The people who build Microsoft AI agents that run in production.
FERG Search is a specialist recruiter for Microsoft AI and agent talent in Australia and New Zealand: Copilot Studio builders, Microsoft Foundry engineers, AI solution architects and the leaders who run AI practices, permanent and contract. Every search is run by the founder, Fintan Ferguson, for Microsoft partners and the businesses that run Microsoft.
Every Microsoft partner is becoming an AI partner, and every business that runs Microsoft is being asked to put an agent into production. The people who have actually done it are a small circle. We map who they are, what they have shipped and what moves them.
First shortlist within 48 hours of an agreed brief.
The seats we fill in Microsoft AI and agents.
- AI engineers and agent builders on Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry (formerly Azure AI Foundry).
- AI solution architects for the Microsoft stack.
- Copilot adoption leads who turn a licence count into usage.
- Heads and directors of AI.
- Practice leads for agentic business solutions.
- Dataverse and Power Platform specialists moving into agents.
- MLOps and LLMOps engineers who keep agents measured after go-live.
- AI governance and responsible AI leads.
Checked technically and commercially, before you meet them.
- The agent they took live: who used it, what broke and what they changed.
- The cost line, and who owned it.
- The data model and the permissions underneath the agent.
- Which parts of the agent were theirs, and which came from the wider team.
What the seat pays.
AI briefs stall when an agent architect is budgeted at a Power Platform developer's band.
Senior AI engineer, pro-code on Azure and Microsoft Foundry: $170k to $210k. Sydney. Melbourne $165k to $200k. Contract $900 to $1,200 a day.
Copilot Studio developer and agent builder: $140k to $175k. Sydney. Contract $800 to $1,050 a day.
Pro-code AI engineers and Copilot Studio builders are paid differently, by $30k to $35k on the bands above, and a budget set for one will not land the other. Permanent figures are base salary excluding super. Contract figures are per day excluding GST. Sydney unless stated; Melbourne generally runs 4% to 6% lower, and where a Melbourne band is shown, that band applies.
The badge needs people, and they are employed.
Microsoft’s Agentic Business Solutions specialization asks a partner to hold at least five people with a builder certification, at least two with a developer certification and at least two who have passed the Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect exam, with live customer deployments behind them. The badge lasts a year.
The people who satisfy it are already employed, so the partners that hold the badge in 2027 are hiring for it now.
Straight answers on Microsoft AI and agents.
Who recruits Microsoft AI engineers and agent builders in Australia and New Zealand?
FERG Search does, for Microsoft partners and end users across Australia and New Zealand, permanent and contract: Microsoft Foundry engineers, Copilot Studio builders, AI solution architects and heads of AI. The founder, Fintan Ferguson, runs every search from Melbourne.
Do I need a pro-code AI engineer or a Copilot Studio developer?
A Copilot Studio developer builds and grounds agents on Dataverse, Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 data. A pro-code AI engineer builds on Microsoft Foundry and Azure: custom models, orchestration, evaluation and the integration underneath. Most first agents need the first. A platform that other teams will build on needs the second, and the bands are $30k to $35k apart.
Do I hire AI talent on contract or permanently?
Contract for a burst, a pilot or a first agent. Permanent for a seat you will still need in eighteen months. Much of the Microsoft AI work we see in Australia and New Zealand starts on contract and converts, so run the break-even at the first extension, not the third. If the seat survives the project, it is a permanent seat.
Do you recruit heads of AI and AI practice leads?
Yes. Heads and directors of AI for end users, and practice leads for agentic business solutions inside Microsoft partners. They are the seats we find hardest to fill in Australia and New Zealand, because the people who fit them are rarely looking, so the search starts with people we already know.
Brief an AI role.
Tell us what the agent has to do and who it is for. You will get a market read before the brief is finished.