Engineering Manager - Advanced Development at Arkeus – Port Melbourne, Victoria

About Arkeus

Arkeus is a world leader in the provision of wide-area autonomous optical search systems in the Search, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance space for Defence, Civil Defence and Environmental Sustainment applications. We specialise in the design, fabrication, manufacture and distribution of these innovative systems.

Backed by the billion-dollar deep-tech and industry expert investors Main Sequence, Beaten Zone Venture Partners, and Salus Ventures we are scaling the deployment of our next-generation hardware-enabled software platform to help our customers improve security and save lives.

We are a small yet fast-growing company with energy, passion and ambition. Our inclusive, transparent and merit-based culture focuses on building a diverse and capable workforce - one that attracts skilled individuals who share our purpose and values.

About the role:

This is a career-defining opportunity for the right person, with meaningful financial upside at this stage of growth.

Arkeus is scaling rapidly, backed by world-class investors and programs of record across the AUKUS nations. Those who join at this stage, at this level, are the ones who benefit most from that trajectory.

As Engineering Manager – Advanced Development, you will lead a critical engineering team at the core of our technical capability. Advanced Development is where concepts become validated systems, and where science and engineering converge to create the next generation of Arkeus products.

You will own a portfolio of concurrent advanced development programs spanning software, hardware and systems integration — progressing each from early-stage prototyping through to product readiness and handoff to Product teams.

Reporting to executive leadership, you will be accountable for team performance, culture and delivery, while shaping how a high-performing engineering organisation operates in a scale-up environment.

This role is suited to an engineering leader energised by complex technical challenges, capable of leading high-performing teams, and motivated by delivering real-world impact.

About you:

• You are a technically credible engineering leader who engages at the systems level and earns trust through understanding, not just process.
• You combine engineering rigour with strong people leadership. You build alignment across teams, lead through influence as well as authority, and take ownership of team performance and retention.
• You are comfortable operating in ambiguity and know how to introduce structure without unnecessary process.
• You communicate clearly and confidently across all levels, translating complex engineering realities into actionable insights.
• You understand that capability and culture take time to build and require consistent leadership to sustain.

Key responsibilities:

Advanced Development Leadership

• Own and drive delivery across a portfolio of concurrent advanced development programs from concept, prototyping and validation through to product readiness.
• Define technical direction, program milestones and success criteria for early-stage systems.
• Drive rapid iteration cycles while maintaining engineering quality, traceability and technical debt awareness.
• Hold the standard for technical decision-making across the team and provide substantive guidance where it matters.

Team Leadership, Development and Retention

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing multidisciplinary team spanning software, hardware and systems engineering.
• Conduct structured performance reviews, set clear expectations and create meaningful development pathways for individuals at all career levels.
• Identify retention risks early and take deliberate action — creating the conditions that make talented engineers choose to stay.
• Build capability in operating effectively within uncertain, fast-moving technical environments.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability and technical pride.

Prototype-to-Product Transition

• Establish and embed robust handover frameworks from Advanced Development into Product teams.
• Ensure solutions are scalable, manufacturable and supportable at the point of transition.
• Partner with Product and Manufacturing to align on readiness criteria, constraints and timelines.
• Maintain continuity of technical knowledge through transition without creating team dependency.

Engineering Excellence

• Implement fit-for-purpose engineering processes that enable rapid prototyping without sacrificing rigour.
• Ensure appropriate alignment with relevant standards where applicable (e.g. Defence, ISO frameworks).
• Balance speed of experimentation with reliability, safety and performance expectations.
• Champion documentation and engineering traceability as enablers, not overheads.

Leadership Reporting and Organisational Contribution

• Report regularly to executive leadership on portfolio status, team, risks and resource requirements.
• Contribute to business development efforts — including customer engagement, capability positioning and proposal input — where advanced development capability is a differentiator.
• Represent Arkeus externally at industry forums, with customers and partners, as a technical and leadership voice.
• Contribute to workforce planning, hiring and team structure decisions as the organisation scales.
• Build lightweight systems and processes that grow with the company.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with Product, Manufacturing and Program Delivery to increase organisational speed and alignment.

Your experience and skills:

• Degree in Software, Electronics, Mechanical, Aerospace or Systems Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams in prototype, advanced development or early-stage product environments.
• A track record of delivering hardware-enabled software systems from concept through to production readiness.
• Experience conducting performance reviews and actively managing team capability and career development.
• Proven ability to manage a portfolio of concurrent technical programs in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.
• Technically credible at the systems level: able to engage meaningfully with engineering decisions across software, hardware and systems domains.
• Strong communication skills — able to translate complex technical realities for executive, product, customer and operational audiences.
• Experience working in scale-ups, defence-adjacent or lean high-technology environments.
• A postgraduate business or portfolio management qualification is highly regarded.
• Commercial awareness — ability to contribute to business development, pricing strategy or customer engagement — is an advantage.

What we offer:

• The knowledge that your work sits inside systems trusted and used by AUKUS defence customers.
• A role that defines what is possible in Australian deep-tech — complex, fast-paced and genuinely novel.
• Direct influence on the technical direction of a growing company backed by world-class investors.
• Leadership of the most technically ambitious team in the business.
• Close collaboration with highly experienced leaders across Defence, aerospace and research.
• Direct access to executive leadership, with a clear path to broader organisational influence as Arkeus scales.
• An inclusive, high-trust environment where diversity is a genuine value and merit and contribution are what matter.
• Workplace flexibility and a strong focus on sustainable high performance.
• Executive-level participation in our Employee Share Option Plan — Arkeus has been on an exponential revenue and headcount trajectory for several years, and this is a compelling time to hold a meaningful stake in where the company is going.
• The opportunity to shape Arkeus' next phase of growth — and your own career alongside it.

If this sounds like you, please apply even if you don't check every box. Join our team and help us improve security and save lives!