Work with cutting edge AI technology, making the world a safer and more secure place. DroneShield (ASX:DRO) offers an opportunity to solve some of world’s most challenging technical problems in the rapidly growing counter-drone sector.   

Our customers operate in some of the most challenging and high-stakes environments in the world, including military organisations, government agencies, airports, critical infrastructure operators, and law enforcement. Protecting airspace in these settings requires technology that performs under pressure and teams that understand what’s at stake. At DroneShield, employees work at the leading edge of counter-drone innovation, helping to address real-world security challenges as drone threats continue to evolve globally. 

With one of the largest listed defence company market capitalisations in Australia, now part of the ASX200 index, DroneShield is experiencing a period of hypergrowth. Revenue has surged from A$57 million in 2024 to over A$217 million in 2025, representing growth of more than 400% year-on-year, with record profitability and cashflow. The total addressable global market for counter-drone is assessed at approximately $100 billion, and is currently at the nascent stage with much of the growth still to come, with DroneShield well positioned as a global market leader, and the only public listed pure-play business in this sector.   

The company has grown from 11 employees in 2017 to over 450 staff globally today, and is on track to reach around 550 by the end of 2026. This expansion includes investment of over A$50 million annually in R&D, a global pipeline exceeding A$2.5 billion, and continuous scaling of production capacity to meet accelerating demand.  

The role is based at DroneShield’s central Sydney headquarters. Overseas on-the-ground presence includes Virginia (USA), Netherlands, Denmark, Mexico and Dubai, as well as distributors in over 70 countries worldwide. 

About the role

We're looking for a Staff Backend Engineer (API) to join our growing Embedded - Software Interfaces team, passionately focused on helping our internal and external customers to interface with our embedded devices using robust and performant APIs.

Responsibilities, Duties and Expectations 

• Lead the architecture and evolution of our embedded device APIs, reducing complexity, unifying patterns, and ensuring clarity, scalability, and long‑term maintainability across our devices.
• Design and implement high‑performance APIs optimised for constrained embedded environments, ensuring reliability and efficiency across varied CPU, memory, and network conditions.
• Establish and uphold API standards including schema design, versioning, security, performance expectations, testing strategy, and documentation quality.
• Work hands‑on with embedded, firmware, backend, and platform engineers to align device data models, protocols, and sensor workflows into consistent, robust interfaces.
• Provide architectural technical leadership and mentorship, guiding engineers in best‑practice API patterns, integration strategies, and high‑quality engineering processes.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills 

• 7+ years’ experience building backend and API‑driven systems, ideally in distributed or high‑performance environments.
• Strong API architecture expertise, including schema design, versioning, security, testing strategy, and long‑term maintainability.
• Hands‑on experience designing and implementing scalable gRPC and REST services.
• Ability to simplify and refactor complex API surfaces, with a track record of reducing architectural complexity.
• Experience developing or integrating with embedded or IoT‑style devices, particularly where CPU, memory, or bandwidth constraints shape design decisions.
• Solid understanding of microservice patterns and Linux‑based environments.
• Strong communication skills, able to convey technical decisions clearly to engineers across firmware, backend, and platform teams.
• Demonstrated ability to lead architectural direction as an IC, influencing and supporting engineers technically.

Skills that set you apart:

• Experience building APIs in medium–large scale SaaS or distributed platforms.
• Proficiency in two of: Python, Go, Modern C++.
• Knowledge of OWASP and security‑first API design practices.
• Experience with interface/contract design and system integration across multiple device families or services.
• Familiarity with SAPIENT or similar machine‑to‑machine protocols.
• Experience with high‑performance messaging (gRPC, REST, raw TCP/UDP).
• Knowledge of OpenAPI 3 and modern API documentation workflows.
• Experience implementing cross‑cutting backend concerns (logging, persistence, configuration management, security controls).
• Background working with edge computing devices, real‑time constraints, or fault‑tolerant architectures.
• Proficiency with modern dev tooling: Git, Jira, Confluence, CI/CD pipelines.

Note for recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited candidates from external recruiters unless specifically instructed.

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