Head of Engineering - AI & Automation

About the role

BusinessAI, Australia's first full-service AI automation partner, is hiring a Head of Engineering in Port Melbourne. The role leads the engineering function across delivery, systems architecture, team leadership and technical strategy, reporting to the Director of AI & Product. It is a full-time position where the candidate acts as both engineer and coach, working hands-on while shaping the technical roadmap, delivery systems and engineering culture.

Key responsibilities

• Lead engineering delivery for customer and internal AI solutions, write code, prototype solutions and set engineering best practices
• Design and deliver AI agents, automation systems, APIs and orchestration frameworks
• Build scalable delivery models that improve speed, quality and margin
• Mentor engineering talent across onshore and offshore teams and implement standards such as TDD and CI/CD
• Partner with consulting and sales teams during solution scoping and customer workshops
• Turn business challenges into commercially viable technical solutions and develop reusable technical IP, frameworks and accelerators
• Ensure quality, governance, reliability and consistency across all delivered solutions

Required profile

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience
• Proven leadership of engineering teams in SaaS or AI environments
• Track record of delivering production-grade solutions to external customers
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Commercial mindset, able to contribute to scoping, pricing and solution design
• Comfortable in fast-paced, high-growth startup environments

Required skills

• Modern AI/ML stacks: LLMs, agent frameworks, retrieval systems and orchestration patterns
• Advanced Python with strong REST and GraphQL API development
• TDD and CI/CD practices
• Front-end frameworks such as React, Vue or Next.js

What we offer

• Competitive executive salary and performance incentives tied to delivery and growth
• Direct influence over technical strategy and engineering standards
• Early-stage opportunity to build the engineering function
• Pathway toward long-term leadership and equity growth opportunities