Chief Platform Engineer, Data Platforms

Job Description

• Sydney or Melbourne Location / Hybrid Working Model
• Shape what comes next for Westpac’s data platforms.

Opportunity is knocking

This highly visible and business essentialsenior engineering opportunity to lead the technical direction of our Data Platforms (DP) ecosystem and help enable Westpac’s Data Inspired journey.

You will bring deep engineering judgement, enterprise influence and a practical focus on secure, scalable and reliable platforms. You will work across Technology and business partners to turn strategy into clear roadmaps, standards and outcomes.

What’s the role?

As Chief Engineer, Data Platforms, you will hold end-to-end accountability for the strategic technical direction, design and evolution of Westpac’s Data Platforms ecosystem. Your scope includes the Lakehouse platform, data warehouses, data integration and information management capabilities.

You will define platform strategy and roadmaps, lead technical design for complex programs and large-scale migrations, and drive performance, cost and reliability engineering. You will also help advance agentic automation towards more autonomous operations, while coaching senior engineers and embedding innovation, DevSecOps and Site Reliability Engineering practices.

Your key responsibilities

• Own the strategic technical direction and end-to-end design of the Data Platforms ecosystem.
• Shape platform engineering strategy and roadmaps across Lakehouse, data warehouse, data integration and information management capabilities.
• Provide technical leadership for complex programs transforming Westpac’s data landscape, including large-scale migrations.
• Drive platform performance, cost optimisation, reliability, security and scalability.
• Set direction for agentic automation and the evolution towards more autonomous platform operations.
• Partner with product, architecture, infrastructure, security, service management and business stakeholders to continuously improve the platform roadmap and user experience.
• Embed strong engineering practices, including innovation, DevSecOps, SRE, effective analysis, design, programming and testing.
• Coach and mentor the platform engineering community, helping senior engineers grow as technical leaders.

What do I need?

• Significant experience providing technical leadership across large, complex data platform environments.
• Advanced knowledge of data technologies and cloud computing, including platforms such as Microsoft Synapse, Databricks and Teradata.
• Experience defining engineering strategy, architecture, standards, patterns and roadmaps for enterprise-scale platforms.
• Strong knowledge of DevSecOps and SRE models, practices and tooling.
• Demonstrated capability leading complex technical programs, platform transformation and large-scale migrations.
• A strong understanding of how technology and business priorities connect, with the ability to turn stakeholder needs into practical platform outcomes.
• Highly developed communication and influencing skills, with a track record of building trusted relationships across organisational levels.
• A practical innovation mindset, including the ability to apply emerging AI and agentic architectures to complex business and engineering challenges.
• A commitment to coaching engineers, lifting capability and creating an inclusive environment where different perspectives can contribute.

Why take this next step?

• Broaden your enterprise impact by shaping the future of Westpac’s core data platform capabilities.
• Influence major transformation initiatives and strategic technology partnerships.
• Grow technical leadership across the engineering community through coaching, standards and thought leadership.
• Work at the intersection of data, cloud, AI, reliability and business strategy.

Why Westpac?

We’re creating better futures for our customers, communities and people. You’ll join a collaborative and inclusive environment where different perspectives are valued, people feel safe to contribute ideas, and everyone has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive.

We welcome applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, people from culturally diverse backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ communities and candidates of all ages and life experiences.

We’re focused on becoming our customers’ number one banking partner for life, and we’re looking for people who are passionate about helping us achieve that goal. In return, we’re committed to making Westpac one of the best places to work in Australia.

Here are just a few of the ways we’re already doing that:

• Special offers on banking products and discounts from top brands, including generous employee-only mortgage rates!
• Flexible work arrangements to help you achieve a greater work/life balance, and a variety of leave options including Culture, Lifestyle and Wellbeing leave.
• Tailored learning and development opportunities to help grow your career within the bank.
• Lots of opportunities to ‘give back’ to the Community by getting involved in our many volunteering initiatives.

Our Promise to you!

We’re all about creating a supportive and inclusive community. We welcome everyone – no matter your age, gender, background, or abilities. We also provide additional support to welcome our veterans, Indigenous Australians, and neurodiverse community.

If you need an adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, we’re here to support you. You can find more information and contact details by visiting the "People with Disability and/or needing Accessibility Requirements" page on our website.