Principal Software Engineer

Optus Network Engineering keeps Australia connected. We own the design, planning, delivery, and operation of one of Australia's largest and most critical telecommunications networks.

In other words, we're the people who keep 11 million customers online every day. We support the IP infrastructure that powers mobile, broadband, and digital services across the nation - and we're looking for a Principal Software Engineer who wants to help define how we build the future of a network indistinguishable from perfect.

The IP Automation & Tooling team develops and operates automation, observability, and data platforms spanning IP Core, Edge, Aggregation, and Optical domains. We own the end-to-end roadmap for transforming our IP network into an intelligent, self-healing platform that operates at national scale.

You'll work directly with the Director to shape the engineering strategy and set technical direction for the platform. You'll define how the team builds - the patterns, standards, and guardrails - and hold that bar by staying hands-on in Golang and Python alongside the team. You'll mentor senior engineers, lead design reviews, and be the person the team turns to when the hard architectural calls need making.

What You'll Do

• Define the engineering strategy and technical roadmap for the IP Automation & Tooling platform.
• Own the software architecture: reference designs, API patterns, engineering standards, and the guardrails that keep the platform scalable and safe to operate at telco scale.
• Lead design reviews and architecture assurance across platform initiatives - availability, scale, security, and blast radius are your problem to solve from day one.
• Contribute to the codebase alongside your architecture work - this is a hands-on role, not an advisory one.
• Drive technical initiatives from proof of concept through to production across streaming data pipelines, observability platforms, and AI-powered automation systems.
• Mentor senior engineers through design reviews, pair programming, and knowledge sharing.
• Evaluate emerging technologies - AI/ML frameworks, workflow orchestration tools, modern API patterns - and give the team clear, buildable recommendations.
• Engage with internal architecture teams, domain leads, and vendors to keep the platform's technical choices aligned with Optus network strategy. Participate in on-call rotation and incident response for critical production systems.
  
  

What You Bring

• 8+ years building and shipping production software in large, complex technology environments, with experience that covers both hands-on engineering and owning technical architecture.
• Expert proficiency in Programming languages including Golang and Python.
• Experience defining software architecture patterns, engineering standards, and design assurance processes across a platform or product.
• A track record of driving technical outcomes across teams without line authority. Hands-on experience with event streaming platforms (Kafka or similar) and real-time data processing at scale.
• Experience with observability tooling (Grafana, Victoria Metrics, Elasticsearch), CI/CD practices, databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB), and RESTful API design; familiarity with GraphQL or gRPC a plus.
• Exposure to AI/ML frameworks (LangChain, PyTorch) or workflow orchestration tools (N8N, Temporal) highly valued.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to operate at engineering, architecture, and leadership levels.
  
  

The good stuff…

• Competitive remuneration and employee discounts. Make life easier (and more affordable) with $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and unique shopping discounts with our retail partners.
• Flexible working arrangements with opportunities to work three days in the office, two days remote or home.
• Competitive leave policies, including additional 'Connected’ days to focus on culture, family, health, community, or whatever’s important to you.
• We support growing families with inclusive, carer-neutral paid Parental Leave of up to 16 weeks.
• Direct your own development and build future-ready skills with Optus U’s industry-focused micro-credentials, developed with La Trobe and Macquarie Universities.
• Build meaningful connections through employee-led networks and diversity initiatives including Culture Connect, Elevate Women, Disability Network and Express Yourself (LGBTQIA+).
• Put your wellbeing first with free access to counselling and support services, 24/7 — in-person, by phone, SMS, or video.
  
  

At Optus, we are strengthened by others and that means valuing diversity and saying ‘yes’ to embracing individual differences. We are committed to ensuring that our application process provides an equal employment opportunity to all job seekers, including individuals from diverse gender, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, individuals with a disability, individuals identifying as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, individuals who may have served in the armed forces or who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. We also want to do our best to make our recruitment process inclusive. If you require any adjustments or accessibility support to participate fairly and equitably in the recruitment process, please email [email protected] or call 1800 309 170. We're here to help.

For more information on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Optus, please visit https://www.optus.com.au/about/inclusion-diversity