Engineering Lead - Technology

Healthdirect Australia; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

Healthdirect Australia is seeking an Engineering Lead - Core Capabilities to guide reusable platforms, APIs and AI-enabled services underpinning national virtual health offerings. You will own and evolve the API platform and MCP layer while remaining hands-on in design and integration.

You will lead a dedicated engineering team, mentor engineers, and collaborate with government and health partners to deliver scalable, secure solutions in a regulated healthcare environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• 5+ years leading teams (5+ engineers).
• Delivery of integration-heavy, platform and back-end solutions.
• Cloud experience with AWS and microservices.
• Experience with healthcare interoperability standards (FHIR/HL7).
• Backend/integration tech including Node.js/TypeScript, .NET, AWS.
• Experience with API gateways and messaging systems.
• AI-enabled software engineering tooling and MCP patterns.
• Vendor and delivery-management in a hybrid model.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and trade-off communication.

Responsibilities

• Stay hands-on in solution design, integration architecture, code review and debugging across shared platforms.
• Own end-to-end delivery for the interop API platform, centralised APIs, CMS integrations and the AI MCP layer.
• Own and evolve the AI Model Context Protocol (MCP) layer and scale AI agents.
• Own and evolve the interoperability API platform, adopting standards such as FHIR.
• Coach and develop engineers and help establish the Core Capabilities team.
• Lead major incidents and manage vendor/partner relationships.
• Introduce new ways of working with platform tech including GenAI and MCP-based capabilities.
• Act as the senior technical escalation point for cross-system issues.

Skills

Software engineering

Leadership

Integration platforms

AWS cloud

FHIR HL7 knowledge

Node.js/TypeScript

.NET

API gateways

MCP / AI enablement

Vendor management

Stakeholder comms

Tools

Node.js/TypeScript

.NET

AWS

API gateways

Messaging

Job description

• Own the API, interoperability and AI enablement layers that underpin national health services
• Lead a dedicated engineering team while staying hands-on in solution design and code review
• Hybrid working (2 days in office), easy commute to our Haymarket office near Central station

About us

At Healthdirect Australia, we help Australians access trusted health information, advice and care through our national virtual health services.

About the opportunity

We are seeking an Engineering Lead - Core Capabilities to lead the reusable platforms, APIs and AI-enabled services that are extended to Australians through our products and through integrations with government and healthcare partners.

In this role, you will own and develop the API platform that connects Healthdirect's services with external partners - adopting standards such as FHIR - and the AI enablement layer, scaling both the platform and the AI agents built on it.

Reporting to the Head of Engineering, you will lead a dedicated engineering team while staying technically engaged in solution design, integration architecture, coding practices and code review.

Key Responsibilities

• Stay hands-on in solution design, integration architecture, code review and debugging across shared platforms
• Own end-to-end delivery for in-scope systems, including the interop API platform, centralised APIs, CMS integrations and the AI MCP layer
• Own and evolve the AI Model Context Protocol (MCP) layer, and scale the AI agents built on it
• Own and evolve the interoperability API platform, adopting standards such as FHIR for internal teams and external partners
• Coach and develop engineers through hands-on technical mentoring, and help establish the new Core Capabilities team
• Lead or participate in major incident response, and manage vendor and partner relationships, including a vendor-managed CMS
• Introduce new ways of working with platform and integration technology, including GenAI and MCP-based capabilities
• Act as the senior technical escalation point for cross-system and integration issues

About You

You are an experienced platform and integration engineering leader who can coordinate a portfolio of interconnected capabilities - spanning content, information management, APIs and AI enablement - with an eye to interoperability, security, operations and compliance in a regulated healthcare environment. You lead through direct technical involvement, not just delivery oversight, and you're comfortable balancing in-house delivery with partners and vendors.

What you'll bring to the role

• 10+ years' software engineering experience, including 5+ years leading engineering teams and direct experience managing a team of 5+ software engineers
• Demonstrated experience delivering integration-heavy, platform and back-end solutions across disparate systems, including content and information management platforms
• Strong cloud platform experience in AWS, with cloud-native architectures, microservices and resilient, fault-tolerant distributed systems
• Experience designing and operating API and interoperability platforms consumed by internal teams and external partners, including government and Department of Health entities
• Working knowledge of healthcare interoperability standards such as FHIR and HL7
• Experience with modern back-end and integration technologies (Node.js / TypeScript, .NET, AWS; API gateways and messaging)
• AI-assisted software engineering tooling, and exposure to AI enablement patterns such as the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agentic AI
• Experience managing vendors and delivery partners under a hybrid delivery model
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to communicate technical trade-offs to non-technical audiences

Why join Healthdirect

Your work will contribute to nationally significant virtual health services that support Australians to access trusted health advice and care. You will help shape the platforms and AI-enabled capabilities that our products, and our government and healthcare partners, build on.

We are committed to creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work.

Our benefits include:

• Flexible work arrangements (2 days per week in office, pro-rated for part time employees);
• 14 weeks company Paid Parental Leave for both parents;
• Multi-dimensional wellbeing program that is run by our people for our people;
• Individual curated learner journeys to support you to expand your capabilities and unlock your talent.

To find out more about Healthdirect and our vision for a healthier Australia, visit about.healthdirect.gov.au.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we respect and seek to empower each individual and support the diverse cultures, perspectives, skills, and experiences within our workforce.