Head of Engineering

EQL

Head of Engineering at EQL leading a 12-person team to develop a fan-first commerce platform. Overseeing technical vision and AI-driven insights for smarter launches.

Posted 6/16/2026full-timeMelbourne • 🇦🇺 AustraliaLeadWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Set the technical vision for EQL's platform: where it needs to get to, how it gets there, and what the architecture looks like when it does.
Make the consequential platform decisions (build vs buy, architectural trade-offs, the integration points between EQL, Shopify, and Fans) and make sure the team builds confidently within them.
Be the technical counterweight in product and leadership conversations: clear-eyed about what's possible, what's hard, and what the right trade-off is.
Own the intelligence strategy: how recommendation, personalisation, demand forecasting, and audience controls are architected as a compounding layer, not a series of one-off features.
Think seriously about what best-practice AI engineering looks like for EQL: the data pipelines, feature stores, and inference infrastructure that make intelligence reliable in production, under real load.
Own the vision for how fan data becomes a strategic asset: what we capture, how we model it, and how it feeds back into better outcomes for brands and better experiences for fans.
Partner with product to find where intelligence creates the most leverage, then lead the architectural thinking on how EQL, Shopify, and Fans evolve from separate systems into one interconnected platform.
Lead and develop a team of 12 engineers across two Engineering Managers: setting direction, raising the bar, and building a culture where great work is the norm.
Own hiring and team shape, building toward the capabilities EQL needs.
Work with the EMs on delivery and team health; they run the day-to-day, you set the context and standard.
Build an engineering culture that's AI-native by default, where the team reaches for the best tools, moves fast, and ships things that matter.
Accountable for the evaluation of and relationships with key technology vendors: AI tooling, ML infrastructure, data platforms, Shopify ecosystem partners.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Extensive experience in software engineering, with meaningful time in both senior IC and engineering leadership roles — you have done both and know the difference.
Been to the summit of what’s possible with AI in engineering, and can lead real technical change: platform evolution, AI adoption, significant architectural shifts.
Experience leading teams building AI/ML systems in production — recommendation engines, demand forecasting, personalisation, or consumer intelligence. Not just API integrations; the systems underneath.
Strong understanding of data engineering: pipelines, feature stores, event streams, and the architecture that makes machine learning reliable at scale.
Ecommerce or marketplace background is a strong plus — you understand the commerce context even if you have not specifically worked in the fan or creator space.
You use every tool available to you, including AI — to ship great work fast. What matters is the quality of your thinking and your architectural judgment, not how much of the code you typed yourself.
You lead through technical credibility — engineers follow your direction because they respect your judgment, not because of your title.
You can explain a complex technical trade-off to a non-technical leader without losing the substance of what makes it hard.
You are direct about what is hard, what is wrong, and what the right call is — even when that is uncomfortable.
You build strong engineering cultures — by setting a standard and inspiring through it.
You’re genuinely curious and get energy from hard problems. You have a strong sense of agency and move to solve the right problems with urgency.

Benefits

Comp & perks

We provide equity in EQL - we want our team to have skin in the game and to be as invested as we are in EQL’s success.
We provide competitive compensation and evaluate the market to ensure that remains true.
We provide a flexible work environment because we understand that everyone works differently and want to support our team to be their best.
We provide generous time off above and beyond what we are required to because we know that well-rested people make better decisions and are more engaged - when you thrive we thrive.
When you want to collaborate in person with other humans, we have a workplace that welcomes the whole team including their furry friends.
At EQL, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to how we operate and grow. We’re committed to building a workforce that values and supports every individual. We believe equality strengthens our culture and drives accountability in championing diverse voices.

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Hard Skills & Tools

software engineeringAI engineeringdata engineeringrecommendation enginesdemand forecastingpersonalizationmachine learningdata pipelinesfeature storesevent streams

Soft Skills

leadershiptechnical credibilitycommunicationproblem-solvingcuriosityteam buildingarchitectural judgmentdecision-makinginspirationcontext setting