Engineering Manager - AI Tools (Security)

Engineering Manager · Manager · Full Time

AU - MelbourneAUD 200k – 280k6mo ago
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Role

What you'll do.

Engineering Manager role at Airwallex leading a team focused on AI-powered security tools and internal automation. The position involves managing engineers, building security tooling, and leveraging AI to protect $150B+ in payments and 150,000+ companies while working with terabyte-scale data pipelines and modern cloud infrastructure.

Responsibilities

  • Team Leadership: Manage and lead a team of engineers, providing technical direction, setting clear goals, and ensuring high-quality, timely delivery of AI-powered security tooling
  • Execution Management: Own team execution and delivery, including planning, prioritization, resourcing, and performance management while balancing hands-on technical leadership
  • AI Tool Development: Lead the development of AI tools and applications for security purposes, from inception to implementation
  • Incident Response: Support incident response efforts by building ad-hoc tools for threat hunting, remediation and security scanners
  • Infrastructure Management: Build, monitor, and maintain underlying infrastructure, including Kubernetes clusters, serverless workloads, and ETL pipelines
  • Automation Identification: Work with engineers to identify opportunities for automation and internal tooling development
  • Cross-team Collaboration: Partner with product engineering teams to drive security outcomes including automation for patching and development of security gateways
  • Mentorship: Mentor and help grow other Software Engineers in the team through career development and technical guidance

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Programming Languages

    Experience with at least one scripting language (Python) and one systems programming language (Go, C/C++)

  • Cloud Infrastructure

    Experience with modern cloud infrastructure, including data pipelines, serverless workloads, and Kubernetes

  • Production Systems

    Proven experience with production code bases and high-scale systems

  • AI/ML Experience

    Hands-on experience with AI, specifically leveraging AI to build security applications

  • Linux Administration

    Experience maintaining Linux operating systems and security hardening

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related technical field

Experience

  • Software Engineering

    8+ years of experience as a Software Engineer with progression to leadership roles

  • Team Leadership

    Prior experience leading or managing software engineering teams, including mentorship, career development, and performance feedback

  • Strategic Planning

    Proven ability to translate business and security goals into execution plans, aligning roadmap, timelines, and engineering capacity

  • Autonomous Delivery

    Proven experience working autonomously on projects, delivering them to high quality and on time

  • High-growth Experience

    Preferred experience working in a high-growth tech company environment

Skills

Required

  • Python Programming

    Advanced scripting capabilities for AI tool development and automation

  • Systems Programming

    Proficiency in Go or C/C++ for high-performance security applications

  • Cloud Architecture

    Deep understanding of AWS, Kubernetes, and serverless architectures

  • Team Leadership

    Proven track record managing engineering teams and driving technical delivery

  • Security Domain Knowledge

    Understanding of cybersecurity principles, threat hunting, and incident response

  • Communication Skills

    Excellent verbal and written communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Preferred

  • AI/ML Frameworks

    Nice to have

    Experience with TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar machine learning frameworks

  • DevOps Tools

    Nice to have

    Familiarity with Docker, Terraform, Jenkins for infrastructure automation

  • Data Engineering

    Nice to have

    Experience with ETL pipelines and processing terabyte-scale datasets

  • Fintech Experience

    Nice to have

    Background in financial technology or payments industry

  • Startup Experience

    Nice to have

    Previous experience in high-growth startup environments

  • Linux Administration

    Nice to have

    System administration and security hardening experience

Tech stack

Languages

PythonGoC/C++

Frameworks

TensorFlowPyTorchKubernetes

Databases

ElasticsearchPostgreSQLRedis

Tools

DockerTerraformJenkinsGrafanaPrometheus

Other

AWSServerless FunctionsETL PipelinesLinux

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·AUD 200,000 – 280,000

Equity·Stock options

Benefits

  • Equity Participation

    Stock options and equity participation in a US$8B valued fintech unicorn

  • Global Career Opportunities

    Access to 26+ offices worldwide and international career development paths

  • Professional Development

    Accelerated learning opportunities in a high-growth fintech environment

  • Cutting-edge Technology

    Work with latest AI, security, and cloud technologies at enterprise scale

  • Diverse Team Environment

    Join 2,000+ innovative professionals from diverse backgrounds across the globe

  • Equal Opportunity

    Inclusive workplace with equal opportunity employment and disability accommodation

Process

Interview steps.

  1. 01

    Initial Screening

    Phone or video call with talent acquisition team to discuss background, experience, and role alignment

  2. 02

    Technical Leadership Interview

    Discussion with engineering leadership covering team management philosophy, technical architecture decisions, and security domain knowledge

  3. 03

    System Design Session

    Whiteboard or collaborative session designing AI-powered security systems and discussing scalability, monitoring, and incident response

  4. 04

    Behavioral Interview

    Competency-based interview focusing on leadership scenarios, conflict resolution, and cultural fit with Airwallex values

  5. 05

    Final Panel Interview

    Meeting with senior engineering leaders and security team members to discuss strategic vision, team building, and long-term career goals

  6. 06

    Reference Checks

    Verification of previous management experience and technical accomplishments with former colleagues or supervisors

Full posting

Original listing.

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 200,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more – with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you’re ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.

Attributes We Value

We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you’re motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.

You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you “get stuff done” end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you’ll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let’s build what’s next.

What you’ll do

As an Engineering Manager working on internal AI tooling, you will be responsible for helping keep $150b+ in payments, 150,000 companies, and our thousands of employees safe.

You'll have the opportunity to partner with internal teams to help identify projects that can drive impact - like building internal automation tooling, owning our terabyte-scale log pipelines, and using AI to streamline how our team operates.

We're not tied to specific projects, languages, and technology - we rely on smart people diving deep to find the best solutions to hard problems. You'll also be mentoring junior team members and continuing to grow our world-class engineering team.

Responsibilities:

  • Manage and lead a team of engineers, providing technical direction, setting clear goals, and ensuring high-quality, timely delivery of AI-powered security tooling.

  • Own team execution and delivery, including planning, prioritization, resourcing, and performance management while balancing hands-on technical leadership.

  • Lead the development of AI tools and applications, from inception to implementation.

  • Support incident response efforts by building ad-hoc tools for threat hunting, remediation and scanners.

  • Build, monitor, and maintain underlying infrastructure, including Kubernetes clusters, serverless workloads, and ETL pipelines.

  • Sit with engineers to identify opportunities for automation and tooling development

  • Partner with product engineering teams to drive security outcomes - such as automation for patching, and development of gateways and other services to decrease risk.

  • Mentor and help grow other Software Engineers in the team.

Who you are

  • You have a passion for solving the complex challenges within a high-growth start-up.

  • You are self-motivated, a self starter, and able to learn new skills and dive deeper into existing skills.

Minimum qualifications:

  • Prior experience leading or managing software engineering teams, including mentorship, career development, and performance feedback.

  • Proven ability to translate business and security goals into execution plans, aligning roadmap, timelines, and engineering capacity.

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field.

  • 8+ years of experience as a Software Engineer.

  • Experience with production code bases

  • Experience with at least one scripting language (e.g. Python) and one systems programming language (eg. Golang, C/C++)

  • Experience with modern cloud infrastructure, including data pipelines, serverless workloads, and Kubernetes

  • Proven experience working autonomously on projects - delivering them to a high quality and on time.

  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

  • Ability to dive deep to find the best solution to a problem

  • Obsessive curiosity and a willingness to ask questions, gather context, and learn

Preferred qualifications:

  • Experience working in a high-growth tech company.

  • Hands on experience with AI - specifically leveraging AI to build applications

  • Experience maintaining Linux operating systems

Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters

To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport), or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com or our official LinkedIn page.

Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary.

Equal opportunity

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don’t regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

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