Senior Software Engineer

JOB.TITLE Full-Time (35hpw) Permanent Opportunity (commencing Sept 2026) Salary Range $130,705 - $157,430pa + super Sydney City or Parramatta with hybrid working arrangements About the team Kiama Shared Services is a backend platform and enablement team within Service NSW that builds, operates and evolves shared backend services, accelerators and libraries used by many other product teams across the organisation. Our work underpins customer-facing services by providing backend capabilities that teams can consume with confidence. Our team culture strongly values engineering excellence, collaboration, and learning. We practice engineering disciplines such as testdriven development, pair programming, continuous delivery, and iterative improvement. Senior engineers are expected to lead by example, including providing input into technical direction, solution design, scoping and estimating, mentoring junior team members, and influencing best practices. About the role This is a compelling opportunity for engineers who are looking to step into, or grow, technical leadership while working on platforms, shared services and reusable components. It will appeal to those motivated by improving developer experience and uplifting system quality at scale. The role offers broad exposure to modern platform technologies such as Kubernetes, RedHat OpenShift, Apigee and GitLab, along with the opportunity to influence engineering standards adopted across multiple teams. You’ll also benefit from strong support for professional development and continuous learning. The team is also at the forefront of shaping how AI is applied across digital teams, including opportunities for hands‑on experimentation and practical exploration. Overall, this role is ideal for someone who wants to combine hands‑on engineering excellence with leadership at scale. Key responsibilities Participating in daily stand‑ups, fortnightly sprint planning, backlog refinement and sprint retrospectives Designing, building and reviewing backend services, APIs, libraries and accelerators Pair programming with other engineers and leading by example in coding, testing and design Reviewing code, architecture and test approaches to ensure quality, security and maintainability Contributing to and leading releases (ad‑hoc, aligned to delivery readiness) Supporting BAU activities including maintenance, patching and incident resolution Regular collaboration with team members, product managers and stakeholders, primarily via online tools and video conferencing Occasional out‑of‑hours work may be required to support critical incidents, releases or urgent operational issues, with appropriate flexibility and notice where possible (very rare) About you You are a self‑driven, customer‑focused Senior Engineer who takes pride in delivering high‑quality software while helping others perform at their best. You thrive in a collaborative environment, enjoy working closely with peers through pairing and code reviews, and are genuinely motivated by mentoring and lifting the technical capability of those around you. You are comfortable stepping into a de‑facto engineering leadership role, leading through influence rather than formal authority. You guide, coach and support others, helping teams adopt stronger practices across engineering, testing, architecture and operations, while exercising sound judgement about when to challenge and when to maintain momentum. To be successful in the role you will demonstrate: A strong drive to improve systems, processes and people, not just deliver individual features The ability to balance technical leadership with pragmatism, knowing when to challenge ideas constructively and when to align and move forward with the team Effective self management, proactively identifying and taking on work without prompting Ownership of team hygiene and operational responsibilities, including raising tickets, documenting decisions, responding to customer and stakeholder queries, and addressing vulnerabilities or maintenance needs People leadership capabilities, with an understanding of how to uplift teams through coaching, leading by example and providing thoughtful feedback Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to contribute effectively in meetings, workshops and technical discussions Clear, respectful communication with engineers, product managers and stakeholders, fostering trust and strong working relationships A growth mindset with openness to feedback, and a clear ambition to progress toward a Principal Engineer role over time Demonstrates strong critical thinking with a mindset focused on continuous improvement Technical Requirements Strong backend development experience with Kotlin or Java, Spring / Spring Boot, and REST APIs Solid experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL or MySQL) Proficient with Git, Gradle or Maven, and modern CI/CD pipelines (GitLab or GitHub) Strong understanding of the software delivery lifecycle, including build, test, deploy and release Deep knowledge of automated testing (unit, integration, end to end, load) and test driven practices Demonstrated ability to lead code reviews, maintain high code quality, and improve maintainability, security and accessibility Comfortable with and supportive of pair programming Highly desirable Experience with monitoring and observability (e.g. Splunk, New Relic or similar) Working knowledge of AWS fundamentals (e.g. S3, IAM, Secrets Manager) Familiarity with artifact repositories (JFrog, Nexus) and containerisation (Docker/Podman) Understanding of cloud native/microservice architectures, API gateways (e.g. Apigee), and OWASP Top 10 Experience with platforms and tools such as Apigee, Kubernetes, Snyk, Prisma, ROSA, Quay, Splunk Ownership of end to end deployment pipelines across non prod and prod Exposure to broader DevOps, platform or security tooling Interest in progressing towards a Principal Engineer role and influencing at scale Essential Requirements To be considered for roles in the NSW public sector, applicants must: Be NSW residents or in the process of relocating to NSW Hold appropriate working rights for the type of employment offered Why join Service NSW? You’ll be part of an organisation that: Delivers services that genuinely impact millions of people Invests in modern technology, ways of working and professional growth Supports flexible, hybrid working and inclusive practices Values collaboration, purpose and continuous improvement If you’re motivated by scale, complexity, and the opportunity to shape meaningful digital outcomes, we’d love to hear from you! How to apply Please submit your resume and cover letter as a single document. Your application should highlight your skills, experience, and why you're the perfect fit for this role. Our recruitment process Our recruitment and assessment process is merit based. For this recruitment we will be conducting a minimum of three interview and assessment stages that form a comparative process. This will include: 1. Panel behavioural interview 2. Coding Task 3. Personality Assessment 4. Reference checks Support office roles will be headquartered across McKell or Parramatta. We will consider role headquarters outside of the above locations where the role can reasonably be performed from that location taking into consideration the operational, financial and customer requirements of the role, and an ability to attend a NSW Government workplace as required. At the point an employee is notified of our intention to assign them to a role, the relevant leader will discuss headquarter options.