Principal Data Engineer

AJEKA Pty Ltd; City of Brisbane; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

AJEKA Pty Ltd in Brisbane seeks a senior Principal Engineer to lead our engineering and testing team, develop AJEKA’s products and scale our Data, Cloud & AI engineering capability. You will be hands-on while guiding technical strategy and capability growth.

Based in Brisbane, you will lead engineering across client engagements and AJEKA products, building reusable, AI-enabled solutions and a scalable full-stack Data & AI capability aligned to our market.

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering teams and testing capability.
• Proven ability to define engineering and testing standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering leadership, testing & quality across data, cloud and AI initiatives.
• Set technical direction, standards and hands-on development.
• Own testing strategy, automation and QA across client engagements.
• Embed DevOps, DataOps, MLOps and CI/CD practices.
• Manage technical risk, quality and debt.
• Engineer reusable components and accelerate future delivery.
• Lead development of product and IP for AJEKA.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Testing strategy

DevOps

DataOps

MLOps

CI/CD

Azure

Databricks

Stakeholder management

Pre-sales

Tools

Azure

Databricks

CI/CD tools

Job description

AJEKA is building a modern Data & AI transformation capability focused on helping organisations modernise platforms, automate operations and adopt enterprise AI solutions.

We are seeking a senior Principal Engineer to lead our engineering and testing team, develop AJEKA’s products and scale our Data, Cloud & AI engineering capability.

This is a hands-on senior technical leadership role responsible for engineering excellence, testing, product development, team leadership and capability growth across Data, Cloud and AI initiatives.

Based in Brisbane, you will lead engineering across client engagements and AJEKA products, building reusable, AI-enabled solutions that streamline delivery and a scalable, full-stack Data & AI engineering capability aligned to AJEKA’s target market.

The role combines:

• Hands-on technical leadership
• Data & AI engineering capability development
• Solution Design
• Engineering standards, testing and quality
• Commercial and pre-sales contribution
• Product and practice development

You will work closely with the Managing Director and Head of Delivery to shape technical strategy, build capability and deliver high-quality, reusable solutions for clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Engineering Leadership, Testing & Quality
• Set technical direction and engineering standards, and remain hands-on in development
• Own testing strategy, test automation and quality assurance across client engagements
• Embed modern engineering practices, including DevOps, DataOps, MLOps and CI/CD
• Manage technical risk, quality and technical debt
• Engineer reusable components, frameworks and accelerators to streamline future delivery
• Build AJEKA’s full-stack Data & AI engineering capability, leveraging AI across the engineering lifecycle

Lead capability development across:

• Databricks
• Data platforms and analytics
• AI automation and machine learning engineering
• Lead development of AJEKA-based products and reusable IP

Engineering Leadership

• Mentor and develop other junior engineers and testers
• Build a high-performing engineering culture focused on quality and continuous learning
• Lead technical recruitment, workforce planning and capability growth
• Develop engineering career pathways, skills frameworks and ways of working
• Provide line management and performance leadership across the engineering function

Commercial & Practice Contribution

• Lead engineering solutioning and estimation for proposals and Statements of Work
• Act as senior technical lead in pre-sales and client pursuits
• Support utilisation, margin and engineering performance
• Build trusted client relationships through technical excellence
• Contribute to practice strategy and capability expansion

You will ideally bring:

• Deep understanding of Azure and Databricks ecosystems
• Experience defining engineering and testing standards, test automation and modern DevOps/DataOps practices
• Strong stakeholder and commercial acumen, with pre-sales and solutioning experience
• Experience using AI to accelerate engineering, testing and delivery, and a passion for innovation
• Capability to assist and sometime develop design artefacts such as Future State High Level Architecture and Solution Designs

Why Join AJEKA?

• Opportunity to shape and scale a growing Data & AI engineering practice
• High-impact role with influence across technical strategy, products and capability
• Opportunity to work at the forefront of enterprise AI engineering and adoption
• Collaborative, entrepreneurial and engineering-led environment