Staff Software Engineer, AI Tooling, Information Security

Airwallex; Melbourne (KY); Hybrid; USD 105,000 - 141,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is hiring for an InfoSec-focused engineering leader to shape the roadmap for internal security tooling. You will own development of AI-powered security tools, build scalable infrastructure, and work closely with product teams to automate security outcomes.

You should bring 7+ years of software experience, Python plus Go/C++, and strong cloud, Kubernetes, and Linux skills. This hybrid role is based in Melbourne or Sydney with on-site presence three days per week.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field.
• 7+ years of relevant software engineering experience.
• Experience with Python and one systems programming language (Go or C/C++).
• Experience with modern cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, serverless workloads, and Kubernetes.
• Ability to work autonomously and deliver high-quality projects on time.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to investigate deeply and find optimal solutions; insatiable curiosity.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of AI tooling from inception to implementation.
• Build infrastructure for internal tooling, including Kubernetes, serverless workloads, ETL pipelines, and large-scale logs.
• Support incident response by developing threat-hunting, remediation, and security scanning tools.
• Partner with engineers to identify automation opportunities and deliver security outcomes.
• Mentor Software Engineers and raise the engineering bar across the team.

Skills

Python

Go/C/C++

Cloud infrastructure

Autonomy

Communication

Problem solving

Curiosity

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Kubernetes

Linux

ETL pipelines

Job description

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 675,000 businesses, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok, use us, directly or through our platform partners, to run their financial operations or build and monetize financial products of their own.

We started in Melbourne in 2015 to build the infrastructure global commerce runs on. We're the regulated backbone behind global payments: not by accident, but by design. A decade plus, 85+ licenses, and a financial infrastructure spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

We're co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with more than 2,700 people across 27 offices. We hire builders with founder-level energy, people who move fast with good judgment, dig in with real curiosity, and make calls from first principles rather than waiting to be told what to do. Read our operating principles to see it in full.

How you'll make impact

You’ll lead the development of AI tools and applications that improve how Airwallex protects its systems, data, and employees. You’ll build, monitor, and maintain the infrastructure behind internal tooling, including Kubernetes clusters, serverless workloads, ETL pipelines, and terabyte-scale log pipelines.

• Lead the development of AI tools and applications from inception through implementation.
• Build infrastructure that supports reliable internal tooling, including Kubernetes clusters, serverless workloads, ETL pipelines, and terabyte-scale log pipelines.
• Support incident response by developing tools for threat hunting, remediation, and security scanning.
• Partner with engineers and product engineering teams to identify automation opportunities and deliver security outcomes, including patching automation, gateways, and other services that reduce risk.
• Mentor Software Engineers and help raise the engineering bar across the team.

You'll work from our Sydney or Melbourne office three days a week.

What we're looking for

Essentials

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of relevant software engineering experience.
• Experience working with production codebases.
• Experience with at least one scripting language, such as Python, and one systems programming language, such as Go or C/C++.
• Experience with modern cloud infrastructure, including data pipelines, serverless workloads, and Kubernetes.
• A track record of working autonomously and delivering high-quality projects on time.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• The ability to investigate deeply and find the best solution to a problem.
• Obsessive curiosity, with a willingness to ask questions, gather context, and keep learning.

Preferred

• Experience working in a high-growth technology company.
• Hands-on experience leveraging AI to build applications.
• Experience maintaining Linux operating systems.

You’ll thrive here if

• You're comfortable owning the roadmap yourself.
• You own the outcome and you don't wait for permission to fix what's broken.
• You're comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and moving quickly anyway.

You communicate clearly and directly across cultures, and you're thoughtful about how context shifts meaning across borders.

Learn more about your team

InfoSec at Airwallex runs one of the most modern security teams in the world, protecting hundreds of thousands of customers and hundreds of billions of dollars. Our scale, funding, and industry make us a real target, so we skip the standard playbook of off-the-shelf tools and tiered SOC analysts and build almost everything ourselves, often with AI ahead of the rest of the industry. You'll go back to first principles constantly, because the off-the-shelf answer is rarely right for us, and we can build better than what already exists. If you want to build security from the ground up, against a real adversary, with people who are actually good at this, this is the team for you.

Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters

To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport), or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address.

Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary.

Equal opportunity

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don’t regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.