SEEK Bytes

AI might look simple on the surface — just send a prompt, get a response — but behind the scenes, there’s a whole platform challenge to solve. In this episode of SEEK Bytes – we’re joined by Thet Ko, Senior Staff Engineer in SEEK’s AI Platform Services team, to unpack how SEEK is building an AI Gateway to centralise AI calls, improve governance and make it easier for teams to build with AI without reinventing the foundations every time. From cost visibility and PII protection to guardrails, resilience and shared memory across agents, this episode lifts the lid on the platform work that makes enterprise AI actually usable at scale. This episode's special guest: Thet Ko (Senior Staff Engineer) In this episode you’ll learn: • Why an AI Gateway matters – how centralising AI usage helps teams get better governance, clearer cost visibility and shared protection against risks like PII leakage and prompt injection. • What platform teams need to solve for AI at scale – from giving agents the right tools and memory to helping teams focus on the use case while the platform handles the foundations. • Why reliability and economics matter more than the hype – including model outages, fallback across regions, evaluation with golden datasets and LangFuse, and the reality that AI only scales if the value outweighs the cost. 🔔 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

Ever wondered what a technical product manager actually does – and why every modern tech org seems to want one? In this episode of SEEK Bytes, Will is joined by Leon Belobrov and Alex Stewart-James to unpack how SEEK builds platform products that power everything from candidate apps to internal tooling – and what it means to be a PM for APIs instead of UIs. This episode's special guests: Leon Belobrov (SEEK Principal Product Manager, Platform) and Alex Stewart-James (SEEK Snr Technical Product Manager) In this episode, we explore: • What platform engineering and technical PMs actually are – internal platforms as products for engineers, boosting delivery velocity and reducing cognitive load across infra, CI/CD, observability and security, plus why platform PMs are a “unicorn” blend of product skills and deep technical understanding. • Technical PM vs “regular” PM – shared foundations (customer value, business outcomes, strategy alignment, success metrics) and key differences when your “UI” is APIs, pipelines and DevDocs rather than screens – including jobs-to-be-done research with engineers and metrics like uptime, security posture and time-to-10th PR. • Designing platforms engineers actually want to use – jobs-to-be-done studies across SEEK, turning 25+ “jobs” into prioritised opportunity scores, tackling notorious pain points like scattered documentation and fragmented health monitoring, and avoiding traps like over-building for a single vocal team or assuming “I’m an engineer, so I know what they need”. • DevOps, cognitive load and minimum viable platforms – how platform thinking evolved alongside DevOps, shifting security and observability “left” without dumping everything on product teams, and finding the balance between sensible defaults, transparency and not turning platform teams into bottlenecks. • Careers and skills for aspiring technical PMs – why you don’t need to be the strongest coder in the room, how to lean on engineering partners while bringing customer/strategy thinking, and the unique advantage of having your “customers” (engineers) sitting right next to you for fast feedback and constant dogfooding. If you’re a software engineer, SRE, platform/DevOps engineer, BA, product manager or IT leader curious about platform teams, internal products and where technical PMs fit into modern tech orgs, this episode gives you a front-row view into how SEEK does it – and how you might shape a similar path. 👍 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

Think your biggest security risks are zero-days and fancy exploits? In this episode of SEEK Bytes, Elliott, Will and criminologist-turned-security-influencer Kelsy Luengen unpack why humans – not tech – are still the easiest way into your systems, and how SEEK is using crime theory, data and even Dungeons & Dragons-style games to fight back. This episode's special guest: Kelsy Luengen (SEEK Security Influencer) Kelsey explains the full phishing family – email, SMS, QR “quishing”, phone scams, spear-phishing and whaling – and walks through how she turns SEEK engineers into “hackers” using Dungeons & Dragons-style games, escape rooms and level-five difficulty phishing simulations to make training fun, not finger-waggy. She also shares why a report-phishing button alone doesn’t change behaviour, what actually moves the needle, and how engineers can partner with security early so features don’t become social-engineering goldmines later on. In this episode you’ll learn: • How modern phishing really works (and why tech people still fall for it) – from fear-based emails and boss-impersonation to targeted attacks built from LinkedIn posts, podcasts and public data. • Why “awareness” isn’t enough – the limits of simple nudges and buttons, and how SEEK uses behaviour-changing experiences, metrics and relationships to build a lasting security culture. • What engineers can do today to level up security – thinking “crime prevention” in your designs, knowing when to call in security, and how a strong partnership lets you ship faster and safer. If you’re in software engineering, data, product, support, SRE, security or IT leadership, this episode will change how you think about security culture – and give you ideas for making secure behaviour stick in your team without boring slide decks and tick-box training. 👍 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

How do you run dozens of React apps, keep dependencies sane, preview any branch on any environment – and still move fast without breaking prod? In Part 2 of our frontend deep dive, Elliott Millar, Will and Jared Hope (Engineering Manager, Frontend Practices at SEEK) go beyond components to explore platforms, tooling and practices that power SEEK’s web experience at scale. This episode's special guest: Jared Hope (SEEK Engineering Manager, Frontend Practices) In this episode (Part 2), we explore: • How SEEK turns frontend into an “experience platform” – from modeling the web platform, static site generation and UI versioning, to giving teams self-serve routing and deployments on top of Cloudflare and serverless. • The tools that supercharge DX and design collaboration – including SEEK’s internal deploy tooling, environment-per-branch previews, and Playroom, which lets engineers and designers prototype in real components and share ideas with a single URL. • How SEEK keeps frontend modern at scale – using Upkeep and Renovate to tame dependency sprawl, exploring SSR and React server components without losing SSG DX, and leaning on devtools, hot reload and consoles for fast, pragmatic debugging. If you’re a frontend or full-stack engineer, SRE, architect, platform/DevOps engineer or IT leader who enjoyed Part 1 – or you’re just curious how high-traffic sites keep their web layer fast, safe and flexible – this Part 2 is packed with real-world patterns, trade-offs and career insights you can take back to your own org. If you’re a frontend or full-stack engineer, SRE, architect, platform/DevOps engineer or IT leader who enjoyed Part 1 – or you’re just curious how high-traffic sites keep their web layer fast, safe and flexible – this Part 2 is packed with real-world patterns, trade-offs and career insights you can take back to your own org. 👍 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode

Org restructures. New tools. Platform migrations. That “we’re changing how everything works” email. If you work in IT, change is your default setting – but it doesn’t always feel that way. In this episode of SEEK Bytes, Elliott Millar, Will and special guest Sarah Duffy (Enterprise Change Lead at SEEK) unpack how to thrive in continuous change, not just survive it. This episode's special guest: Sarah Duffy (SEEK Enterprise Change Lead) In this episode, we explore: • What your brain is doing during change (and how to make it “brain-friendly”) – including the SCARF model (status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, fairness), why change can trigger fight-or-flight, and how clear comms, certainty about the plan and fair processes dramatically reduce stress. • How SEEK runs large-scale change without “doing it by email” – from the Unification rollout across six countries to leader shark-tank sessions, change-champion networks and co-creation via focus groups, end-user testing and continuous listening to resistance as a source of insight. • Practical tools to personally thrive in change – including the IKEA effect and co-creation, the ACCESS framework (acknowledge, calm, challenge, exercise, social, sleep), sleep-hygiene tips, and simple techniques like box breathing and SCARF self-assessments you can use at your desk during stressful transitions. If you’re in software engineering, data, product, support, people leadership or any IT role facing restructures, tool changes or big programs, this episode gives you science-backed frameworks and everyday habits to handle change with more confidence – and help your teams do the same. If you’re in software engineering, data, product, support, people leadership or any IT role facing restructures, tool changes or big programs, this episode gives you science-backed frameworks and everyday habits to handle change with more confidence – and help your teams do the same. 🔔 Follow the SEEK Bytes podcast so you never miss a new episode