Lead AI & Microservices Engineer/Architect

- $130–$140 per hour
- 12-month contract + extensions
- Hybrid / National locations

Help establish the foundations for enterprise microservices, event-driven architecture and AI-enabled engineering across a major Australian Government environment.

This is a newly created EL2-equivalent technical leadership role for an experienced architect who still enjoys being close to the engineering.
Rather than operating purely at an architecture or governance level, you will have the opportunity to set technical direction, establish reusable patterns, validate approaches and influence how modern engineering and AI capabilities are implemented in production.

Why this role

- Hybrid working arrangements with opportunities to work from Departmental offices around Australia
- Opportunity to help establish enterprise microservices and event-driven architecture foundations
- Lead the adoption of GenAI, LLM and AI-enabled engineering practices
- Genuine mix of architecture, technical leadership and hands-on engineering
- Newly established role with significant influence over technical standards and engineering maturity

The opportunity
Working within a Federal Government technology environment, you will provide technical leadership and architectural authority across a major business application transformation program.
The program is establishing enterprise microservices and event-driven architecture capabilities while embedding AI-enabled engineering practices across the software development lifecycle.
You will work across architecture, engineering, platform and delivery teams to establish scalable technical patterns, improve engineering practices and ensure capability is successfully transferred into internal teams.
This is not simply an advisory architecture position. You will remain sufficiently hands-on to develop and validate priority solutions, demonstrate good engineering practice and help teams successfully operationalise recent capabilities.

What you’ll be doingYou will:

- Lead the design, governance and evolution of cloud-native, microservices and event-driven architectures




- Establish reusable architecture and engineering patterns for enterprise applications
- Lead adoption of GenAI, Large Language Models and AI-enabled software engineering
- Support implementation of semantic search, RAG and selected machine learning capabilities
- Establish practical DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing and observability practices
- Guide containerisation and platform engineering approaches
- Influence system design and major engineering decisions
- Improve platform scalability, resilience, security and maintainability
- Provide technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams and delivery partners
- Establish responsible AI, human oversight, security and operational controls
- Support knowledge transfer and uplift the technical capability of internal teams
- Remain hands-on where required to prototype, validate and develop priority enhancements

Technology environment
The environment is primarily based around the Microsoft Azure ecosystem, including technologies and patterns such as:

- Microsoft Azure
- .NET
- Microservices architecture
- Event-driven architecture
- Azure Service Bus and Event Hubs
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
- Azure SQL
- API Management and OpenAPI
- CI/CD and DevSecOps
- Azure Monitor
- OpenTelemetry
- Microsoft AI services
- GenAI / LLMs
- Semantic search and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
- Dynamics 365 and Dataverse

What we’re looking for
We are particularly interested in senior technical professionals who have successfully led modernisation within large, complex enterprise environments.
You will bring:

- Extensive experience designing and implementing cloud-native microservices and event-driven architectures
- Strong enterprise architecture and solution design capability
- Demonstrated experience delivering or operationalising enterprise AI solutions
- Knowledge of GenAI, LLMs, semantic search and RAG




- Strong software and platform engineering fundamentals
- Experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing and observability
- Experience designing or operating Kubernetes/container environments
- Strong Azure architecture and engineering experience
- The ability to move comfortably between architecture strategy and hands-on technical delivery
- Experience influencing senior stakeholders, architects, engineers and delivery partners
- Strong technical leadership and mentoring capability

Experience establishing engineering standards, platform engineering practices, SRE capabilities or enterprise-scale automation would be highly regarded.
Location and working arrangementsThe role is offered under hybrid working arrangements.

While Canberra is the Department's primary location, suitable candidates may be able to work primarily from another Departmental location, including major capital city offices, subject to operational requirements.
Interstate candidates should be prepared for occasional travel to Canberra for key workshops, delivery activities and stakeholder engagement.

Security requirements
Applicants must be Australian Citizens and able to obtain an Australian Government Baseline security clearance.
Candidates who do not currently hold a Baseline clearance may still be considered, with clearance sponsorship available for the successful applicant.

Contract

- Rate: $130–$140 per hour, depending on experience
- Initial term: 12 months
- Extensions: Up to 2 x 12 months
- Location: Canberra / other Departmental locations nationally
- Working arrangement: Hybrid
- Clearance: Baseline – ability to obtain

Apply
This is a strong opportunity for a senior architect or technical lead who wants more than a governance-only role and enjoys shaping architecture while remaining connected to engineering delivery.
To be considered, please submit your CV outlining your experience across Azure, microservices, event-driven architecture, enterprise AI and modern software engineering practices.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide a tailored one-page pitch addressing the role requirements.

📌 Lead AI & Microservices Engineer (Canberra)
🏢 Canberra Consulting
📍 Canberra