Principal Engineer - AI-Driven Cloud Architecture Leader

protechtgroup; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid/flexible working

Performance bonus

Professional development

Parental leave

Job summary

Protecht is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead architectural evolution and the AI-enabled transformation of our AWS platform. You will shape long‑term technical direction, guide multi‑team initiatives, and build PoCs that demonstrate scalable, secure systems.

You’ll work with the Architecture & Innovation team, partnering with the Chief Architect to deliver measurable business impact and modernise our platform for AI‑powered capabilities.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a Principal/Staff level engineering role.
• Strong knowledge of Java (Spring Boot / Spring Cloud) and related ecosystems.
• Deep understanding of system design, APIs, cloud architectures and event-driven systems.
• Hands-on AWS experience across architecture, deployment, security and operations.
• Experience leading technical initiatives across multiple teams.
• Strong communication skills and a curious, critical mindset.

Responsibilities

• Define the long term technical vision and architectural direction for Protecht’s core systems.
• Lead the design and development of scalable, reliable, and secure distributed systems.
• Drive modularisation of our platform, expanding microservices and evolving cloud architecture.
• Incubate new product ideas from concept to working PoC using AI-powered tooling.
• Drive adoption of AI-assisted development practices (LLM based code generation, automated reviews, AI‑augmented testing).
• Evaluate emerging AI tools and measure their productivity impact.
• Write production-quality Java (Spring Boot / Spring Cloud) and frontend code.
• Build prototypes and reference implementations to guide engineering teams.
• Act as a key technical advisor to leadership and stakeholders, translating concepts into business impact.
• Contribute to the long-term technical roadmap and engineering strategy.

Skills

Software engineering

Java

Spring Boot

Spring Cloud

AWS

Architecture leadership

Communication skills

Tools

AWS

Job description

Protecht is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead architectural evolution and the AI-enabled transformation of our AWS platform. You will shape long‑term technical direction, guide multi‑team initiatives, and build PoCs that demonstrate scalable, secure systems.

You’ll work with the Architecture & Innovation team, partnering with the Chief Architect to deliver measurable business impact and modernise our platform for AI‑powered capabilities.