A large, financial services organisation is seeking a senior engineering leader to help define how software products and platforms will be designed, built, tested and operated as artificial intelligence becomes embedded across the engineering lifecycle.

This is not a traditional Head of Engineering position focused primarily on team size, delivery reporting or operational management. It is a strategic and highly influential role for someone who combines deep software engineering credibility with a practical understanding of how AI can improve engineering productivity, quality, speed and reliability (with 5 direct reports).

Working across a broad technology environment, you will help shape the organisation’s future engineering model, introduce practical AI-enabled ways of working and support engineering, product and delivery leaders through a significant period of change.

The role will suit a technically credible leader who remains closely connected to modern engineering practices and actively explores emerging development tools, rather than someone whose AI experience has been limited to executive sponsorship or high-level strategy.

What you will do:

- Define and promote a practical vision for AI-enabled software engineering.
- Identify where AI can improve development, testing, analysis, documentation, deployment and production support.
- Establish contemporary engineering practices that improve delivery speed, quality, resilience and developer experience.
- Help evolve engineering roles, team structures and operating models as AI capabilities mature.
- Partner with senior technology, product, architecture, risk and business leaders.




- Influence multiple engineering teams
- Mentor engineering and product leaders and strengthen technical decision-making.
- Introduce appropriate measures for adoption, productivity, quality and business value.
- Balance innovation with security, privacy, operational risk, cost and regulatory obligations.
- Ensure new approaches work within a complex technology estate containing modern platforms and established legacy systems.
- Challenge conventional delivery models while remaining pragmatic about implementation.

What we are looking for:

- A strong background in software engineering, ideally developed through hands-on engineering, technical leadership and broader engineering leadership roles.
- Experience influencing engineering standards, platforms, architecture or practices across multiple teams.
- Practical knowledge of AI-assisted software development and emerging engineering tools.
- Evidence of introducing AI, automation or developer-productivity improvements into real engineering environments.
- A strong understanding of cloud engineering, DevSecOps, CI/CD, platform engineering, testing and operational excellence.
- Experience operating within a large, complex or highly regulated organisation.
- The ability to work effectively across legacy technology,



modern platforms and significant integration dependencies.
- Strong executive communication and the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- A track record of translating engineering strategy into measurable improvements.
- Commercial judgement and an understanding of the trade-offs between speed, quality, cost, risk and sustainability.
- Genuine curiosity about how AI will change software engineering, supported by personal experimentation and informed opinions.

I am interested in speaking with candidates currently operating as:

- Head of Engineering
- Director of Engineering
- Principal Engineer
- Distinguished Engineer
- Head of Engineering Excellence
- Head of Developer Experience
- Head of Platform Engineering
- Engineering Transformation Lead
- Software Engineering Practice Lead

Experience in financial services, or other complex regulated environments is essential.

The successful person will be able to move comfortably between future engineering strategy, technical detail, organisational change and practical execution.

Why consider it?

This is an opportunity to shape how a major organisation approaches one of the most significant changes to software engineering in decades.

You will have the mandate to influence engineering direction across a complex enterprise, work directly with senior leadership and turn emerging AI capabilities into practical improvements in how technology is delivered.

A highly competitive executive-level remuneration package is available for the right person.

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📌 Principal Engineer, AI & Engineering Transformation (New South Wales)
🏢 @
📍 New South Wales