Engineering Manager – Defence & Underwater Systems

Ron Allum Deepsea Services Pty Ltd; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Ron Allum Deepsea Services Pty Ltd seeks an Engineering Manager to lead our growing engineering team delivering safe, compliant and technically sound underwater systems for customers including scientific institutions and Defence contractors.

The role emphasizes people management as much as engineering leadership, with responsibilities across stage-gate governance, risk, interfaces and continuous improvement, while ensuring delivery against schedules and budgets.

Qualifications

• Degree in an engineering discipline (mechanical, electrical or mechatronics).
• Demonstrated experience leading engineering teams of 10–15 engineers in a regulated, high-assurance environment.
• Minimum of 5 years in a multidisciplinated engineering and manufacturing environment.
• Knowledge of Defence systems/contracts and expectations.
• Working knowledge of design for manufacturability and industrialisation.
• Practical knowledge of requirements management, systems integration, design assurance, configuration management and verification and validation.
• Experience managing engineering scope, budgets, schedules, technical risks and customer interfaces.
• Ability to interpret specifications, drawings, statements of work and contractual technical requirements.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, problem-solving and team-development skills.
• NV1 security clearance and Australian citizenship are required.

Responsibilities

• Lead a multidisciplinary engineering team and coordinate interfaces with program management, operations, quality, supply chain and commercial functions.
• Develop engineering plans, work packages, estimates, schedules and resource allocations aligned with subcontract milestones.
• Monitor progress, expenditure, capacity and technical risks; implement recovery actions and elevate issues early.
• Support tenders and contract reviews with technical scope, assumptions, exclusions, feasibility assessments and engineering estimates.
• Establish and maintain engineering processes, design review gates, delegated technical authorities and approval records.
• Manage requirements allocation, traceability, interface definition, configuration baselines and engineering change control.
• Ensure designs and technical deliverables are reviewed, verified and validated against approved requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Maintain technical risk registers and oversee safety assessments, failure investigations and corrective actions appropriate to the product and contract.
• Ensure departures from requirements are formally assessed and approved through authorised concession or deviation processes.
• Act as principal engineering interface with scientific institutions, Defence and prime contractors; translate flow-down requirements into controls and deliverables.

Skills

Leadership

Defence contracts knowledge

Multidisciplinary engineering

Requirements management

Systems integration

Design for manufacturability

Quality assurance

Stakeholder management

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical/electrical/mechatronics engineering

Job description

Ron Allum Deepsea Services Pty Ltd seeks an Engineering Manager to lead our growing engineering team delivering safe, compliant and technically sound underwater systems for customers including scientific institutions and Defence contractors.

The role emphasizes people management as much as engineering leadership, with responsibilities across stage-gate governance, risk, interfaces and continuous improvement, while ensuring delivery against schedules and budgets.