? Lead Microservices & AI Technical Architect – Federal Government

? Canberra, ACT / Interstate candidates considered

? Hybrid / flexible / remote arrangements available

☁️ Primary cloud environment: Microsoft Azure

? Must be able to obtain Baseline security clearance

? 12 months 2 x 12-month extension options

⏱️ Up to 40 hours per week

? Competitive benchmark around $160/hour incl. super; exceptional candidates considered up to $180/hour incl. super

Azooa is preparing a response for RFQ LH-07526 – Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) and is seeking highly experienced technical architects for this senior Federal Government opportunity.

This is an EL2-equivalent Lead position supporting a significant business application transformation program.

DISR is establishing its first enterprise Microservices and Event-Driven Architecture foundations and embedding AI-enabled engineering practices throughout the software delivery lifecycle.

The successful architect will provide technical leadership, influence system builds and engineering decisions, establish modern architecture and engineering practices, guide enterprise AI adoption and ensure capability transfer occurs throughout delivery.

? The Opportunity

This is not a traditional architecture role focused solely on producing designs and governance documentation.

DISR is looking for a hands-on senior technical authority who can operate across architecture, engineering, cloud platforms, AI delivery and enterprise transformation.

You will help shape how modern business applications are designed, built, integrated, deployed and operated across the department.

The role will work across:

Microservices Event-Driven Architecture Azure Enterprise AI Platform Engineering DevSecOps CI/CD Observability Containerisation Software Engineering Enterprise Transformation

DISR has confirmed that its primary cloud environment is Microsoft Azure.

?️ What You’ll Be Leading

You will provide technical leadership and architectural authority across cloud-native, microservices-based and AI-enabled enterprise platforms.

Key responsibilities include

- Designing and governing secure, scalable and resilient cloud-native architectures
- Establishing enterprise microservices architecture foundations
- Establishing event-driven architecture patterns and standards
- Defining reusable technical and engineering patterns
- Influencing system builds and major engineering decisions
- Providing architecture governance and technical assurance
- Leading application and platform modernisation
- Driving containerisation and cloud-native adoption
- Improving enterprise systems integration
- Establishing modern platform-engineering practices
- Leading DevSecOps and CI/CD maturity
- Improving automated testing and engineering quality
- Establishing enterprise observability practices
- Supporting Site Reliability Engineering principles
- Improving platform security, scalability, resilience and maintainability
- Guiding adoption of AI throughout the software delivery lifecycle
- Leading multidisciplinary technical teams and delivery partners
- Working with senior executives, architects, engineers and business stakeholders
- Building internal engineering capability through coaching and knowledge transfer
- Promoting engineering excellence and continuous improvement.





? Enterprise AI Engineering

AI is a core element of this role.

DISR is seeking someone with demonstrated expertise in AI engineering and AI-enabled solution delivery, rather than someone whose experience is limited to AI strategy or advisory work.

Relevant experience may include

Enterprise AI architecture

AI application engineering

Enterprise AI capability development

AI deployment and operationalisation

Semantic search

Machine learning solutions

Responsible AI

AI-enabled software development

AI integration into enterprise applications

AI platform engineering

Governance and operational controls for AI solutions The successful architect will help determine how AI capabilities can be securely and sustainably incorporated into DISR’s application and engineering ecosystem.

This includes influencing how AI is developed, integrated, tested, deployed, governed and operated in enterprise environments.

☁️ Microservices & Event-Driven Architecture A major objective of the program is establishing DISR’s first enterprise foundations for Microservices and Event-Driven Architecture.

We are therefore particularly interested in architects with deep experience across:

- Microservices design and governance
- Event-driven architecture
- Distributed enterprise systems
- Cloud-native application architecture
- API-led integration
- Enterprise integration patterns
- Asynchronous messaging and event processing
- Scalable business-critical platforms
- Resilience and fault-tolerant design
- Security by design
- Reusable architecture patterns
- Legacy/application modernisation

You should be comfortable moving beyond conceptual architecture and influencing the practical engineering decisions required to establish these capabilities at enterprise scale.

☁️ Azure & Platform Engineering

DISR has confirmed that it primarily uses Microsoft Azure, so robust Azure architecture experience will be highly relevant.

We are interested in experience across areas such as:

Microsoft Azure

Azure-native application architecture

Azure Kubernetes Service – AKS

Containerisation

Kubernetes / OpenShift

Cloud platform modernisation

Platform engineering

Infrastructure and platform automation

DevSecOps

CI/CD

Automated testing

Observability

Site Reliability Engineering – SRE

Security by design

Operational excellence

Experience with Kubernetes, OpenShift, AKS, EKS or GKE is specifically identified as desirable in the RFQ.

?️ Software & Engineering Leadership The successful architect must also demonstrate strong software and platform engineering capability.

This includes establishing engineering practices that enable teams to consistently deliver secure, scalable and maintainable services.

Relevant capability includes

- Modern application-development frameworks
- Software engineering standards
- DevSecOps
- CI/CD pipelines
- Automated testing
- Observability
- Platform engineering
- Security by design
- Engineering governance
- Operational resilience




- Enterprise-scale automation
- Engineering maturity uplift

This role needs someone who can work effectively with engineers and delivery teams — not simply hand architecture down to development teams.

✅ Essential Criteria

Candidates will need strong evidence against all five RFQ essential criteria.

1. Cloud Native, Microservices & Event-Driven Architecture

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.

2. AI Engineering

Demonstrated expertise in AI engineering and AI-enabled solution delivery, including development, deployment and operationalisation of enterprise AI capabilities, semantic search, machine learning solutions and responsible AI practices.

3. Software & Platform Engineering

Strong software-engineering and platform-engineering capability, including modern development frameworks, DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, security by design and operational excellence.

4. Enterprise Technology Modernisation

Proven ability to lead enterprise technology modernisation and transformation initiatives, provide technical direction, influence architecture decisions and deliver measurable improvements in reliability, security, scalability and engineering maturity.

5. Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

Exceptional stakeholder engagement, communication and leadership capability with demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams, delivery partners and senior executives while translating complex business requirements into practical technical outcomes.

⭐ Highly Desirable Experience

Additional experience that will strengthen your application includes:

- Kubernetes
- OpenShift
- AKS / EKS / GKE
- Container-platform engineering
- Platform automation and governance
- Workload management
- Azure/cloud-platform modernisation
- Site Reliability Engineering
- Enterprise observability
- Enterprise-scale automation
- Agile delivery
- Coaching geographically distributed teams
- Engineering capability uplift
- Technical mentoring
- Continuous-improvement leadership.

? Leadership & Capability Transfer

This position is also about leaving DISR with stronger internal engineering capability.

The successful candidate will be expected to provide technical leadership across multidisciplinary teams, establish governance and engineering practices, mentor technical personnel and enable knowledge transfer throughout delivery.

We therefore want someone who can combine deep technical credibility with strong leadership and stakeholder influence.

Experience working with senior executives and successfully translating complex technology issues into practical business outcomes will be important.

? Engagement Details

RFQ: LH-07526

Department: Department of Industry, Science and Resources

Role: Lead Microservices and AI Technical Architect

Experience level: Lead – EL2 equivalent

Estimated start: 1 October 2026

Initial contract: 12 months

Extension options: 2 x 12 months

Potential total duration: Up to 36 months

Maximum hours: 40 hours per week

Primary location: Canberra, ACT

Work arrangement: Hybrid / flexible / remote candidates considered

Primary cloud environment: Microsoft Azure

Clearance: Must be able to obtain Baseline.

📌 Lead Microservices & AI Technical Architect (Canberra)
🏢 Azooa
📍 Canberra