Lead Microservices & AI Technical Architect

Lead Microservices & AI Technical Architect
📍 Location: Canberra / Hybrid & Flexible Working Arrangements⏳ Contract Duration: 12 months + 2 x 12-month extension options💼 Industry: Federal Government – Digital Transformation🔒 Security Requirement: Must be able to obtain Baseline Security Clearance🗓️ Expected Start: October 2026
About the OpportunityHatchit Studios is seeking an experienced Lead Microservices & AI Technical Architect for a long-term labour hire engagement supporting a major Federal Government department.
This is a senior technical leadership role supporting a significant business application transformation program. The program is establishing enterprise Microservices and Event-Driven Architecture foundations while embedding AI-enabled engineering practices across the software delivery lifecycle.
The successful candidate will provide architectural and technical leadership across cloud-native platforms, microservices, AI engineering and modern software delivery, while helping uplift engineering capability across multidisciplinary teams.
Key ResponsibilitiesProvide technical leadership and architectural authority across cloud-native, microservices-based and AI-enabled platformsDesign, govern and evolve enterprise microservices and event-driven architecturesLead the adoption of AI-enabled engineering practices across the software development lifecycleEstablish modern engineering practices across DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing and observabilityDrive platform modernisation, containerisation and enterprise systems integrationDevelop reusable architectural and engineering patterns that improve scalability, maintainability and operational resilienceEnsure security-by-design and operational excellence are embedded across solution deliveryProvide technical direction and influence key architecture and engineering decisionsLead and collaborate with multidisciplinary technical teams, delivery partners and senior stakeholdersBuild organisational capability through knowledge transfer, engineering governance and technical coaching
Skills & Experience RequiredExtensive experience designing and implementing cloud-native, microservices and event-driven architectures in complex enterprise environmentsStrong experience delivering scalable, resilient and secure business-critical platformsDemonstrated expertise in AI engineering and AI-enabled solution deliveryExperience developing, deploying and operationalising enterprise AI capabilities, including semantic search and machine learning solutionsUnderstanding of responsible AI practices within enterprise environmentsStrong software and platform engineering capability across modern development frameworksHands-on understanding of DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability and security-by-designProven experience leading enterprise technology modernisation and transformation initiativesStrong technical leadership with the ability to influence architecture and engineering decisionsExceptional communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including experience working with senior executives and multidisciplinary teams
Highly DesirableExperience designing, implementing or operating container platforms such as Kubernetes, OpenShift, AKS, EKS or GKECloud platform modernisation and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) experiencePlatform engineering and enterprise-scale automation experienceExperience with enterprise observability tooling and practicesExperience leading delivery within Agile environmentsExperience coaching geographically dispersed engineering teams and driving technical capability uplift
Why Consider This Opportunity?Lead a significant Federal Government technology transformation programHelp establish enterprise Microservices and Event-Driven Architecture foundationsShape the adoption of AI-enabled engineering practices across the software delivery lifecycleSenior technical leadership role with significant architectural influenceLong-term engagement with an initial 12-month contract and potential extensionsFlexible working arrangements, subject to operational requirementsCompetitive market contract rates