Tech Lead (AI Transformation for Software Development)

The client

Buddy Advisory is proud to be partnering with Propel Ventures, the AI transformation partner for ambitious Australian businesses. Propel rewires how organisations work: operating model, ways of working, capability and governance, so AI changes the work, not just the toolkit.

Founded in 2016, Propel has grown into a 50-strong consultancy with hubs in Melbourne and Sydney. As both strategists and practitioners, they drive both the roadmap and the reality. Their partnerships with Anthropic, AWS, Microsoft and Google give clients access to cutting-edge capability, backed by a team with the expertise to effectively deploy it.

The role

Propel's AI Advisory & Transformation work is increasingly anchored in the AI Product Delivery Lifecycle (AI PDLC); their model for how product and engineering teams ship in an AI-augmented world. Clients are asking Propel to redesign their delivery model around the AI PDLC: structured Delivery Knowledge, the Implement–Measure–Improve flywheel, AI-native ways of working, evals and observability.

We're now on the search for a Tech Lead with the technical credibility to redesign a client's SDLC alongside their CTO, the delivery experience to make it real, and the hands-on AI fluency to model the new way of working from the front. This is not a delivery-manager role, it's a Tech Lead role suited to someone who can both advise and build.

The responsibilities

Lead AI PDLC consulting engagements end-to-end; current-state assessment, target operating model, roadmap and embedded delivery.

Partner with client CTOs, heads of engineering and platform leads to redesign their software delivery lifecycle around AI agents and the Implement–Measure–Improve flywheel.

Stand up the artefacts that make the new model real; Delivery Knowledge structures, AI-native ceremonies, evals, observability and governance.

Coach client engineering teams on modern AI tooling; Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and similar — and on patterns like RAG, context engineering, MCP and agentic workflows.

Stay hands-on: build alongside client teams when that is the fastest path to credibility and adoption.

Mentor Propel engineers and consultants on engagement; raise the bar across the practice.

Contribute to Propel's AI PDLC IP; frameworks, playbooks, evals, blog posts, conference talks.

The requirements

10+ years across software engineering, technical leadership and consulting; at least some of that in a credible consulting environment.

Hands-on with modern AI development tools daily; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or similar. You go beyond the theory.

Technical credibility with senior stakeholders: you can sit with a CTO, talk architecture, evals, observability and agent design, and have them trust your judgement.

Delivery experience: you've shipped non-trivial software at scale and understand what it takes to keep production systems running.

Change and transformation experience; whether AI, agile or platform-led, you've helped an organisation rewire how it operates.

Strong communicator: you can talk to engineers and executives in the same conversation and have both leave clearer.

Why join

Be at the centre of Propel's published AI PDLC framework, with multiple live transformations already running against it.

Practitioner-consultant culture: you build, you advise, and you see your work land; not just advise from the sidelines.

Anthropic, AWS, Microsoft and Google partner; ISO 27001; a decade of product-led delivery behind us.

50-strong team, exec access, and genuine input into how the practice grows.

Work with ambitious clients across wealth platforms, national retailers, energy and education on board-level AI transformation.

Salary banding: $160K - $200K + superannuation.