Google Australia’s engineering head Alan Noble steps down to focus on a “moonshot” nonprofit

Long time advocate for the Australian startup scene Alan Noble has announced he will be stepping down from his current role as director of engineering at Google Australia to focus on his non-profit organisation AusOcean, and has added his voice to many calling for visa reform.

Noble returned to the Australian startup scene in 2002, having previously worked in the Valley for Intellisync which was later acquired by Nokia. Since then, Noble has co-founded startup advocacy group StartupAus, and been an advisor to Australia’s Chief Scientist, and advised and taken board seat positions for numerous Australian startups.

Speaking to StartupSmart, Noble highlighted the decision to step down from his role at Google was a difficult one, but after three years working on AusOcean as a side project, he decided it was time to commit to his passion.

“I’ve been very passionate about our oceans for a long time, and like many people I enjoy them and the marine environment. But it’s become apparent to me that we’re really abusing our oceans in many different ways,” he says.

“I’m an engineer and I have been my entire career, and one of the things I’ve learnt through my 11 years at Google is that tech used properly can be a very effective way to have a much bigger impact, and massively scale one’s approach to solving problems.” Read more

Dominic Powell - Smart Company - 26 Feb 2018