Senior Developer / Tech Lead - AI LAB

Datacom; Christchurch; Hybrid; NZD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible and hybrid working options

Paid parental leave

24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

Job summary

Datacom is expanding its AI capabilities in New Zealand. The role focuses on building AI-driven software solutions within the Digital Engineering team, delivering cutting-edge models and applications for real-world business challenges. You will collaborate across functions to push boundaries in AI development and deployment.

The opportunity targets senior developers and tech leads who are passionate about AI and eager to contribute to a NZ-based tech powerhouse on a global stage.

Qualifications

• 7+ years professional software development experience with Python and TypeScript
• Production ML/AI experience with at least one generative-AI solution
• Familiarity with transformers and orchestration stacks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel)
• Experience deploying or fine-tuning models on cloud AI services (Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock/SageMaker)
• Hands-on with RAG patterns, vector databases, evaluation metrics (BLEU, ROUGE-L, GPTScore)
• Cloud-native engineering skills: Docker, Kubernetes (AKS/EKS), infra-as-code, automated testing

Responsibilities

• Join the Digital Engineering team to deliver AI-driven software solutions
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and use the latest AI models

Skills

7+ years product

Generative AI delivery

Transformers & orchestration

Cloud AI platforms

RAG patterns & vector DBs

Docker & Kubernetes

Job description

About Us

At Datacom, we combine technology, expertise, and talented people to help organisations thrive in a rapidly changing world. As one of Australasia's leading technology providers, we work with customers across industries to solve real-world problems and deliver meaningful outcomes.

About Us

At Datacom, we combine technology, expertise, and talented people to help organisations thrive in a rapidly changing world. As one of Australasia's leading technology providers, we work with customers across industries to solve real-world problems and deliver meaningful outcomes. Whether we're supporting governments, enterprise organisations, or growing businesses, we're committed to creating meaningful outcomes for our customers, communities, and each other.

About The Role (your Why)

The way we work and our customer needs are changing! We are going through a significant AI uplift that will be a real game changer in the NZ Market. Our customers are loving our story and excited about our new service solutions. As such we are seeking Senior/Tech Leads, and Senior Developers, who want to get on board our AI journey. We need someone who is passionate about AI development and wants to push boundaries. Your software background is key but your passion for AI is a must. This role will see you will join our Digital Engineering team, focusing on delivering innovative AI-driven software solutions. We will offer you opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects, collaborating with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and use the latest AI Models that address complex business challenges. We need multiple people but we need them now so please don't hesitate this is your chance to put a New Zealand company on the global map!!!

What You'll Bring

Must-haves

• 7+ years professional software development (Python and Typescript preferred) with production ML/AI experience
• Demonstrated delivery of at least one generative-AI solution in production (chatbot, summariser, code assistant, etc.)
• Deep familiarity with transformers and orchestration stacks such as LangChain v0.2+, LlamaIndex or Semantic Kernel
• Practical experience deploying or fine-tuning models on Azure OpenAI / AI Foundry or AWS Bedrock / SageMaker
• Hands-on with RAG patterns, vector databases and evaluation metrics (BLEU, ROUGE-L, GPTScore)
• Cloud-native engineering skills: Docker, Kubernetes (AKS/EKS), infra-as-code and automated testing

Nice-to-haves

• Agent frameworks (AutoGen 0.2/0.4, CrewAI) and tool-using agents.
• Multimodal model workflows (image-text with GPT-4o, Gpt4o real time API)
• Experience with embedding models
• Workspace automation using agentic frameworks
• Advanced RAG variants - familiarity with LongRAG, Self-RAG, GraphRAG and the trade-offs between leading vector stores (Pinecone, Qdrant, FAISS, Azure AI Search)
• Multimodal & streaming LLMs - delivering real-time GPT-4o or Gemini 2 Ultra use-cases (image to text or speech) and cross-modal embeddings

Culture And Benefits

Join a team where you'll be supported to grow your career, prioritise your wellbeing, and make a genuine impact. From industry-leading learning and development opportunities to parental leave, wellbeing support, and employee benefits, we're committed to helping our people thrive both professionally and personally. We’re passionate about creating a workplace where people feel supported, empowered, and inspired to do their best work. Whether you're developing new skills, tackling complex challenges, or collaborating with some of the best minds in the industry, you'll be part of a team that values curiosity, innovation, inclusion, and making a genuine difference.

Why you will love working here

• Flexible and hybrid working options (only include if applicable)
• Paid parental leave
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (DataCare)
• Ongoing learning, certifications, and career development opportunities
• Access to industry-leading learning platforms and future skills training
• Recognition programmes that celebrate great work
• Great employee discounts and financial wellbeing benefits
• Meaningful work that makes a real impact