Director, Engineering

Imagine preventing wildfires before they start, or ensuring power grids stay resilient during extreme weather. That's the real-world impact we create every day at Neara.

We build 3D physics-enabled digital twins of critical infrastructure networks that help utilities and infrastructure companies run scenarios, assess risks, and make smarter decisions that affect millions of lives.

We're not just another tech company - we're TIME's 2024 Most Influential Company making tangible differences in communities worldwide. We're backed by some of the world's leading venture capital and private equity investors.

Our team is passionate, brilliant, and genuinely excited about solving problems that matter. We've built something special here: a culture where everyone owns our mission, innovation thrives, and great work gets recognised. And now we're ready for our next chapter of growth.

Our ambition is to redefine the future of critical infrastructure intelligence. We need smart, creative, driven people to help us achieve it.

We're looking for a Director of Engineering to lead and grow our engineering division - Someone who can inspire teams, champion technical excellence, and help us scale to the next chapter.

You'll be leading a high-performing engineering division of 20 to 50 people. The exact scope will flex as we continue hiring, and you'll play a critical role in shaping how we scale.

This role will report directly to the CEO and will be a key partner in shaping how engineering interfaces with the broader company. You'll combine technical credibility with strong leadership and organisational skills, ensuring our teams are empowered, aligned, and delivering impact.

• Drive alignment & clarity

  • Inspire and align teams around the company's engineering vision.

  • Ensure every team member understands how their work contributes to the bigger picture.

  • Create clarity across teams and functions, so people know what matters most.

  • Earn the respect of engineers through meaningful technical insight and guidance.

• Drive operational excellence

  • Ensure each stream operates as a well-oiled machine, with predictable progress the business can trust.

  • Champion first principles thinking - Encouraging teams to question assumptions, strip problems back to fundamentals, and design the most effective solutions.

  • Embed "product thinking" and customer empathy into everyday engineering practice.

  • Promote strong engineering hygiene (fast reviews, efficient builds, smooth dev setup).

• Build and grow leaders

  • Develop leaders within the engineering org who can multiply impact and uphold the same standards.

  • Foster a culture of continuous growth, with clear goals, regular feedback, and no surprises at review time.

  • Support training, mentoring, rotation opportunities, and community-building activities.

• Champion the technical vision

  • Connect the dots across teams and deduplicate initiatives.

  • Keep engineering efforts aligned with long-term technical priorities.

  • Partner with senior engineers and leadership to uphold and propagate technical direction.

• Collaborate across the company

  • Build strong, productive relationships with Product, Customer Success/Delivery, and even customers directly.

  • Represent engineering credibly across the organisation, ensuring mutual trust and alignment.

  • Act as an ambassador for Neara in hiring and help sell our vision to future teammates.

• Working closely with the executive

  • Act as a trusted partner to the executive team, helping translate strategic objectives into clear engineering outcomes.

  • Act as a cultural and technical leader who knows the team deeply and advocates for their growth and needs.

  • Free up exec bandwidth by leading engineering with confidence, clarity, and independence.

• Proven experience leading engineering organisations at scale, ideally in high-growth tech companies.

• Strong technical credibility: able to engage deeply on design and architecture discussions.

• A track record of aligning teams around vision while ensuring reliable, high-quality delivery.

• Experience building leaders and fostering engineering cultures of trust, growth, and continuous improvement.

• Comfort working at both the big-picture and tactical level - from strategy whiteboards to tactical problem-solving.

• Demonstrated ability to hire, onboard, and inspire top engineering talent, ensuring new team members are set up for success.

Characteristics we look for:

• No-ego, outcome-oriented team players. We always have each other's backs.

• A strong and independent work ethic. We go beyond our customers' expectations.

• Conscientious and detail-oriented execution. We influence large-scale investment decisions and deliver polished, pristine outcomes.

• A collaborative and principled leader who challenges directly, operates authentically, and upholds high standards.

• Competitive salary + ESOP. Significant career development and growth opportunities.

• Fully flexible working arrangements with a well-stocked office in Redfern.

• Highly meritocratic, non-bureaucratic, and no-ego work culture.

• The opportunity to work on complex, meaningful products and real-world problems.

• The opportunity to play a direct, critical role in the trajectory of a high growth company.

• Neara values diversity, belonging, and equal employment opportunities. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply.