Head of Engineering

• $210k - $280k base + super
• Hybrid role (minimum 2 days onsite in Alexandria)
• Lead engineering for a health platform with distribution infrastructure

At , our engineering scope is broad and complex.

Externally, our proprietary customer platform supports over 13,000 healthcare practitioners. It enables wholesale ordering for clinic dispensaries, advanced prescribing workflows with built-in clinical safety features, and digital prescriptions sent directly to patients for online fulfilment - all powered by Australia's most comprehensive complementary medicine reference tools.

Internally, the proprietary platform is the backbone of our distribution business, turning prescriptions into deliveries. It provides customised workflows and tools that manage practitioner access, protect patient data, inventory, orders, and reference content - making this ecosystem uniquely powerful.

Connecting every part, internal and external APIs ensure seamless integration, while AWS infrastructure ensures security, resilience, and scalability.

As Head of Engineering, you'll own the ecosystem end-to-end: leading technical strategy, delivery, and team growth across the customer platform, internal platform, APIs, and infrastructure.

This is a senior leadership role for someone who thrives on complexity, enjoys the challenge of scaling proprietary systems, and wants to make a tangible impact at scale.

What makes the opportunity unique for the right engineering leader:

has been operating for over 10 years, generates significant revenue, is profitable, and continues to deliver consistent year-on-year growth.

We have no external investors and no reliance on funding rounds — we grow from profit and reinvest directly into long-term innovation, technology, and practitioner support.

With a clear 10-year vision and a defined 3-year product roadmap for the platform, we know exactly what we want to build next — and scaling our engineering team now is how we'll get there.

For engineering leaders, that means stability, independence in decision-making, and the confidence that what you build today will deliver lasting impact.

This is a hybrid role, based at our Alexandria office, requiring a minimum of two days per week onsite.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership & strategy

• Translate the platform vision and roadmap into actionable engineering goals and resource allocation plans.
• Define and communicate the engineering strategy, balancing new feature delivery with platform stability and technical debt reduction.
• Build organisational capability by hiring the right engineers and specialists as required.

Team growth & management

• Lead, mentor, and manage current engineers.
• Foster an engineering culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Establish career pathways, recruitment processes, and retention strategies to grow a sustainable team.
• Lead engineering practices and standards, including coding conventions, security guidelines, and process improvements.

Technical delivery

• Oversee engineering delivery across PHP (core codebase), .NET microservices, internal and external APIs, and other technologies in use.
• Contribute directly to development where required, particularly in PHP.
• Maintain responsibility for code reviews, automated testing, architectural decisions, and major technical builds.
• Ensure platform features and infrastructure upgrades are delivered on time, to quality, and aligned with business objectives.
• Produce clear technical documentation (API usage, workflows, architecture diagrams) that is accessible to colleagues of varying technical backgrounds.

Infrastructure & operations

• Oversee AWS-hosted infrastructure and services, including compute, storage, networking, and database environments.
• Oversee DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, containerisation (Docker/Kubernetes), and environment automation.
• Monitor platform performance, availability, and security, ensuring compliance with privacy and data protection standards.
• Ensure the protection of practitioner and patient data, maintaining compliance with all relevant health privacy and data protection standards.
• Maintain disaster recovery, backup strategies, and capacity planning to support scalability.

Stakeholder engagement

• Partner with the Product team and Executive team to align engineering delivery with roadmap priorities and broader business objectives.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to refine requirements and translate them into technical solutions that align with business priorities.
• Provide regular updates on engineering progress, risks, dependencies, and resourcing to the executive team.

REQUIREMENTS

Must haves:

• Extensive experience in engineering leadership roles, with proven ability to translate platform vision and roadmap into actionable goals and delivery outcomes.
• Demonstrated success in building and scaling engineering teams, including management of in-house and offshore contributors.
• Strong people management skills, with experience in recruitment, mentoring, performance management, and retention.
• Deep technical expertise in PHP, with ability to review and contribute to a large existing codebase.
• Proficiency in back-end development and microservices.
• Strong understanding of API architecture and development for internal integrations and external partner services.
• Experience implementing and overseeing automated testing, code reviews, documentation, and engineering standards.
• Hands-on experience with AWS infrastructure and services, including compute, storage, networking, and databases.
• Strong knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, containerisation (Docker/Kubernetes), and environment automation.
• Demonstrated understanding of platform security, privacy compliance, and disaster recovery planning.
• Excellent communication skills, with ability to engage Product and Executive teams, and translate technical risks and dependencies into business terms.
• This is a permanent, full-time role and requires unrestricted and ongoing work rights in Australia.

Nice to have:

• Tertiary qualifications in computer science, engineering, or related discipline.
• Experience leading platform re-architecture or large-scale technical transitions.
• Prior experience in SaaS or healthcare/health-tech platforms.

ABOUT VITAL.LY

is the infrastructure behind sustainable clinical practice. Trusted by over 13,000 practitioners across Australia, integrates three pillars of infrastructure — technology platform, distribution capability, and practitioner expertise — to transform how clinics prescribe and dispense complementary medicines.

Through , practitioners can access wholesale ordering from leading brands, dispense prescriptions digitally, and use advanced prescribing tools with built-in clinical safety tools. Every order is fulfilled through our own dedicated warehouse, with fulfilment operations designed for speed, accuracy, and scale. Behind it all is a team of qualified practitioners and experienced professionals who provide the support and guidance needed to practice with confidence.

Joining means becoming part of a business that empowers practitioners, improves patient outcomes, and drives innovation in complementary medicine.

*Please no recruiters and agencies. We are filling this role in-house.*