Engineering Lead

We’re the airline that dares to do things a little differently. Bold, down-to-earth and built around giving our guests real choice.

Safety is our backbone, service is our heartbeat, and our people are our superpower. We blend heart and smarts to deliver experiences that feel good, work brilliantly and bring a spark of fun back to flying.

We’re vibrant, authentic and unapologetically human. Here, you can bring your whole self, your Virgin Flair and your ambition to a team that champions individuality, innovation and a whole lot of heart. If you’re excited by meaningful work, real opportunities to grow, and a culture where you can genuinely make a difference, you’ll feel right at home with us

Our Digital team is shaping the future of Virgin Australia through technology, data and innovation. We create seamless digital experiences, build modern platforms and solve complex challenges with curiosity, collaboration and a relentless focus on delivering value for our guests and our people.

What you’ll be doing…

As Engineering Lead, you’ll lead the engineering team responsible for Virgin Australia’s new web check-in platform – a critical customer-facing platform.

You’ll take technical ownership of the platform as it moves into ongoing delivery and operation, leading a squad of approximately 4-5 engineers and establishing the engineering practices needed to develop, operate and continuously improve the platform.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You’ll bring strong engineering depth, stay close to the technology and provide technical direction while creating an environment where engineers can deliver high-quality solutions.

You’ll:

• Lead the engineering delivery and ongoing technical health of the digital check-in platform.
• Provide technical leadership across solution design, build, testing, deployment, production support and continuous improvement.
• Lead, coach and develop engineers, setting clear expectations around engineering quality, delivery and ways of working.
• Build and enhance the new standalone web application which incorporates a scalable frontend (React) and thin backend (Node.js) developed with TypeScript , using a full-stack React framework.
• Drive engineering excellence across code quality, peer review, testing, automation, documentation and technical debt management.
• Use modern engineering practices, automation and AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering quality and delivery efficiency.
• Ensure solutions are accessible, scalable, secure, resilient, observable and production-ready.
• Work closely with Product, Delivery, Architecture, Security and other Digital teams to shape technical solutions, priorities and delivery outcomes.
• Maintain visibility of dependencies, technical risks, environments and operational constraints, and remove blockers that could impact delivery.
• Help establish a strong engineering culture as the squad transitions into an ongoing product team.

You’ll be great in this role if…

You’re an established engineering leader who has retained strong technical depth. You’ve led engineers delivering large-scale customer-facing digital or e-commerce platforms, but you’re equally comfortable getting into the detail, challenging a technical approach and working alongside engineers to solve complex problems.

You’ll bring experience leading technology in a high-volume production environment where reliability, customer experience and speed of delivery all matter.

To be considered for this role, you’ll need:

• Strong experience as a Technical Lead, Engineering Lead or similar, with responsibility for leading and developing software engineers.
• A strong background as a hands-on software engineer, with the technical depth to lead engineering decisions and provide credible guidance to experienced developers.
• Experience using AI-assisted engineering tools and applying AI to improve software development practices.
• Demonstrated experience delivering and operating large-scale customer-facing digital or e-commerce platforms.
• Strong experience with React and JavaScript across modern web applications, with knowledge of JavaScript-based back-end development.
• Experience leading solutions through the full engineering lifecycle from design and build through to production, support and continuous improvement.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary engineering practices including automated testing, CI/CD, code quality, observability, security and technical debt management.
• Experience working in Agile, cross-functional product or engineering squads.
• The ability to translate complex technical issues into clear decisions, risks and actions for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Experience within airline, travel, e-commerce or another complex, high-volume digital environment would be valuable.

This role can be based in Brisbane or Sydney, with Brisbane preferred. Our team works across locations, so some travel may be required.

What you’ll get from us

• Discounted flights for you and your loved ones, including $1,000 worth of travel credits per year
• A flexible, hybrid work style. Work from home or the office (3 days a week in office)
• Discounts on travel insurance, lounge membership, car hire, accommodation and experiences worldwide
• Cheaper hospitality, retail, technology, beauty and wellness services
• Free counselling and access to a wellbeing app to support your physical, mental, social and financial health
• ‘Dress for Your Day’, enjoy the freedom to wear whatever makes you feel great for the type of work you do and the day you have ahead of you

When everyone is included, everyone wins

We’re all individuals. And we love that. That’s why we encourage applications from Indigenous Australians, people with disability, those from diverse cultural backgrounds, our friends in the LGBTQIA+ community, and anyone else who wants to join our family.

Ready to apply? We are ready to hear from you!