The Role
This role can be conducted from anywhere in Australia, working closely with colleagues across the nation to shape digital products. We're looking for a thoughtful and hands‐on Technical Lead to guide a platform‐focused engineering team building high‐scale backend systems. The work centers on event‐driven architecture, data‐intensive services, and reliable platform foundations that powers seamless, secure, and personalised digital experiences across mobile, web, email and notifications.
You'll collaborate closely with the Product Manager and designers to shape strategy and plan delivery across multiple products and touchpoints. This is a leadership role grounded in pragmatism, you don't need to be an expert in every tool or language, but you'll be confident in guiding architecture, making sound technical decisions, and contributing hands‐on when it matters. If you enjoy solving complex distributed systems challenges, working across disciplines, and helping engineers grow in their own way, you'll feel at home here.
Responsibilities
* Lead and support a team delivering scalable backend platforms and services.
* Manage day‐to‐day team delivery, leading and developing a team of software engineers, including providing clarity on priorities, supporting growth, giving regular feedback, and unblocking progress.
* Collaborate with Product Managers, Designers, and Engineering leadership to shape technical strategy and evolve ways of working.
* Design and guide systems built on Go, Kafka, and data‐intensive pipelines.
* Make key architectural decisions across APIs, event‐driven systems, and integrations to support high scale and peak traffic events (e.g. election night).
* Improve engineering practices across build, testing, observability, and delivery.
* Develop and maintain clear, accessible documentation, including functional specifications and technical artefacts.
* Partner with teams across the organisation to deliver reliable, high‐impact solutions.
Qualifications
* Strong backend engineering experience and experience integrating interfaces with third‐party tools.
* Proven experience leading and managing technical development teams.
* Highly developed engineering skills, including delivery of complex, accessible, secure, and high‐performance APIs.
* Experience with Go, distributed systems, event streaming, data lake, AWS is desirable.
* Expert knowledge of modern frameworks and build tools, with solid practices in automated testing and version control (branching, merging, versioning).
* Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for both technical and non‐technical audiences.
* Excellent planning and organisational skills, with a solid understanding of project management, development methodologies, QA/testing processes.
* Experience integrating marketing or personalisation or identity platforms desirable.
* A commitment to the ABC's Values – Aim High, Think Differently, Take Ownership, Deliver Together – and to foster an inclusive, respectful, and diverse workplace.
About the ABC
The ABC is the nation's most trusted and independent source of Australian conversations, culture, and stories. With over 4,500 employees from diverse backgrounds across over 60 locations around Australia and overseas, we are proud to create, curate and deliver high‐quality content that informs, educates and entertains Australian communities.
Diversity & Inclusion
In line with our focus on diversity and inclusion, applications are strongly encouraged from Indigenous Australians, people from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, people with disability and LGBTQIA+ individuals. The ABC also aims to achieve a gender‐balanced workforce.
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