Senior Java Developer Software Engineer for Services Australia

Senior roles in cloud, delivery, engineering, and change. Placed properly.

Key requirements

• Must be an Australian Citizen eligible to obtain NV1 security clearance
• Senior-level Java development chops - you've owned the full SDLC, led technical delivery and written production-grade code at scale
• Based in Melbourne, VIC or Sydney, NSW (hybrid role with onsite attendance required)

The gig

If you live and breathe Java and want your code to power critical national services, this gig has your name on it.

Picture this: You're embedded in a high-impact capacity management automation programme at a major federal agency, working hybrid from Melbourne, VIC or Sydney, NSW. Your day-to-day? Extending a sophisticated Java application that ingests, aggregates and analyzes infrastructure utilisation data across enterprise platforms - think Grafana dashboards, PostgreSQL pipelines, Prometheus feeds and automated CPU right-sizing. This is not a 'set and forget' maintenance gig - you'll be designing, building and shipping meaningful enhancements that directly shape how the agency manages its technology estate.

The contract kicks off around January 2027, runs up to 12 months with potential extensions to 24 months, and sits at an EL1-equivalent seniority band. Up to two roles are on offer, so if you know another gun developer, send them our way too.

We know because we do. Our crew has sat in contractor seats just like this one - navigating government delivery frameworks, SFIA-aligned capability assessments and the particular joy of integrating monitoring toolchains in complex enterprise environments. We know what 'Level 5 SFIA' actually looks like in practice, and we'll help you frame your pitch to land it.

This role demands NV1 clearance eligibility and Australian Citizenship - no exceptions for a federal client of this nature.

If you tick the essentials below, we'll help you nail the one-page pitch and get you in front of the right people fast.

Emerging technology monitoring: Level 5 (SFIA)Monitors the external environment to gather intelligence on emerging technologies. Assesses and documents the impacts, threats and opportunities to the organisation. Creates reports and technology roadmaps and shares knowledge and insights with others.

Methods and tools: Level 5 (SFIA)Provides advice, guidance and expertise to promote adoption of methods and tools and adherence to policies and standards. Evaluates and selects appropriate methods and tools in line with agreed policies and standards. Contributes to organisational policies, standards, and guidelines for methods and tools. Implements methods and tools at programme, project and team levels including selection and tailoring in line with agreed standards. Manages reviews of the benefits and value of methods and tools. Identifies and recommends improvements.

Programming/software development: Level 5 (SFIA)Takes technical responsibility across all stages and iterations of software development. Plans and drives software construction activities. Adopts and adapts appropriate software development methods, tools and techniques. Measures and monitors applications of project/team standards for software construction, including software security. Contributes to the development of organisational policies, standards, and guidelines for software development.

Release and deployment: Level 5 (SFIA)Leads the assessment, analysis, planning and design of release packages, including assessment of risk. Liaises with business and technology teams on release scheduling and communication of progress. Conducts post-release reviews. Ensures that release processes and procedures are applied and that releases can be rolled back as needed. Identifies, evaluates and manages the adoption of appropriate release and deployment techniques, processes and automation tools.

Software configuration: Level 5 (SFIA)Takes technical responsibility across all stages and iterations of configuration development and deployment. Plans and drives software configuration activities. Adopts and adapts appropriate software configuration methods, tools and techniques. Measures and monitors the application of standards for configuration design and deployment including software security. Contributes to the development of organisational policies, standards, and guidelines for software configuration design and deployment.

Software design: Level 4 (SFIA)Designs complex software applications, components and modules. Uses appropriate modelling techniques following agreed software design standards, guidelines, patterns and methodology. Creates and communicates multiple design views to balance stakeholders' concerns and to satisfy functional and non-functional requirements. Identifies, evaluates and recommends alternative design options and trade-offs. Models, simulates or prototypes the behaviour of proposed software to enable approval by stakeholders, and effective construction of the software. Verifies software design by constructing and applying appropriate methods. Reviews, verifies and improves own designs against specifications. Leads reviews of others designs.

Specialist advice: Level 4 (SFIA)Provides detailed and specific advice regarding the application of their specialism to the organisation's planning and operations. Actively maintains knowledge in one or more identifiable specialisms. Recognises and identifies the boundaries of their own specialist knowledge. Where appropriate, collaborates with other specialists to ensure advice given is appropriate to the organisation's needs.

Systems design: Level 5 (SFIA)Designs large or complex systems and undertakes impact analysis on major design options and trade-offs. Ensures that the system design balances functional and non-functional requirements. Reviews systems designs and ensures that appropriate methods, tools and techniques are applied effectively. Makes recommendations and assesses and manages associated risks. Adopts and adapts system design methods, tools and techniques. Contributes to development of system design policies, standards and selection of architecture components.

Systems integration and build: Level 5 (SFIA)Plans and drives activities to develop organisational systems integration and build capabilities including automation and continuous integration. Identifies, evaluates and manages the adoption of tools, techniques and processes to create a robust integration framework. Provides authoritative advice and guidance on any aspect of systems integration. Leads integration work in line with the agreed system and service design. Assesses risks and takes preventative action. Measures and monitors applications of standards. Contributes to the development of organisational policies, standards, and guidelines for systems integration.

Testing: Level 4 (SFIA)Selects appropriate testing approach, including manual and automated testing. Develops and executes test plans and test cases. Implements scalable and reliable automated tests and frameworks. Collaborates across parties involved in product, systems or service design and development to enable comprehensive test coverage. Identifies improvements in requirements, design or specification processes to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of testing. Analyses and reports on test activities, results, issues and risks, including the work of others.

Screening Questions YOU WILL BE ASKED:

• Are you an Australian Citizen?

  (Expected answer: yes / no)

• What Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) clearance do you hold (Active or Dormant)?

  (Expected answer: one of the listed options)

• Can you attend onsite at the Melbourne or Sydney office when required?

  (Expected answer: yes / no)

• Are you located in VIC or NSW or will you relocate?

  (Expected answer: yes / no)

• Are you eligible to obtain Negative Vetting Level 1 (NV1) security clearance?

  (Expected answer: yes / no)

• How many years of total experience do you have working in federal government ICT delivery?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of Java software development experience do you have at a senior or technical-lead level?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of experience do you have with systems integration and build, including automation and continuous integration pipelines?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of experience do you have integrating monitoring, capacity or observability data from tools such as Grafana, Elastic, Prometheus, VMware Aria or Dynatrace?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of experience do you have with release and deployment planning, including rollback procedures and post-release reviews?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of experience do you have designing complex software applications and systems?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of experience do you have developing and executing test plans and automated test frameworks?

  (Expected answer: a number)

• How many years of experience do you have providing specialist technical advice and contributing to organisational standards and guidelines for software development or configuration?

  (there seems truncated; we keep as is)