Technical Lead - Senior Solution Architect (Adelaide)

At VALAI, we build technology that turns property data into real action—real savings, real electrification, and real climate resilience. Our data intelligence powers Home Efficiency Australia and supports national banking, insurance, property, energy, and government partners. We are scaling quickly and need a Technical Lead to shape and drive technology delivery across our residential, commercial, energy, water, and climate resilience product suite. If you need heavy process and clear structure before you can act, this is probably not the right role. If you thrive on meaningful problems, lean teams, and the freedom to shape how things are built, you will love it here. The Role This is a leadership role first, focused heavily on architecture decisions, delivery velocity, engineering standards, AI adoption, and team capability. Ambiguity is not an obstacle here—it is the environment. You will be expected to navigate it, make confident decisions with incomplete information, and keep delivery moving. What you will actually do:
- Own the technical direction across the product platform, including architecture decisions and delivery sequencing
- Scope technical work, estimate effort, and communicate trade-offs clearly to product and leadership.
- Lead the design and delivery of AI-powered product features, such as LLM integrations, intelligent data processing, and automated workflows.
- Drive the adoption of AI-assisted development tools (like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Claude) as standard practice across the team.
- Guide front-end (React, Next.js) and backend (Python, FastAPI, TypeScript, NestJS) delivery to ensure quality and performance.
- Support cloud infrastructure decisions across AWS, oversee CI/CD pipelines, and manage release automation.
- Support our security posture by applying access controls and maintaining ISO 27001-aligned controls using tools like Vanta.
- Manage contractors, remote contributors, and improve code review practices across the team. What You Bring The ideal candidate has earned their credibility by building things, but is now ready to step up and own how a team builds.
- Proven experience leading technical delivery in a scale-up or quick-moving product environment.
- Deep, practical experience working with AI/LLM APIs as a core engineering capability, not just a side project.
- A strong, hands-on background across front-end development, backend development, and cloud infrastructure.
- A solid understanding of API design, secure coding, CI/CD pipelines, and database management.
- The ability to prototype quickly with AI tools and make sound build-versus-buy-versus-integrate decisions.
- Strong communication skills to keep technical and non-technical stakeholders perfectly aligned. Highly Regarded
- Experience with infrastructure as code (Kubernetes, Terraform) or data tools (BigQuery, Snowflake, dbt).
- Experience with white‑labelled platforms, enterprise partner integrations, or ISO 27001 compliance environments.
- A background in climate tech, energy, property, insurance, or banking. The Details
- Engagement: Full‑time, 12‑month contract with flexible hours.
- Location: Hybrid, with Adelaide preferred.
- Probation: 12 weeks.
- For Salary info contactoperations.valai.com.au #J-18808-Ljbffr Apply on Kit Job: kitjobau.com/job/3r7q75