Hybrid AI Search Engineering Manager

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

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.