Job details The Digital Business Division (DBD) provides retail digital services for export and biosecurity regulation, operations, and compliance at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. This generates a range of efficiencies and delivers best-in-class digital and data products. The division is responsible for a suite of mission. The Product Family Technical Lead is responsible for aligning with and advancing the technical vision, while leading the technical strategy and execution across a cross-functional product family. This role bridges the gap between business goals and technical implementation, ensuring scalable, secure, and high-quality solutions. The Technical Lead fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement across squads. Key duties and responsibilities Key Responsibilities: Technical Leadership: Define and drive the product family’s technical strategy aligned with the overall architecture strategy and business objectives. Ensure architectural consistency and technical excellence across squads and across other product families. Guide squads in adopting best practices in software engineering, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, and agile delivery. Team Enablement: Mentor and coach engineers and senior engineers within the product family. Foster a high-performing, inclusive, and collaborative engineering culture. Collaborate with other technical leads to share best practices and improve engineering standards across the branch, supporting team growth. Delivery & Execution: Oversee technical delivery across squads, ensuring timely and quality outcomes. Collaborate with the Product Family Product Manager and Delivery Lead to prioritise and plan work, ensuring that a platform health and engineering excellence voice is heard. Manage technical risks, dependencies, and escalations. Work collaboratively with architecture and other technical leads to align technical dependencies and optimise practices and standards. Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Encourage experimentation and innovation to drive continuous improvement in software and quality engineering, engineering practices, and tools. Be user-centric and ensure we focus on achieving outcomes for the good of Australia. Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a technical advisor to business stakeholders. Communicate complex technical concepts in a clear and accessible manner. Work collaboratively with technical peers and sustainment functions within the department. Key Attributes Proven experience in a technical leadership role within agile, cross-functional teams. Strong proficiency with TypeScript, Node.js, and MS SQL Server Strong background in software architecture, cloud platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP), and modern development practices. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. Experience with DevOps, CI/CD, and AI software development tools. Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on technical involvement. Desirable Qualifications Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. Experience in scaled agile frameworks (e.g., SAFe, scrum). Familiarity with data-driven product development and platform engineering Requirements Criteria The buyer has specified that each candidate must provide a one page pitch to address all criteria specified. This is equal to 5000 characters. Essential criteria Weighting 1. Demonstrated experience in leading agile software engineering teams, with a focus on delivering high-quality, scalable, and secure digital solutions and proven ability to define and drive technical strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals and architectural consistency across teams. Weighting: 20% 2. Strong technical expertise in modern development technologies including TypeScript, Node.js, and MS SQL Server, with a solid understanding of software architecture and engineering best practices and experience in cloud-based solution design and delivery, particularly with Azure, and familiarity with platform-as-a-service models and twelve-factor applications. Weighting: 20% 3. Ability to mentor and support engineers, fostering a collaborative and inclusive team environment that encourages innovation and continuous improvement and excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences and influence decision-making. Weighting: 20% 4. Understanding of DevOps, CI/CD, and Site Reliability Engineering practices, and experience in implementing these within engineering teams. Weighting: 20% 5. Familiarity with scaled agile frameworks and experience working in cross-functional teams to deliver user-centric digital products.
