Director of Engineering

Frazer Tremble; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Frazer Tremble is seeking a high-impact Director of Engineering to lead APAC engineering across multiple product teams. You will report to the VP of Engineering, coaching Engineering Managers and driving delivery in a cloud-first SaaS transformation.

The role requires a genuinely technical leader who can challenge architecture, mentor senior engineers and influence direction across a multi-product landscape while navigating diverse regional cultures.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• 5+ years leading engineering organisations.
• Experience managing Engineering Managers or senior technical leaders.
• Strong technical background across modern cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP beneficial).
• SaaS product development experience, APIs/microservices, event-driven and distributed systems architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead Engineering Managers and technical leaders to build ownership and accountability.
• Drive succession planning and leadership development across the engineering function.
• Champion a psychologically safe engineering culture and strong employee engagement.
• Provide technical leadership across multiple teams, guiding architecture and strategy.
• Partner with Architecture and Platform Engineering to shape target-state architecture and technical strategy.
• Drive modern engineering practices, DevSecOps, platform engineering, test automation and CD.
• Oversee delivery across value streams, modernisation of legacy platforms and cloud migration.
• Translate technical decisions into business outcomes for executive audiences.

Skills

Extensive software engineering

Engineering leadership

Engineering Managers leadership

Cloud platforms

Azure

AWS/GCP

SaaS product development

APIs & microservices

Event-driven architecture

Distributed systems

Technical transformation

Stakeholder management

Senior stakeholder communication

Job description

The Opportunity

This is a newly created, high-impact leadership role within a global EdTech organisation, responsible for Engineering across the APAC region. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, the Director of Engineering will lead multiple Engineering Managers and their product teams, providing technical leadership, organisational leadership and delivery oversight across several value streams.

While not a hands-on development role, this position requires a leader who remains genuinely technical - someone capable of challenging architectural decisions, coaching senior engineers, and influencing engineering direction across a complex, multi-product environment. You will play a central role in the organisation's ongoing transformation from legacy, on-premise products towards a modern, cloud-first SaaS platform.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering & People Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop Engineering Managers and technical leaders, building a strong culture of ownership, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Support succession planning, leadership development and career growth across the engineering function.
• Drive employee engagement and retention, fostering an inclusive and psychologically safe engineering culture.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership across multiple engineering teams, challenging architecture to ensure solutions are scalable, secure and maintainable.
• Coach tech leads and senior engineers on modern engineering best practice.
• Partner closely with Architecture and Platform Engineering to shape target-state architecture and technical strategy.
• Champion the adoption of APIs, event-driven architecture, cloud-native technologies and engineering automation.

Delivery, Transformation & Operational Excellence

• Own engineering delivery across multiple value streams, ensuring predictable, high-quality outcomes aligned to business priorities.
• Lead engineering transformation initiatives, including modernisation of legacy platforms and migration from on-premise to cloud-native services.
• Drive adoption of DevSecOps, platform engineering, test automation and continuous delivery practices.
• Improve platform reliability, observability and operational maturity, embedding a strong 'you build it, you run it' culture.

Stakeholder & Product Partnership

• Build strong relationships across Product, Delivery, Architecture, Security and Executive Leadership.
• Partner with Product leadership to balance customer value, technical investment and operational sustainability.
• Translate technical decisions into business outcomes, communicating effectively with technical and non-technical audiences alike.

About You

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years leading engineering organisations.
• Proven experience managing Engineering Managers or senior technical leaders, with a track record of building high-performing teams.
• A strong technical background across modern cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP beneficial), SaaS product development, APIs/microservices, event-driven and distributed systems architecture.
• Capable of providing credible technical leadership and challenging architectural decisions without writing production code.
• Experience leading technology transformation, ideally including migration from on-premise to SaaS, legacy modernisation, or multi-product platform consolidation.
• A pragmatic, data-driven decision-maker who is comfortable working across multiple regions and cultures, and able to influence without direct authority.
• Calm under pressure, with excellent stakeholder management and communication skills at senior levels.