Sestra People is a boutique, female-founded talent provider dedicated to rewriting the narrative around recruitment. At Sestra People, we believe your next best hire isn't just a CV—it's a human being with quirks, flaws, talent, and a story. We champion values of Kindness, Transparency, and Professional Results, without compromising on a family-feel, bringing back a sense of 'humanness' to recruitment.
The Opportunity
We're partnering with a fast-growing Australian technology start-up operating in the wagering and automation space to find a Head of Software Engineering.
Despite the title, this is a deeply hands-on engineering role suited to someone who loves building products as much as leading people. You'll be responsible for owning the end-to-end engineering function of a niche automation platform used by a passionate and growing user base.
You'll work closely with the founders to shape the product roadmap, design scalable solutions, and lead a small offshore engineering team. This role will suit someone who enjoys the autonomy and impact of an early-stage environment where technical leadership, execution, and pragmatism are equally important.
This is an opportunity to take real ownership of a live product, modernise the platform where needed, and introduce best-practice engineering, DevOps, and responsible AI capabilities as the product evolves.
What You'll Do
Design, build, and maintain a full-stack web platform using React, TypeScript, Django, and Python.
Own the technical architecture and solution design across frontend, backend, and infrastructure.
Lead and mentor a small offshore engineering team, providing technical guidance, code reviews, and development plans.
Define and implement engineering best practices, including CI/CD, testing standards, documentation, and release management.
Collaborate directly with founders to shape the product roadmap and platform evolution.
Implement and maintain DevOps and cloud infrastructure, ensuring the platform is scalable, reliable, and secure.
Identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation, including responsible AI adoption and governance practices.
Drive continuous improvement across engineering processes, performance, and product delivery.
Establish scalable workflows that allow a small engineering team to deliver high-quality product outcomes efficiently.
Offshore Team Leadership
You will directly lead two offshore engineers and will be responsible for building a high-performing distributed team. This includes:
Establishing clear delivery processes and communication rhythms across time zones.
Providing structured mentoring, code reviews, and architectural guidance.
Creating development plans that help offshore engineers grow in capability and ownership.
Implementing documentation and knowledge-sharing practices that reduce key-person risk.
Building a culture of accountability, autonomy, and continuous learning within the team.
What We're Looking For
Strong full-stack engineering experience across modern web applications.
Proven experience with React and TypeScript (frontend) and Python/Django (backend).
Experience designing and delivering automation platforms, SaaS products, or high-performance web applications.
Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor engineers, particularly in distributed or offshore teams.
Experience with DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud infrastructure.
Exposure to AI technologies, with an understanding of responsible AI adoption, governance, and risk management.
Strong solution design and architecture capability.
Comfortable working in a start-up environment where priorities evolve and ownership is high.
Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
Permanent Residents or Citizens of Australia only (Sponsorship not on offer).
What's On Offer
$150,000 + Superannuation
A rare opportunity to own the engineering function of a growing product platform.
High autonomy and direct access to founders and product strategy.
Opportunity to shape engineering culture, architecture, and AI adoption from the ground up.
Flexible working environment with a pragmatic, start-up culture.
Location
Adelaide, South Australia – Flexible working arrangements available. Candidates must have full Australian working rights. Offshore applicants will not be considered.
Next Steps
If this sounds like your next challenge, apply with your updated CV and Siena will be in touch for a confidential discussion.
Please note this role is suited to senior engineers or technical leads who still enjoy hands‐on coding and building products, rather than pure people‐management leadership roles.
Sestra.Code
Beyond this role, we also have built a community for Mid to Executive Level Women in Tech sharing knowledge, opportunities and support. If you are interested but don't meet this brief, please do still apply and we will connect to discuss this with you.
Your application will include the following questions:
* Which of the following statements best describes your right to work in Australia?
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