Engineering Manager - Search Intelligence

Rea Group; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Birthday leave

Flexible parental leave

Because We Care program

Hackdays

Job summary

REA Group is seeking an Engineering Manager for AI Search Intelligence in Melbourne. You will lead a diverse team across software, ML and data disciplines, driving technical excellence and scalable, production-grade AI features.

You’ll shape the direction of AI-powered semantic search, collaborate with product and engineering peers, and foster ownership and high performance within a flexible, hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Experience leading teams of 8–10 across software, ML and data disciplines.
• Hands-on coaching through pairing, code review and engineering standards.
• Strong judgment across full stack, ML and data science environments.
• Experience designing AI-powered applications with LLM integration.
• Strong API design, cloud architecture and systems thinking.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and manage competing priorities.
• Ownership mindset with proactive proposals.
• Excellent collaboration across product, design, architecture and engineering.
• Commitment to software craft and operational ownership.

Responsibilities

• Deliver squad roadmap commitments and AI search engineering outcomes.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team via coaching, pairing and feedback.
• Set technical direction and maintain high standards in design, AI deployment and systems health.
• Drive development of conversational search features and semantic search capabilities.
• Partner with product leaders to shape the strategic direction of search at REA.
• Define integration of AI-powered search into a unified experience.
• Make trade-off decisions about economics and operations of AI features at scale.
• Foster an environment where engineers take ownership and grow.
• Support a strong operational culture aligned with REA values.

Skills

Team leadership

Hands-on coaching

Full stack understanding

AI/ML integration

API design

Cloud architecture

Systems thinking

Ownership culture

Collaboration

Stakeholder influence

Tools

Cloud platforms

Job description

• This is an opportunity to lead a team working on the future of property search at REA.


• Help shape experiences used at enormous scale.


• Flexible work environment

We're REA

At REA, we’re changing the way the world experiences property.

Our brands include realestate.com.au, realcommercial.com.au, Flatmates.com.au, PropTrack and Mortgage Choice. We’re proud to have been named one of Australia’s Best Workplaces four times since 2021, including third place in 2025, as well as Best Workplace in Technology in 2024 and 2025.

A bit about the team:

AI Search Intelligence exists to reimagine REA’s core consumer search experiences, bringing together search, discovery and platform capabilities so we can help millions of people find their next home.

This role sits within the Core Experiences portfolio, in the Experience & Platform group, leading the AI Search Intelligence squad. It’s a recently established team focused on building and scaling REA’s next-generation conversational search capabilities, natural language query understanding APIs and attribute-aware semantic matching pipelines.

A little bit about the role:

As Engineering Manager, you’ll play a pivotal role driving technical excellence, delivery success and team leadership for AI Search Intelligence. You’ll lead a diverse team of 9 direct reports across full stack engineering, machine learning and data science. You’ll help the team strengthen engineering quality and continue building capability in a team that solves some of REA’s most complex and strategically important search problems.

You’re comfortable leading teams that build and operate complex production software systems and high-throughput APIs, and you’re energised by the opportunity to apply modern AI and NLP technologies at scale.

Day to day you can expect to deliver on the following:

• Deliver squad roadmap commitments and AI search engineering outcomes in a sustainable way.


• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team through coaching, pairing, feedback, delegation and setting clear expectations.


• Set technical direction and maintain high standards in software engineering quality, code standards, solution design, AI and ML deployment and evaluation, systems health and engineering compliance.


• Drive the development of conversational search features, memory systems, query understanding pipelines and semantic search capabilities.


• Partner closely with product leaders and adjacent engineering teams to shape the strategic direction of search at REA.


• Help define how AI-powered semantic search and traditional search capabilities integrate into a unified future experience.


• Make thoughtful decisions about technical trade-offs, including the economics and operational cost of AI-powered features at scale.


• Create an environment where engineers take ownership, step up into new responsibilities and do their best work together.


• Support a strong operational culture grounded in REA’s values.

What we’re looking for:

• Experience leading engineering teams of 8-10 people, ideally across a mix of software, machine learning and data disciplines.


• Recent hands‑on experience coaching engineers through pairing, code review and clear engineering standards.


• Strong technical judgement and the ability to read and understand code across full stack, machine learning and data science environments.


• Experience designing and operating AI‑powered applications, including integrating LLMs into products, evaluation‑driven development, experimentation and continuous improvement.


• Strong judgement across modern API design, cloud architecture, software engineering practices and systems thinking.


• The ability to lead through ambiguity, manage competing priorities and make progress in a fast‑evolving landscape.


• A strong sense of ownership and a proactive mindset — someone who brings proposals, not just questions.


• Excellent collaboration and influencing skills across product, design, architecture and engineering stakeholders


• A commitment to software craft, robust model evaluation, operational ownership, team wellbeing and growth.


• A leadership style that is inclusive, grounded, empowering and human, with the personality and energy to build a strong team environment.

The REA experience

The physical, mental, emotional and financial health of our people is something we’ll never stop caring about. This is a place to learn and grow. Some of our perks and benefits include:

• A hybrid and flexible approach to working


• Flexible leave options including birthday leave and the option to purchase additional leave


• Flexible parental leave offering for primary and secondary carers


• Our Because We Care program offers employees volunteering leave, community grants, matched payroll giving and our Community Café donates 100% of revenue to charity


• Hackdays so you can bring your big ideas to life