Senior AI Engineer (AI Innovation Office)

Westpac; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Learning and development opportunities

Volunteer opportunities

Mortgage rate benefits

Job summary

Westpac is accelerating the future of banking with responsible, human-centred AI. We are looking for a Senior AI Engineer who can turn bold ideas into secure, scalable solutions and help deliver enterprise-grade AI capabilities.

You will join the Chief AI Innovation Office within our Data, Digital & AI (DDAI) function — a team shaping how advanced analytics, digital platforms and AI are engineered, governed and scaled across a large enterprise.

Qualifications

• Hands-on AI engineering experience in complex, fast-moving corporate environments.
• Production delivery of AI/ML/LLM systems deployed and governed at scale.
• Strong software foundations including Python, APIs, cloud services and distributed systems.
• Deep practical experience with LLMs, RAG, embeddings, agents, evaluation and orchestration.
• Experience building guardrails around safety, privacy, compliance, explainability and reliability.
• Ability to influence technical direction and engineering standards.
• Clear, confident communication with engineers, product teams and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and ship AI platforms, services, and products at enterprise scale.
• Engineer robust LLM, RAG, agentic and orchestration solutions with strong reliability and governance.
• Move AI capabilities from experiments to production with testing, deployment and monitoring.
• Set and lift standards for prompt management, model evaluation, security and responsible AI guardrails.
• Balance model quality, latency, cost and risk in dynamic delivery environments.
• Collaborate with product, platform, data, risk, security and business partners to scale AI safely.
• Review designs and code, mentor engineers and create reusable production patterns.
• Lead investigations and durable fixes for AI system issues.

Skills

Hands-on AI engineering

Python

APIs

Cloud services

Distributed systems

CI/CD

LLMs

RAG

Embeddings

Agents

Evaluation frameworks

Orchestration

Model lifecycle management

Monitoring

Responsible AI guardrails

Tools

Python

APIs

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud platforms

Job description

• Sydney Location / Hybrid Working


• Senior AI Engineering SME Opportunity

What is the opportunity?

Westpac is accelerating the future of banking through responsible, human-centred AI — and we’re looking for outstanding Senior AI Engineer who can turn bold ideas into secure, scalable, production-grade solutions.

You’ll complement the Westpac Chief AI Innovation Office within our Data, Digital & AI (DDAI) function — a team shaping how advanced analytics, digital platforms and AI are engineered, governed and scaled across a large, complex enterprise.

Role Purpose

This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who has built real AI systems in demanding corporate environments — not just prototypes, proofs of concept or theory. You’ll design, build, test, harden and operate AI capabilities that are safe, reliable and ready for enterprise-scale use.

You’ll bring deep AI technical credibility, strong software engineering discipline and the confidence to make smart trade-offs in fluid, high-stakes environments. You’ll help lift engineering standards, guide others and ensure AI is delivered responsibly from concept through to production.

Key responsibilities

• Design, build and ship complex AI platforms, services and products that solve real business problems at scale.


• Engineer robust LLM, RAG, agentic and orchestration solutions with strong attention to reliability, evaluation, observability and governance.


• Take AI capabilities from experimentation into production, including testing, deployment, monitoring, incident response and continuous improvement.


• Set and lift engineering standards across prompt management, model evaluation, security, privacy, compliance and responsible AI guardrails.


• Make practical trade-offs across model quality, latency, cost, risk and customer impact in complex and rapidly evolving delivery environments.


• Partner closely with product, platform, data, risk, security and business stakeholders to scale AI safely and sustainably.


• Review designs and code, mentor engineers and help create reusable production patterns for AI delivery.


• Lead technical investigations, root-cause analysis and durable fixes for AI system issues.

Essential Ingredients

• Outstanding hands-on AI engineering experience gained in complex, fast-moving corporate or enterprise environments.


• Proven production delivery experience across AI, machine learning or LLM-enabled systems — with evidence of systems that have been deployed, governed and operated at scale.


• Strong software engineering foundations, including Python, APIs, cloud services, distributed systems, CI/CD and modern engineering practices.


• Deep practical experience with LLMs, RAG patterns, embeddings, agents, evaluation frameworks, orchestration, model lifecycle management and monitoring.


• Experience building responsible AI guardrails across safety, privacy, compliance, explainability, reliability and operational risk.


• Ability to influence technical direction, shape engineering standards and bring stakeholders with you through ambiguity and change.


• Clear, confident communication skills with engineers, product teams, delivery leaders, risk partners and senior stakeholders.

What your success has looked like to date …

• AI solutions move beyond prototypes and become trusted, secure and production-ready enterprise capabilities.


• Engineering patterns are clear, reusable and adopted across teams.


• AI risks are designed out early through strong architecture, governance and operating discipline.


• Systems are observable, resilient and continuously improved based on real usage, feedback and performance data.


• Engineers around you grow through practical mentoring, strong technical example and thoughtful design review.


• Stakeholders trust the AI engineering function to deliver safely, quickly and with commercial impact.

Why join us?

We’re obsessed with becoming our customers' #1 banking partner for life and we’re looking for people who are passionate about helping us achieve that goal. In return, we’re committed to making Westpac the best place to work in the country.

Here are just a few of the ways we’re already doing that:

• Special offers on banking products and discounts from top brands, including generous employee-only mortgage rates!


• Flexible work arrangements to help you achieve a greater work/life balance, and a variety of leave options including Culture, Lifestyle and Wellbeing leave.


• Tailored learning and development opportunities to help grow your career within the bank.


• Lots of opportunities to ‘give back’ to the Community by getting involved in our many volunteering initiatives.

Create your future today!

We’re all about creating a supportive and inclusive community. We welcome everyone – no matter your age, gender, background, or abilities. We also provide additional support to welcome our veterans, Indigenous Australians and neurodiverse community.

If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, you can find out more information and additional contact details by visiting the \"People with Disability and/or needing Accessibility Requirements\"page on our website.