Lead AI Engineer (Generative AI)

Salt; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 160,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Salt is seeking a Lead AI Engineer to drive the adoption of Generative AI within a well-known Australian company. This permanent role offers a salary of 160 – 170K + Super + Bonus, with a hybrid working model requiring 2-3 days in the Melbourne CBD office.

The ideal candidate will have 2-4 years of experience in Generative AI, a strong software engineering background, and the capability to provide technical leadership.

Join a dynamic team that emphasizes innovation and best practices in AI development.

Qualifications

• 2 - 4 years experience applying modern Generative AI in real delivery environments.
• Strong background in software engineering before stepping into an AI-focused role.
• Deep expertise in Generative AI and modern machine learning techniques.
• Great communication skills with the ability to be a bridge between teams.

Responsibilities

• Accelerate the adoption of Generative AI and AI-first engineering practices.
• Provide technical leadership and shape AI-enabled solutions.
• Collaborate with a variety of cross-functional teams.
• Coach engineers in safe, effective AI-assisted development.

Skills

Generative AI

Technical leadership

Software engineering

Machine learning techniques

Prompt engineering

React

AWS

CI/CD

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Tools

GitHub Actions

GraphQL

Job description

• Permanent Role Paying 160 – 170K + Super + Bonus
• Accelerate the adoption of Generative AI for this company!
• Melbourne CBD Office, Hybrid Model of Working, 2-3 days in office per week

Join a well‑known Australian company as a Lead AI Engineer (Generative AI)!

This role is for:

• Someone with 2 - 4 years experience applying modern Generative AI in real delivery environments
• Someone with a strong track record of providing technical leadership
• Someone with a strong background in software engineering before stepping into a more AI‑focused role in recent times

What’s in it for you?

• Join a well‑known ASX listed Australian company
• Key Permanent Role Paying 160 – 170K + Super + Bonus
• Great opportunity to help this company accelerate their adoption of Generative AI and by doing so uplift engineering standards and modernise the SDLC
• Great opportunity to coach teams to safely and effectively use Generative AI and LLMs
• Play a key role in influencing AI strategy, AI delivery, AI culture and responsible AI practices
• Technical leadership opportunity where you’ll collaborate with a variety of stakeholders
• Fantastic company culture and employee experience, work with colleagues that have excellent tenure in this organisation!
• Hybrid working model outlined above

What you’ll bring?

• 2 - 4 years experience applying modern Generative AI in real delivery environments
• A strong track record of providing technical leadership
• A strong background in software engineering before stepping into a more AI‑focused role in recent times
• Deep expertise in Generative AI, large language models, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), and modern machine learning techniques
• Strengths in prompt engineering, offline/online evaluation, safety guardrails, and telemetry‑driven improvement.
• Practical experience with RAG, embeddings/vector search, and tool‑use/function‑calling orchestration.
• The ability to define trustworthy AI metrics
• A Software engineering background using the likes of React, Typescript, React Native
• AWS experience / certifications
• Strong knowledge of CI/CD
• Experience with monitoring tools
• Great communication skills with the ability to be a bridge between teams and bring them together
• A passion for embedding quality in delivery
• Experience leading teams and driving end‑to‑end digital solutions
• Excellent influencing skills and stakeholder management skills
• A real passion for AI, its use and technology and innovation as a whole

Nice to Have’s Include:

• A background in using Java, Kotlin
• Experience with GraphQL
• Experience with GitHub Actions
• Experience with Edge AI patterns
• Understanding of micro‑frontends

What you'll be doing:

• Accelerating the adoption of Generative AI for this company, leading the adoption of AI‑first engineering practices and an ‘AI‑first’ mindset
• Providing technical leadership and shaping AI‑enabled solutions
• Reporting into the Head of Technology and working closely with the Head of Enterprise AI
• Collaborating with a variety of cross‑functional teams including Engineering, QA, BA, Product Management, Senior Business Stakeholders, Data Science, Cyber Security, Enterprise Architecture
• Coaching and training engineers and leaders in the organisation in safe, effective AI‑assisted development
• Encouraging teams to embed AI‑driven thinking in solution design and delivery
• Defining and helping to operationalise trustworthy metrics to measure the impact of AI features, and developer productivity uplifts
• Producing AI‑augmented solution designs when required
• Driving engineering excellence by uplifting standards, modernising technical practices, and championing AI‑aligned SDLC patterns
• Upskilling teams on AI/LLM
• Uplifting agentic workflows, prompt engineering, model evaluation and telemetry‑driven validation
• Automating approaches to quality assurance and performance, working to automate testing through the use of AI practices
• Fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.