There’s a fascinating opportunity here for someone who lives at the intersection of engineering leadership and cutting-edge AI.

A fast-growing creative technology platform in the media space is looking for an AI-focused Engineering Manager to guide a talented team of Python and Django developers while embedding AI deeply into the way software is designed, built and delivered.

Think less traditional engineering manager, more AI traffic controller and technical catalyst. Someone who can rally smart engineers, shape technical direction, and push the team toward a genuinely AI-first development culture.

The office setup is hybrid, three days in a stunning office with ridiculous views, two days working from home.

This role is about leadership, direction, and building systems that scale in a modern AI-driven environment.

What you’ll be driving

You will oversee the engineering function responsible for the company’s core business systems, ensuring reliability, performance and continuous evolution of the platform.

A major part of the role is introducing and expanding AI-driven development practices, including the use of agentic AI IDEs such as Cursor or AWS Kiro, and guiding the team through the next phase of intelligent software delivery.

Your day to day impact will include:

• Leading and mentoring a team of Python and Django engineers while setting the technical direction for the group

• Driving delivery of new platform capabilities and enhancements to core business systems

• Embedding AI into development workflows, tooling and architecture

• Translating business and customer needs into clear engineering outcomes

• Working closely with product, architecture and design teams to deliver end to end solutions

• Managing delivery priorities, timelines and engineering resources across multiple initiatives

• Championing strong engineering practices through architecture reviews and code quality standards

• Introducing automated testing frameworks including unit, regression and performance testing

• Overseeing release management and platform deployment processes

• Investigating and resolving complex platform performance and reliability issues

• Working with internal stakeholders, partners and vendors to deliver technical improvements

Technology environment

The platform is built around a modern engineering stack including:

• Python and Django backend systems

• Agentic AI development tools such as Cursor or AWS Kiro

• AWS AI services and cloud infrastructure

• Linux-based environments

• NoSQL databases including MongoDB or CouchDB

• REST APIs and scalable web architecture

• Caching layers and distributed application design

• Core internet protocols including TCP/IP, DNS and HTTP

What they’re hoping you bring

You could be a strong match if you bring:

• Around 4+ years guiding or managing software engineering teams, ideally in fast-moving product or platform environments

• A solid technical foundation building backend systems with Python, and a genuine understanding of how modern platforms are engineered

• Familiarity with AI-assisted development environments such as Cursor, AWS Kiro, or similar emerging agentic IDE tools

• A career path that started hands-on as a developer, before stepping into a leadership or technical management role

• Confidence working within Linux-based systems and infrastructure environments

• Practical experience with NoSQL data stores such as MongoDB, CouchDB or similar distributed databases

• Strong knowledge of API design, scalable application architecture and modern web systems

• The ability to take high-level product or business ideas and turn them into clear technical direction for engineering teams

• Experience overseeing the delivery of engineering projects of varying scale, from incremental platform improvements through to larger system initiatives

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to align engineers, product teams and stakeholders around a shared technical vision

You’ll also be comfortable working across modern development practices including Agile delivery frameworks and tools such as Jira and Confluence.

The type of leader this role suits

This role suits someone who:

• Enjoys guiding and mentoring strong engineers rather than micromanaging them

• Is excited about AI changing how software gets built

• Can step back and direct the flow of engineering work across a platform

• Enjoys solving complex technical and business problems

• Wants to help shape the next evolution of an AI enabled engineering team

If you are already experimenting with AI assisted coding environments and thinking about how agentic AI will transform software engineering over the next five years, this could be a seriously interesting move.

And yes, the office views are genuinely ridiculous.

About Big Wave Digital

This role is being managed by Big Wave Digital, a specialist recruitment partner focused on technology, AI and digital talent.

Big Wave Digital works closely with a select group of high growth technology companies across Australia and internationally, helping them build exceptional engineering and digital teams.

With over two decades of experience recruiting technical talent, we focus on quality over quantity and work closely with both clients and candidates to ensure the right long term match.

For more information or a confidential discussion, feel free to reach out.

Keiran Hathorn, keiran@bigwavedigital.com.au

Big Wave Digital Recruitment

Sydney, Australia 🌊

This role is offered as a 12 month fixed term contract.