Federal Gov't client is seeking a Lead Microservices and Technical Architect to provide technical leadership, influence system builds and engineering decisions, guide the adoption of AI across the service deliver lifecycle and ensure capability transfer occurs throughout delivery. 

Provide technical leadership and architectural authority for the design, governance and evolution of cloud native, microservices based and AI enabled platforms, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, security and business transformation objectives. 

Lead the establishment of modern engineering and AI delivery practices, including AI enabled software development lifecycle (SDLC), DevSecOps, CI/CD, observability, automated testing and platform engineering standards that support secure, scalable and reliable service delivery. 

Drive technology modernisation and platform adoption, including microservices enhancement, containerisation, integration of enterprise systems and implementation of reusable patterns that improve scalability, maintainability and operational resilience. 

Build organisational capability and technical maturity through knowledge transfer, engineering governance and leadership of multidisciplinary teams, fostering engineering excellence and continuous improvement.

About the project

The program is establishing DISR's first enterprise Microservices and Event-driven Architecture foundations and is embedding AI enabled engineering practices across the software delivery lifecycle.  The role will provide technical leadership, influence system builds and engineering decisions, guide the adoption of AI across the service deliver lifecycle and ensure capability transfer occurs throughout delivery.

Estimated start date 01 October 2026

Initial contract duration 12 Months

Extension term 2

Experience level Lead - EL1 equivalent

Location of work ACT

Working arrangements Hybrid. The client's primary location is Canberra, ACT. The department supports flexible and remote working arrangements where operational requirements permit. To support a nationally distributed workforce and delivery model, the department maintains offices in all Australian capital cities and a network of regional offices across Australia. As a result, resources may be required to collaborate with stakeholders located throughout the country, with occasional travel to Canberra or other locations.

Security clearance Must be able and Australian Citizen and able to obtain Baseline

Criteria

The client has specified that each candidate must provide a one page pitch to address all criteria specified. This is equal to 5000 characters.

Requirements

Essential criteria

• Extensive experience designing, implementing and governing cloud native, microservices and event driven architectures within complex enterprise environments, delivering scalable, resilient and secure business critical platforms.
• Demonstrated expertise in AI engineering and AI enabled solution delivery, including the development, deployment and operationalisation of enterprise AI capabilities, semantic search, machine learning solutions and responsible AI practices.
• Strong software engineering and platform engineering capability, including modern development frameworks, DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, security by design and operational excellence.
• Proven ability to lead enterprise technology modernisation and transformation initiatives, providing technical direction, influencing architecture decisions and delivering measurable improvements in platform reliability, security, scalability and engineering maturity.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement, communication and leadership skills, with demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams, delivery partners and senior executives and translating complex business requirements into practical technology outcomes.

Desirable criteria

• Experience designing, implementing and operating container platforms using technologies such as Kubernetes, OpenShift, AKS, EKS or GKE, including platform automation, governance and workload management.

• Experience with cloud platform modernisation, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), platform engineering, observability tooling and enterprise scale automation practices.

• Experience leading delivery within Agile environments, including coaching geographically dispersed teams, driving capability uplift and fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.