Canberra, ACT | $100–$120/hr inc. Super | Start Date: 1 September 2025
Contract: 12 months + 2 x 12-month extensions

About the Role
Our federal government client is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer with demonstrated government experience in machine learning and a strong background in full-stack, cloud-based development. This role will play a critical part in providing SME consultancy expertise plus developing, deploying, and maintaining advanced ML solutions in secure, scalable environments. The role will actively collaborate across multiple organisational units, projects in a matrix environment to ensure successful delivery of business and operational AI related initiatives.

This is the role for you if you are passionate about driving great outcomes for Australia using emerging technologies, have demonstrated Australian Government experience engaging directly with stakeholders across business and technical domains, and three years (or more) of experience in developing and supporting MLOps/DevOps applications for ML, LLM, and RAG projects. This experience will include:

• continuous training and deployment pipelines, data ingestion, pre-processing, and vector databases,
• a strong background in web application development
• front-end frameworks like React, Angular, Vue, or Svelte
• back-end frameworks such as Flask, FastAPI, or C#
• DevSecOps and agile methodologies.

The role will require on-site attendance in Canberra for workshops, team meetings, training delivery, and to access classified systems, with remote arrangements to be agreed within the first four weeks of the role commencing.
Why Apply

• Competitive hourly rate: $100–$120 including super
• Initial 12-month contract with two 12-month extension options
• Start date: 1 September 2025
• Strategic, high-impact work supporting government transformation initiatives
• Collaborative hybrid work environment

Security Requirements

• Must hold or be able to obtain NV1 (Negative Vetting Level 1) Security Clearance
• Australian Citizenship is essential

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, deploy, and maintain ML pipelines with a focus on LLM and RAG systems
• Design MLOps/DevOps pipelines for model training, testing, and deployment
• Integrate machine learning solutions into full-stack cloud-based systems
• Translate business and operational requirements into robust technical solutions
• Engage proactively with stakeholders, including analysts, engineers, and project leads
• Contribute to governance, documentation, code reviews, and Agile ceremonies
• Maintain compliance with privacy, security, and ethical AI standards
• Stay up to date with ML/AI trends to inform architectural improvements and innovation

Key duties and responsibilities

1. ML Engineering

• Design, develop, and deploy end-to-end machine learning solutions in support of Defence programs and initiatives.
• Develop automated MLOps/DevOps processes for continuous model training and evaluation pipelines, specifically for ML/LLM/RAG applications.
• Integrate ML models with full-stack applications, ensuring smooth interoperability between front-end interfaces and back-end services.
• Collaborate with data scientists, SecDevOps engineers, and other technical stakeholders as required to ensure reliable, secure, and scalable system architectures.
• Provide thought leadership on developing architectural patterns and assisting in implementing ML based cloud architectures and solutions
• Create clear documentation and participate in code reviews, sprint planning, and Agile ceremonies.
• Review technical designs, code, and deployment plans for architectural alignment.

1. Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with business analysts, product owners and military stakeholders to understand functional and non-functional requirements.
• Act as a liaison between functional and technical stakeholders, facilitating clear communication and alignment.
• Guide development teams and management through architectural decisions, ensuring consistent application of best practices and patterns.

1. Integration & Interoperability

• Work with architects and solutions that integrate with existing systems and platforms (cloud, on-premises, hybrid).
• Define interfaces, APIs, and data flows to ensure seamless connectivity and interoperability.

1. Governance & Standards

• Contribute to the development and enforcement of AI architectural standards, guidelines, policies, working papers and governance processes.
• Participate in architecture solution design review and provide input on technical strategy.
• Ensure compliance with government data privacy, security, and ethical standards throughout the ML lifecycle.

1. Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends.
• Recommend innovative solutions that enhance operational efficiency and support digital transformation.

Technical skills

• Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in CS, Data Science, Engineering etc,
• 5+ yrs of experience in machine learning engineering, with at min 2 yrs supporting public sector projects.
• Proficiency in Python / ML frameworks such as PyTorch
• Experience with ML cloud platforms (e.g Azure or AWS)
• Strong understanding of REST APIs, containerisation Docker/Kubernetes
• Working knowledge with experience with full-stack development using frameworks for example React, Node.js, Django, or Flask

Essential criteria

1. Minimum three years demonstrated experience with developing MLOps/DevOps applications and supporting processes including continuous model training and deployment pipelines, specifically for ML/LLM/RAG applications. Use of contemporary AI technologies across data layer (ingestion, pre-processing and vector databases), LLM and model serving.
2. Minimum three years demonstrated experience with developing web applications including front end frameworks (eg React / Angular / Vue / Svelte) and back-end frameworks (eg Flask / FastAPI / C#). Experience with utilising development approaches such as DevSecOps and agile delivery methodologies.

Desirable criteria

1. Military ICT Technology : Direct exposure with (preferably) military business and operational systems or (alternatively) Commonwealth agencies. Interacting with senior or key (military or government) stakeholders to derive and translate military requirements into technical solutions. Experience with developing technical products across multiple business domains and implementation of governance and compliance requirements such as security, privacy etc.

To Apply
Please submit the following:

• Updated CV
• Hourly rate (including super)
• Availability and proposed start date
• Citizenship and current clearance status
• Some words on the essential and desirable criteria