Forward Deployed AI Engineer

What Restive Offers Restive is a modern technology consultancy partnering with leading organisations across retail, financial services, and the wider digital ecosystem. Our approach is simple: deliver meaningful outcomes without unnecessary delays or over-engineering. We bring together deep expertise across Data & AI, Customer Experience, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, and Technology Modernisation. With teams based in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Kuala Lumpur, we're equipped to solve real-world problems at scale. Joining Restive Means Working with a broad mix of clients and solving diverse, high-impact challengesGetting hands-on with emerging tools and modern engineering practices, including AI-driven developmentAccess to continuous learning and professional development pathwaysBeing part of a culture that values curiosity, growth, and genuine collaboration. Who You Are At Restive, we're expanding our AI capability and exploring how emerging technologies can create meaningful outcomes for our clients. We're looking for experienced engineers who are passionate about AI, LLMs, and intelligent systems to help shape and deliver practical, high-impact solutions across a range of client engagements and internal initiatives. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy solving complex problems, building production-ready systems, and working closely with clients to turn ideas into real-world outcomes. You'll work across discovery, technical design, experimentation, engineering, and delivery, helping organisations adopt AI in ways that are scalable, thoughtful, and commercially valuable. Key Responsibilities Partner with clients, technical teams, and stakeholders to explore, design, and deliver AI-powered solutions across a range of projects and industriesLead end-to-end engineering delivery from early discovery and proof of concept through to production implementationDesign and build scalable systems that leverage LLMs, generative AI, automation, and modern engineering practices to solve business problemsWork across backend, frontend, APIs, integrations, and cloud environments to bring AI capabilities into real products and workflowsCollaborate closely with customer teams to understand business challenges, identify opportunities, and guide adoption of solutionsBalance experimentation with delivery, making practical trade-offs between speed, quality, scope, and technical complexityContribute hands-on to engineering and technical problem solving, including architecture, prototyping, implementation, and code reviewsHelp shape Restive's growing AI capability by contributing reusable frameworks, patterns, playbooks, and best practicesStay close to developments in AI, LLMs, and emerging tooling to help inform capability growth and future opportunities Requirements: 5+ years of software engineering experience, ideally across customer-facing delivery, consulting, product engineering, or complex technical environmentsStrong engineering foundations with experience building production-grade systems across backend and/or full-stack technologies (e.g. Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, .NET, Java, cloud-native systems)Experience building, integrating, experimenting with, or deploying AI/LLM-powered systems, generative AI applications, copilots, automation, or intelligent workflowsStrong understanding of APIs, system integration, architecture, and scalable engineering practicesComfortable working in ambiguity, helping shape solutions where requirements are evolving or not yet fully definedStrong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work closely with technical and non-technical teamsA pragmatic mindset — able to balance experimentation, technical excellence, and commercial outcomesCuriosity and enthusiasm for emerging AI technologies and their real-world application