Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect

Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources; Canberra; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Baseline security clearance

Job summary

The Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources in Canberra, ACT is seeking a Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect to drive the design, governance and evolution of cloud-native, microservices based and AI-enabled platforms.

You will lead modern engineering and AI delivery practices, including SDLC, DevSecOps, CI/CD, observability and security by design, aligning with enterprise architecture and business transformation objectives. Hybrid work in Canberra.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing cloud native, microservices architectures in enterprise environments.
• Expertise in AI engineering and enterprise AI capabilities deployment.
• Strong software and platform engineering with DevSecOps and CI/CD.
• Proven leadership in enterprise modernization, architecture decisions and security.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement and leadership of multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for cloud-native, microservices and AI platforms.
• Lead modern engineering practices including AI-enabled SDLC, CI/CD and security.
• Drive technology modernization and platform adoption with scalable patterns.
• Build organizational capability through governance and mentoring.

Skills

Cloud native

Microservices

AI engineering

DevSecOps

CI/CD

Security by design

Stakeholder leadership

Enterprise architecture

Watching governance

Tools

Kubernetes

OpenShift

AKS

EKS

GKE

Job description

Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect

Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources – Canberra ACT

Job Title - Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect

• Security Clearance: Baseline Clearance
• Length of Contract: 12 months
• The role closes on 14/09/2026

Job Title - Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect

• Security Clearance: Baseline Clearance
• Length of Contract: 12 months
• The role closes on 14/09/2026
• Location: Canberra, ACT (Hybrid)

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and architectural authority for the design, governance and evolution of cloud native, microservices based and AI enabled platforms, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, security and business transformation objectives.
• Lead the establishment of modern engineering and AI delivery practices, including AI enabled software development lifecycle (SDLC), DevSecOps, CI/CD, observability, automated testing and platform engineering standards that support secure, scalable and reliable service delivery.
• Drive technology modernisation and platform adoption, including microservices enhancement, containerisation, integration of enterprise systems and implementation of reusable patterns that improve scalability, maintainability and operational resilience.
• Build organisational capability and technical maturity through knowledge transfer, engineering governance and leadership of multidisciplinary teams, fostering engineering excellence and continuous improvement.

Essential Criteria

• Extensive experience designing, implementing and governing cloud native, microservices and event driven architectures within complex enterprise environments, delivering scalable, resilient and secure business critical platforms.
• Demonstrated expertise in AI engineering and AI enabled solution delivery, including the development, deployment and operationalisation of enterprise AI capabilities, semantic search, machine learning solutions and responsible AI practices.
• Strong software engineering and platform engineering capability, including modern development frameworks, DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, security by design and operational excellence.
• Proven ability to lead enterprise technology modernisation and transformation initiatives, providing technical direction, influencing architecture decisions and delivering measurable improvements in platform reliability, security, scalability and engineering maturity.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement, communication and leadership skills, with demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams, delivery partners and senior executives and translating complex business requirements into practical technology outcomes.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience designing, implementing and operating container platforms using technologies such as Kubernetes, OpenShift, AKS, EKS or GKE, including platform automation, governance and workload management.
• Experience with cloud platform modernisation, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), platform engineering, observability tooling and enterprise scale automation practices.
• Experience leading delivery within Agile environments, including coaching geographically dispersed teams, driving capability uplift and fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.

SFIA Skills Sought

The design and communication of high-level structures to enable and guide the design and development of integrated solutions that meet current and future business needs. In addition to technology components, solution architecture encompasses changes to service, process, organisation, and operating models. The provision of comprehensive guidance on the development of, and modifications to, solution components to ensure that they take account of relevant architectures, strategies, policies, standards and practices (including security) and that existing and planned solution components remain compatible.

ARCH Level 5

Leads the development of solution architectures in specific business, infrastructure or functional areas. Ensures that appropriate tools and methods are available, understood and employed in architecture development. Within a change programme, leads the preparation of technical plans and, in liaison with business assurance and project staff, ensures that appropriate technical resources are made available. Provides advice on technical aspects of solution development and integration (including requests for changes, deviations from specifications, etc.) and ensures that relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices (including security) are applied correctly.

We warmly welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, including First Nations Australians, Australian Defence Force and First Responder veterans, women in STEM, and people of all abilities, including those registered with the NDIS.