Head Of High‐Security Ai Engineering

Trellis Data; Canberra; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great salary + bonuses

Access to cutting-edge AI hardware &云

Canberra’s most innovative AI company

Job summary

TrellisData in Canberra leads secure AI deployments for high‑security government and defence sectors. You will head the High‑Security AI Engineering stream, architecting edge‑ready deployments and guiding a specialized team to meet strict government requirements.

The role blends hands‑on engineering with people leadership, mentoring 10–20 deep‑tech engineers, and ensuring IRAP/Essential8 compliance and performance goals. A NV1 SECURITY CLEARANCE is highly desirable.

Qualifications

• 30+ years of experience in software/AI engineering and leadership.
• Proven track record delivering large-scale, security‑critical AI systems.
• Experience guiding teams through IRAP/ASD Essential8 aligned infrastructures.

Responsibilities

• Architect and deliver on‑prem/offline AI stacks for latency‑critical solutions.
• Embed security/compliance into CI/CD and deployment pipelines.
• Lead and mentor a cross‑functional team of AI engineers and security specialists.
• Collaborate with R&D, product, and tech leaders to align solutions with customer needs.

Skills

Technical leadership

Cloud platforms

AI/ML

Security compliance

Team mentoring

Strategic thinking

Job description

Job Description

Location: Canberra, Australia (We are looking for someone who lives in Canberra) Employment type: Full‐time, senior leadership

About TrellisData

TrellisData is a fast‐growing Australian sovereign‐AI leader that powers high‐security organisations across defence, logistics and law‐enforcement. Our product Agentaus (Agentaus.com.au) is Australia's AI capability leading the country and the region in AI Chat, Agents, and API connectivity. Our mission is to deliver world‐leading AI that is trusted and safe for our customers. We champion a culture of curiosity, collaboration and rapid impact, where every voice can shape the future of secure AI.

About this role:

You will lead the High‐Security AI Engineering stream, responsible for creating hardened, edge‐ready AI deployments that meet strict Government and Defence requirements. The role is technical – you'll lead and assist the team deliver product and bespoke requirements that can achieve the success criteria of AI for our customers. Your ability to translate requirements to technical elements and to support your team in delivering AI benefits to our customers will be key to success.

This role also requires some managerial skills, guiding a highly talented and specialised team of AI engineers, dev‐ops engineers, security and edge device specialists.

Key responsibilities

• Core engineering – Architect and implement on‐prem / offline AI stacks (model creation, quantisation, fine‑tuning, secure enclaves, load balancing, zero trust systems) for latency‑critical, air‑gapped and private cloud solutions.
• Compliance & audit – Embed IRAP, ASD Essential8 and export‑control requirements into the CI/CD pipeline.
• Performance optimisation – Drive optimisation through AI compute and AI software, infrastructure, and power consumption to meet bespoke customer requirements.
• Team leadership (≈30%) – Build and mentor a cross‑functional team of 10-20 AI Deep Tech experts and other specialised engineers, champion career growth, conduct regular technical deep‑dives and retrospectives.
• Collaboration – Partner with the other leaders in Trellis Data in a continual learning culture, supporting functions like R&D, product, technology, customer success and corporate to ensure seamless integration of secure AI solutions into enterprise workflows, aligned to the company's strategic objectives.

Who you are

• Technical depth:10‐+years architecting large‐scale cloud platforms and/or disconnected or air gapped systems. Ability to think laterally through technical issues to find new and innovative solutions to deliver customer requirements.
• Hands‑on leader: Comfortable rolling up sleeves to write code, help test, build automation outcomes, and troubleshoot complex latency issues.
• Security‑first mindset: Proven experience delivering IRAP‑or ISO‑27001‑aligned infrastructures, preferably for AI/ML workloads.
• Security clearance: Australian Security Clearance is Highly Desirable (NV1 preferred, Baseline acceptable with willingness to gain a NV1).
• People champion: Demonstrated success building and scaling high‑performing engineering squads; excellent communicator and mentor.
• Strategic thinker: Ability to translate product vision into robust, cost‑effective platform designs.
• Cultural fit: Passion for Australian‑owned tech, thrives in a fast‑moving, collaborative environment and shares our commitment to ethical AI.

What we offer

• Great salary + performance‑based bonuses
• Access to cutting‑edge AI hardware and cloud resources
• The opportunity to join Canberra's most innovative company and one of Australia's upcoming success stories in AI.

Ready to lead the next generation of secure AI at Australia's premier sovereign‑AI platform?

We look forward to meeting you.