Software Engineering Manager - Optimisation Team

About Amber

Amber is an entirely new way to buy and sell power, designed for a world powered by renewable energy. Amber is a clear category leader in Australia for home battery automation and is growing rapidly (over 80k customers). Amber is backed by top Australian and international investors including Square Peg, Main Sequence, Breakthrough Victoria, Commonwealth Bank, NRMA, Gentrack, ETF Partners (UK/Europe based), and E.ON Next. We are scaling rapidly and you’d be joining a team of over 200 committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and purpose-driven culture as we transform a major industry. Our products are reshaping home energy: Amber for Batteries cuts bills by exporting stored energy at wholesale prices of up to $20/kWh, and Amber for EVs enables the cheapest, cleanest charging. In 2026, we will push this even further with our new vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. About the role: The Amber Electric product team develops and supports: Home automation integrations (batteries and EVs) that control electricity usage in response to pricing and renewable availability. Mobile & Web apps for customers to monitor and manage their energy usage. A pricing and billing engine for real time energy pricing. The marketing site and associated tools to drive customer growth. You will be a frequent contributor / owner to: Product, design, and technical strategy across the team. Shaping and delivering the team product roadmap in close partnership with leadership and product. Ongoing optimisation of team-owned systems for internal stakeholders. Hiring great people, getting them set up for success, and keeping them growing. Performance conversations and reviews that are honest, useful, and ongoing. Building a high-performing team that people actually want to be part of. Responsibilities: Build a balanced and high performing team through recruiting from a wide range of backgrounds, experience levels, etc. Grow the individual capabilities of team members through continuous professional development, training, and performance reviews. Cultivate a highly collaborative environment and foster psychological safety. Contribute to technical and product strategy, especially where they touch on the capabilities (or gaps) of your team. Contribute to scalable and repeatable team processes and documentation (ie onboarding, performance review structures, etc.). Requirements: At least two years of engineering management experience (or equivalent experience leading and growing a team). A track record of leading Machine Learning engineers to be happy and successful, helping them do great work and grow their careers. Strong communication skills, written and verbal, grounded in genuine empathy for the people around you. A service-oriented mindset as this is an enablement team, so some of your success is measured by how well you help the overall product group succeed. A strong technical background enabling you to participate in problem solving and design discussion at all levels of the organisation. Ideally, you’ll also have hands-on experience as a Machine Learning Engineer in one or more of: Optimisation models or mathematical programming. Time series forecasting. Building automated, data-driven decision systems. Designing and executing end-to-end R&D pipelines. Scaling cloud-based systems. Nice to haves: Leadership experience in similar scale/trajectory businesses – Series B/C VC funded start-ups. Relevant domain experience from the energy or IoT sectors (or both). Experience working close to the customer on product delivery teams. Benefits: You’d be a part of a rapidly growing team of over 200 with expertise across energy, technology, marketing, and operations. Be part of a growing technology start-up that will shape the future of household and grid energy use. Enjoy a lively, collaborative workspace at our buzzing Melbourne CBD headquarters in the heart of the city. Flexible working hours with provision for regular work from home arrangements. Equitable gender-neutral parental leave policies. An external Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) for mental health support. Competitive salary and share options in Amber. Annual Learning & Development budget to support your personal growth. Additional PTO between Xmas & New Year. Salary range: $205,000 - $245,000 per year. Base salary per annum is quoted excluding superannuation. All full-time roles at Amber include employee stock options over and above the base salary and superannuation. Location & Working arrangements: This is a full-time role to be based ideally from Melbourne, but we are also open to considering the right candidate anywhere within Australia. We are also open to you working 4 days a week, if that’s what you are looking for. We do have an office in the Melbourne CBD, where we work flexibly between the office and home. For those based in Sydney, catch up in a co-working space every now and then, and rest of the locations in Australia work from home. We expect to remain Melbourne-based but maintain flexibility between the office and WFH. Inclusive Statement: Even if you don’t meet 100% of the requirements listed above, we still encourage you to apply. We’re open to all backgrounds and encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply. We never discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.