At NCS Australia, we believe in doing technology services better. Our commitment to quality, focus on people, and willingness to challenge traditional thinking set us apart. Our team brings this belief to life by partnering with our clients and communities to make tomorrow together. We are committed to creating an environment that prioritises innovation, collaboration, and purposeful work. Our diverse team is empowered to make a meaningful impact with curiosity, creativity and resilience to shape better outcomes. Join us and accept the challenge of creating a better tomorrow.

As a Principal Architect within our Google Cloud Practice, you will sit at the intersection of vision, strategy and high-impact delivery. This is a pivotal role requiring a blend of technical mastery and commercial acumen, with a split of 70% delivery leadership and 30% pre-sales engagement. You will be a core architect and builder of next-generation data and AI platforms, transforming raw, high-volume data into structured, actionable insights that power critical decisions for Australia's largest organisations. Your challenge will be to translate complex, ambiguous business requirements into scalable, fault-tolerant solutions using cutting-edge GCP technologies, including Vertex AI and BigQuery

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, high-impact advice to senior client stakeholders on leveraging Google Cloud for large-scale data transformation and AI adoption.
• Define the architectural vision and standards for the Data & AI practice. Lead the design of complex, production-grade ML systems and secure data platforms.
• Shape major client initiatives by justifying technical choices with tangible business value. Cultivate strategic relationships with senior executives and Google partners.
• Consult strategically on enterprise data transformation; architect highly complex, cutting-edge data platforms that deliver on the client's "Why?".
• Architect novel and complex AI systems for major clients, ensuring solutions are ethical, impactful, and responsible.
• Define the strategy for NCS Australia's reusable assets and intellectual property, ensuring repeatable quality across the practice.
• Lead innovation in infrastructure automation (IAC / Terraform), security, and CI/CD for data, AI/ML and agentic orchestration pipelines to ensure high throughput and reliability.

• A proven track record as a Cloud Architect or Senior Data Engineer implementing secure Google Cloud solutions at an enterprise level.
• Deep hands-on experience with the GCP data, orchestration, AI/ML and development stack, including: BigQuery, Vertex AI, Cloud Run/Functions, Cloud Workflows, etc.
• Proficiency in building production-grade AI/ML and Agentic AI systems utilising the Vertex AI product stack.
• Advanced skills in building infrastructure with Terraform (or other IAC tools) delivered via GitOps methodology.
• Ability to script at an advanced level in Python or Bash. Bonus points for Golang!
• Familiarity with Docker and Kubernetes (GKE) for scaling data workloads.

Highly Regarded

• Hold a GCP Professional Cloud Architect and Professional Data Engineer certification.
• Previous experience working on Federal Government projects or within the Financial Services sector.
• A customer-first attitude with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.

Why join us:

NCS Australia is where you can feel at home, nurturing your talents and skills as we make tomorrow together, one day at a time. Our benefits include paid parental leave, initiatives focused on your well-being and discounted health insurance. You will also enjoy discounts on various products and services and be regularly recognised and rewarded for high performance. We are committed to your career development through our Capability Fingerprint, industry and partner training programs, special interest groups, and an AI-driven learning platform. No matter where you are in your career, we offer meaningful work and opportunities for growth.

NCS Australia is an equal-opportunity employer, and we take pride in our commitment to valuing and supporting our people and the communities we serve.We are dedicated to attracting, retaining and developing our people regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and age. Applications are encouraged from all sectors of the community and we strongly encourage applications from the Veterans, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community.

At NCS Australia, we are committed to supporting adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, as well as during employment. We actively support and encourage people with disability to apply.

Agencies: We've got this. We request that you do not contact NCS employees outside of the Talent Acquisition team. NCS exclusively accepts resumes from agencies on our preferred supplier panel through the NCS Agency Portal. Agencies that submit resumes must have a valid fee agreement and be assigned to the particular requisition by the Talent Acquisition team. Any resumes that are submitted outside of this process will become the sole property of NCS. If a candidate is hired outside of this process, no fee or payment will be given.

Work rights and background checks: To be eligible for a position with us, applicants will need to have valid work rights for Australia and be willing to undergo a comprehensive background checking process, including probity and police checks