Software Technical Lead in Port Melbourne, Victoria at Arkeus

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

As a Technical Lead, you will play a critical role in leading the design and development of high-performance, production-grade systems that power our core platforms and embedded hardware. You will take ownership of complex technical initiatives across the full software lifecycle — from architecture and design through deployment and field validation. Your work will shape the backbone of our evolving product ecosystem.

Working closely with cross-functional teams spanning machine learning, control systems, and hardware engineering, you will help define scalable system architecture, drive engineering best practices, and mentor engineers as we continue to expand our product ecosystem.

About you

• Comfortable leading complex, end-to-end engineering initiatives with a high degree of autonomy.
• Ability to lead and mentor a small technical team.
• Strong systems-level thinking and architectural design capability.
• Proven experience mentoring engineers and providing technical leadership across teams.
• Able to balance hands-on technical delivery with strategic engineering direction.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development of an embedded computer vision and control system.
• Collaborate with ML, control systems, and hardware teams to deliver robust full-stack solutions.
• Define and drive scalable software architecture for new product features and platform capabilities.
• Lead troubleshooting, testing, optimisation, and technical decision-making during field testing.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers through technical coaching, code reviews, and day-to-day leadership, fostering a high-performing and collaborative engineering culture.
• Own Arkeus' Rust codebase end-to-end - from core stack development and maintenance to embedded integration across hardware platforms.

Your experience and skills

• 8+ years of commercial software engineering, with at least 2 years of experience operating at a Technical Lead level.
• Strong experience in image processing, robotics, control systems or adjacent domains is a must.
• Good understanding of embedded vision systems and state estimation techniques.
• Hands-on experience with Rust, or strong C++ experience with meaningful exposure to Rust.
• Proven track record delivering complex, production systems end-to-end.
• Deep understanding of performance optimisation at the algorithmic and systems level.
• Comfortable across embedded and Linux environments.
• Ability to rapidly prototype concepts and successfully take them through to production.
• Experience influencing technical direction, architecture, and engineering standards.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain security clearance.

What we offer

• We make incredible things – you will be working in a company at the forefront of optical autonomy, globally.
• You will collaborate with experienced leaders from aerospace, defence, and academic research and development, who bring the same passion and energy as you do.
• You will become a part of a close-knit, inclusive, and connected team, immersed in a dynamic startup culture. We focus on recruiting the best – this is the opportunity to surround yourself with other like-minded professionals who enjoy working in an environment where we are inspired by the passion and capability of the very people we work with.
• You have an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with our Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP).
• We will give you the chance to make a real difference.

If this sounds like you, please apply even if you don't check every box listed above, and join our growing team in improving security and saving lives!