Technical criteria — MUST HAVE
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Strong TypeScript and Node.js (server-side)
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Builds backend services in TypeScript, not just front-end work
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Comfortable in a large, strictly typed codebase
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API design and contract management
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Has designed and versioned APIs used by multiple applications
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Understands backwards compatibility and how to change an API without breaking existing consumers
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OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect authentication
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Can explain and implement different authentication flows
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Understands token scoping, delegation and secure token handling
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AWS experience in a restricted enterprise environment
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Productive with limited access and permissions
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Familiar with load balancers, secrets management, caching and container services
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Can diagnose issues without full administrative access by working with platform teams
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Observability/Monitoring and Debugging across distributed systems
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Can trace a failing request through multiple layers — gateway, API layer, downstream services
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Uses logs, traces and correlation IDs systematically rather than by trial and error
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Testing discipline
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Writes unit and end-to-end tests as part of delivering work
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Experience with modern testing tools (e.g. Vitest/Jest, Playwright or similar)
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Modern CI/CD and version control practices
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Works comfortably with git, automated pipelines, feature flags, release candidates and rollback
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Experience in a shared monorepo environment is an advantage
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Security and compliance awareness in regulated systems
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Default habits of least-privilege access and never exposing customer data or credentials in logs
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Thinks about authorisation on every request
Technical criteria — NICE TO HAVE
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GraphQL experience — schema design, performance, error handling
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Apollo Federation (version 2)
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Apollo GraphOS or Rover tooling — schema validation and monitoring
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Prometheus and Grafana for monitoring
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API gateway experience - Kong specifically
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MCP (Model Context Protocol) — building or running an MCP server
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Retail banking domain knowledge — accounts, customers, transactions, payments
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Effective use of AI coding assistants (e.g. Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) in a large codebase
Non-technical criteria
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Excellent communication
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Provides updates proactively rather than waiting to be asked
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Raises blockers early, with context and a suggested way forward
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Sydney-based (Nice to have)
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Self-motivated with strong ownership
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Takes a loosely defined problem and comes back with a plan
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Does not wait for a fully specified ticket before starting
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Sees work through to completion, including the less interesting final detail
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Product and business-analysis thinking
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Asks why something is needed before deciding how to build it
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Spots missing requirements, edge cases and customer impact
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Genuinely switched on
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Absorbs new context quickly and connects information across different systems
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Works things out from first principles where documentation is missing or out of date
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Collaborative team member
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Reviews colleagues' work properly, pairs when it helps, shares what they learn
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Can disagree on technical matters without creating friction
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Reliable delivery at sprint cadence
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Breaks work into realistic pieces and give estimates they can stand behind
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Flags slippage as soon as it becomes likely, not at the end of the sprint
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Pragmatic judgement on quality versus speed
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Knows when to ship incrementally and when to stop and fix the underlying problem
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