Smokeball, Macquarie Cloud Services named Australia's best tech workplaces for 2026

Smokeball, a Sydney-based legal practice management platform, has topped the medium-to-large category in Great Place to Work Australia’s 2026 Best Workplaces in Technology list, with 99 per cent of its staff rating the company a great place to work.

Macquarie Cloud Services led the small business category and A1 Technologies took the micro business division, Great Place to Work Australia announced Monday. Fifty companies made the cut across three size brackets, drawn from roughly 25,000 confidential employee survey responses. Organisations must clear a 65 per cent satisfaction threshold on a 60-question survey measuring trust, management credibility, and workplace experience.

“There’s something like a technology AI arms race happening across the region at the moment, and Australia is right in the thick of it,” said Rebecca Moulynox, general manager of Great Place to Work ANZ. “These companies are the ones winning that race.”

AirTrunk, the data centre operator acquired in 2023 for $A23.5 billion, placed in the medium-to-large category. “Being named one of Australia’s Best Workplaces in Technology for 2026 is a proud moment that reflects our commitment to creating an environment where the industry’s top talent can thrive,” said AirTrunk executive Robin Khuda.

The list is in its third year. Australia’s technology workforce grew 8 per cent in 2025 according to the Australian Computer Society’s digital pulse report, and employer rankings have become a recruiting tool as companies compete for engineers, cloud architects, security specialists, and AI practitioners. The rankings give tech workers a data point beyond salary when choosing between offers — particularly as enterprise AI adoption accelerates across the sector.

Smokeball’s recognition comes as the company expands beyond its core business. The roughly 300-person firm, known for practice management and document automation software used by law firms across Australia and the United Kingdom, has been developing AI-assisted drafting tools. The capability makes retention a priority alongside culture.

Macquarie Cloud Services, part of the ASX-listed Macquarie Technology Group, operates managed cloud, hosting, and cybersecurity services from data centres in Sydney and Canberra.

The small-category win reflects a broader pattern of Australian managed-service providers investing in workplace culture to differentiate themselves against hyperscale public cloud vendors. A1 Technologies and the remaining companies on the 2026 list include software firms, managed service providers, fintechs, and IT consultancies. The full ranking beyond the category winners was not disclosed in the initial release.