and runs regular sessions where teams share feedback and contribute ideas for new agents.
The common thread is that adoption works when the people using the tools have a hand in choosing and refining them. Mantel Group spreads knowledge through Slack channels, lunch-and-learn sessions, and 150+ external community events a year. xAmplify includes structured change management in every AI initiative. The method varies, but the principle is the same, with change done with people, not to them.
3. They work to reduce anxiety and build trust
The winning companies are also unusually direct about the fear that comes with rapid technological change. HiBob’s CEO has been explicit in framing the narrative as “do more with more,” reinforcing that AI expands what people can do rather than threatening their relevance.
“At every level of the business we take a strong people-first, tech-enabled philosophy where innovation feels safe, and adoption happens naturally,” says Stella Nightingale, Talent Acquisition & People Experience Coordinator, at HiBob.
Ansarada acknowledges that AI brings a mix of excitement and uncertainty. “By normalising this, we create psychological safety for people to ask questions, experiment and learn without fear of failure,” says Maria Dang, People and Culture Business Partner at Ansarada.
Adora, a company that builds AI tools for product teams, baked experimentation into its culture during its first year in stealth. “AI is a teammate here,” says BizOps manager Diane Villavieja, . “The goal is to let humans spend more time on the judgment work only they can do.”
ServiceNow pairs every rollout with skills training so people understand how tools make their day better, “the only way to build genuine adoption rather than reluctant compliance,” says Head of Communications, Australia and New Zealand, Phil Smith.
4. They design work around real lives
The fourth pattern extends beyond AI into how these companies structure work itself. Winners invest in flexibility, belonging, and wellbeing with the same intentionality they bring to technology. Mantel Group’s My Deal program lets employees tailor their yearly plan with extra professional development, additional leave, or time for a side project.
Adora provides six nights at an off-grid Unyoked cabin each year with three extra days of leave to use them, rings a physical bell at noon for company-wide lunch, and offers 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave for any eligible parent, covering adoption, surrogacy, and same-sex couples. Corto runs twilight sailing, wellness days, and weekly massages, while Protecht has a dedicated ESG Council with formal channels for employee voice, and Huntress Australia operates remote-first with a BElonging-led culture.
Every company on this list was measured by the people who work there and, in a year defined by what AI can do, that’s a story about what humans built.
Frequently Asked Questions: Australia’s Best Workplaces in Technology
What is the Australia’s Best Workplaces in Technology list?
The Australia’s Best Workplaces in Technology list is an annual recognition produced by Great Place To Work Australia. It identifies the top technology companies in the country primarily based on confidential employee survey responses measuring trust, pride, and camaraderie. The 2026 list recognises 50 companies across three size categories: micro (10 or fewer employees), small, and medium-to-large.
How are the Best Workplaces in Technology selected?
Selection is based on the Great Place To Work Trust Index survey, a research-backed employee experience assessment, and a demographic snapshot. The survey includes 60 statements on a five-point scale plus two open-ended questions, measuring five dimensions of workplace culture: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. Companies must first achieve Great Place To Work Certification before being considered for any Best Workplaces list.
Who are the top-ranked companies on the 2026 list?
In the medium-to-large category, Smokeball, Mantel Group, and CrowdStrike take the top three positions. In the small category, Macquarie Cloud Services, V2 AI, and Corto Pty Ltd lead. In the micro category, A1 Technologies, Adora, and Causeis are ranked first, second, and third respectively.
What do the Best Workplaces in Technology do differently?
Across the 2026 winners, four common practices emerge: investing in structured, funded capability-building programs; giving employees a direct role in shaping AI adoption through councils, champions, and peer-led experimentation; building psychological safety and trust through transparent communication about change; and designing flexible, people-centred work arrangements that support wellbeing alongside performance.
How can my organisation get recognised on a Best Workplaces list?
The first step is getting Great Place To Work Certified, as only companies that have been through the certification process can be considered. This involves running the Trust Index employee survey across your organisation. Companies that meet the Certification threshold are then eligible for consideration on relevant Best Workplaces lists, including technology, innovation, women, and more.
The 2026 Australia’s Best Workplaces in Technology list is produced by Great Place To Work Australia, based mainly on confidential employee survey responses through the Trust Index™ survey. To learn more about Certification or upcoming Best Workplaces lists, visit greatplacetowork.com.au
Guadalupe Solar Grillo
Marketing Specialist | Australia & New Zealand
E: lupe.solar@greatplacetowork.com
