Systems Engineering Lead - Support (Autonomous Systems)
Wenco International Mining Systems (a subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery) provides industry-leading technologies to customers in the mining and material movement sectors, enabling sustainable and safe operations. This role is based in Brisbane, Australia.
Reporting to the Senior Software Engineering Manager, the Support Systems Engineering Manager will lead a specialized team serving as the bridge between Wenco's Support organization and Development teams. This role aims to ensure operational excellence of the Open Autonomy platform and Fleet Management System (FMS) by establishing best practices for high-availability support, driving continuous improvement, and maintaining high standards of system reliability.
Key Responsibilities
- Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead and develop a specialized systems engineering team that serves as the technical liaison between Support and Development
- Foster collaborative relationships across departments to ensure seamless issue resolution and knowledge transfer for the Open Autonomy platform and FMS
- Build and mentor a high-performing team capable of handling complex technical challenges in autonomous mining systems
- Coordinate with development teams and internal stakeholders
- Incident Management & Technical Excellence
- Develop and implement best practices for incident management, ensuring rapid response and resolution for high-availability systems
- Oversee 24/7 technical support operations by managing on-call schedules, escalation procedures, and incident response during non-business hours
- Establish robust root cause analysis (RCA) methodologies and lead RCA implementation within R&D;
- Create and maintain knowledge management systems and technical documentation
- Drive systematic problem-solving across the organization
- Support a build quality in mindset and culture within the team
- Performance Monitoring & Metrics
- Design and implement monitoring for support effectiveness metrics (e.g., First Time Fix Rate, Time to Resolution/Containment, Time to Root Cause, product quality metrics, onboarding effectiveness)
- Extend monitoring beyond the team to improve organization-wide support efficiency
- Establish SLA tracking and reporting for Open Autonomy and FMS deployments
- Quality Analysis & Continuous Improvement
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives and analyze product quality trends and support effectiveness for senior leadership
- Drive changes in both Development and Support processes and tools
- Lead change management projects to optimize support processes and tools
- Identify and quantify risks and implement controls
- Process Development & Optimization
- Define standards and ways of working to enable growth of a high-capability systems engineering team
- Design, document, and implement scalable support processes for high-availability autonomous systems
- Establish feedback loops between Support, Development, and QA
- Optimize escalation procedures and technical handoffs
- Develop playbooks for critical incident response in autonomous mining operations
- Product Development Support
- Interface with product management/owners and developers to define and improve requirements and test cases
- Provide feedback on product testing methodologies from field support insights
- Support product testing initiatives using the team's operational expertise
- Collaborate with Simulation to use simulation for better customer outcomes
- Ensure test scenarios reflect real-world mining challenges
- Support product and delivery teams in deriving testable specifications from requirements
- Manage team budget, resource allocation, and capacity planning
- Conduct performance reviews and career development planning
- Contribute to technical architecture reviews and design decisions
- Participate in product roadmap discussions based on support insights
- Ensure compliance with engineering standards and best practices
- Collaborate with Product Owners to set team direction
Qualifications & Skills
Must Have:
- Bachelor's Degree in Software, Mechatronics, Systems Engineering or equivalent
- 5+ years\' experience with complex edge/cloud systems, sensing and sensor processing over fixed/wireless networks
- 2+ years of people management in a technical environment
- Strong software development background, preferably Python and C++
- Proven experience with high-availability systems and autonomous or robotics platforms
- Experience with incident management frameworks (ITIL, SRE practices)
- Experience with monitoring and observability tools
- Ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with root cause focus
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Experience leveraging automation and simulation for product verification
- Nice to Have:
- Experience in mining industry or mining operational systems (Fleet Management or Autonomous Equipment)
- Experience with cloud environments (AWS or Azure)
- Knowledge of Open Autonomy frameworks and autonomous vehicle systems
- Experience with data analytics and visualization tools
- Six Sigma, Lean, or other process improvement certifications
- Experience managing distributed or remote teams
- Track record of successful change management initiatives
- Experience in autonomous vehicle or robotics industry
Eligibility & Travel
- Must be eligible to work in Australia
- Some international and domestic travel to customer sites or Wenco offices (<15%)
- Occasional travel to mining sites for incident support and system validation
Wenco is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Disclaimer
The information in this description is intended to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees. It is not designed to be a comprehensive inventory of duties. It is not an employment contract. Job descriptions are subject to change, which may not affect compensation.
As our team experiences high volumes of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please ensure a resume is attached.
Wenco is an Equal Chance Employer.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
📌 Systems Engineering Lead - Support (Autonomous Systems)
🏢 Wenco International Mining Systems
📍 Brisbane City