Chief Engineer

CommBank; Sydney; On-site; AUD 260,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

CommBank seeks a Chief Engineer to lead the technical strategy, architecture, and engineering standards across Finance and Risk technology platforms. You will drive legacy platform modernisation, uplift engineering practices, and ensure compliance with enterprise architecture and regulatory obligations.

You will act as the senior technical authority, guiding multiple teams, aligning with risk frameworks, and delivering resilient, scalable solutions for regulatory reporting and financial risk

Qualifications

• 15+ years of engineering experience in enterprise-scale or banking environments.
• Proven experience leading complex Finance and/or Risk technology platforms.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, data platforms, and cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Strong understanding of financial systems (GL, ledgering, reporting) and risk systems.
• Experience working within regulated environments (APRA, Basel frameworks).
• Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale transformation and modernisation programs.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the target architecture for Finance & Risk platforms (e.g. GL, regulatory reporting, credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk systems).
• Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, data strategy, and platform standards.
• Drive API-first, event-driven, and modular architecture patterns.
• Establish best practices for high availability, disaster recovery, and operational resilience.
• Drive improvements in system reliability, observability, and incident management.
• Champion secure engineering practices aligned with cybersecurity standards.
• Ensure strong SDLC governance, including CI/CD, automated testing, and release controls.
• Drive data lineage, reconciliation, and controls across upstream/downstream systems.
• Provide technical leadership across multiple engineering teams and domains.
• Mentor principal engineers and engineering leaders.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Data platforms

Regulatory compliance knowledge

Job description

Specific work or activities you will perform:

Lead the modernisation of Finance & Risk technology platforms, including legacy system simplification, cloud adoption, resilience uplift, and establishment of engineering standards across software, data, and AI engineering. Provide enterprise-level technical leadership for platform architecture, data governance, AI integration, secure engineering practices, and operational resilience across critical Finance & Risk systems.

Business outcome this work enables:

Improves the resilience, scalability, and reliability of Finance & Risk platforms and strengthens the quality, traceability, and governance of financial and risk data used for regulatory reporting and decision-making. Enables faster and lower-risk delivery of regulatory, audit, and business initiatives through modernised architecture, standardised engineering practices, and governed AI adoption.

Role Overview:

We are seeking a Chief Engineer to lead the technical strategy, architecture, and engineering standards across Finance and Risk technology platforms at CBA. This role is responsible for ensuring our systems are resilient, secure, compliant, and scalable, while supporting critical regulatory, financial reporting, and risk management capabilities.

You will act as the senior-most technical authority across Finance & Risk domains, driving modernisation of legacy platforms, uplifting engineering practices, and ensuring alignment with CBA’s enterprise architecture, risk frameworks, and regulatory obligations.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and own the target architecture for Finance & Risk platforms (e.g. GL, regulatory reporting, credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk systems)
• Ensure alignment with CBA enterprise architecture, data strategy, and platform standards
• Drive API-first, event-driven, and modular architecture patterns
• Engineering Excellence & Resilience
• Establish best practices forhigh availability, disaster recovery, and operational resilience
• Drive improvements in system reliability, observability, and incident management
• Champion secure engineering practices aligned with CBA cybersecurity standards
• Ensure strong SDLC governance, including CI/CD, automated testing, and release controls
• Data & Platform Integrity
• Ensure accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of finance and risk data across platforms
• Drive data lineage, reconciliation, and controls across upstream/downstream systems
• Support enterprise data platforms and integration with risk analytics and reporting tools
• Leadership & Culture
• Provide technical leadership across multiple engineering teams and domains
• Mentor principal engineers and engineering leaders
• Build a culture of accountability, engineering excellence, and continuous improvement
• Influence hiring, capability uplift, and workforce strategy
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Partner with senior leaders acrossFinance, Risk, Treasury, and Technology
• Translate complex technical concepts into business and regulatory impact
• Support executive and board-level discussions where required (e.g. risk, resilience, incidents)

Required Qualifications:

• 15+ years of engineering experience, with significant time inenterprise-scale or banking environments
• Proven experience leading complexFinance and/or Risk technology platforms
• Deep expertise indistributed systems, data platforms, and cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Strong understanding offinancial systems (GL, ledgering, reporting) and risk systems
• Experience working withinregulated environments (APRA, Basel frameworks, etc.)
• Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale transformation and modernisation programs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience withBCBS 239, regulatory reporting, or capital/liquidity frameworks
• Background indata architecture, data governance, or enterprise data platforms
• Familiarity withmodel risk, credit risk, or market risk systems
• Experience inplatform engineering or core banking transformation

Key Attributes:

• Strong technical depth with enterprise-scale thinking
• Risk-aware decision maker with strong governance mindset
• Influential leader comfortable operating at executive level
• Pragmatic approach to balancing legacy constraints with modernisation goals

Success Measures:

• Improved resilience and stability of Finance & Risk platforms
• Successful delivery of regulatory and audit outcomes
• Reduction in legacy complexity and technical debt
• High-quality, trusted financial and risk data across the organisation
• Increased engineering maturity, velocity, and talent retention

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