Principal Engineer

Amentum; Adelaide; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Amentum is seeking a Principal Engineer to join our client-side Engineering Authority team. The role provides independent engineering decision-making to ensure safety, compliance, and value for money across complex, high-risk systems.

You will act as technical authority, govern external design organisations and delivery partners, and lead reviews (PDR, CDR, safety reviews) while ensuring governance and configuration control throughout asset lifecycle. Location: ADL, 40 hours per week.

Qualifications

• Degree-qualified in an Engineering discipline.
• Proven experience in a similar position.
• Experience with technically complex, highly regulated infrastructure.
• Strong communication and stakeholder relationship skills.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated drive, initiative and flexibility.
• Chartered Engineer status or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Exercise delegated technical authority for approval of engineering designs, changes, and deviations.
• Make risk-informed decisions on design acceptability, fitness-for-purpose, and compliance.
• Define and uphold engineering standards, design intent, and technical baselines.
• Provide independent assurance of engineering deliverables from consultants and contractors.
• Lead technical reviews (e.g. PDR, CDR, safety reviews) and provide formal endorsement.
• Ensure adherence to governance frameworks, standards, and regulatory obligations.
• Assess and approve engineering changes within formal change control processes.
• Maintain integrity of configuration baseline and asset design intent.
• Evaluate impacts of change across design, safety and asset management.
• Provide subject matter expertise in discipline or system domain; influence direction and strategy.
• Identify and manage technical risks, hazards and safety issues.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders; act as client engineering interface where needed.

Skills

Strong communication

Stakeholder management

Troubleshooting

Problem solving

Initiative and flexibility

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

Amentum is a leader in global engineering, project management and solutions integration, trusted to modernise the most critical missions anywhere in the world. Driven to create a safer, smarter, cleaner world, we innovate as a team of inventive doers passionate about making a difference. Underpinned by a strong culture of ethics, safety and inclusivity. Amentum is fiercely committed to operational excellence and successful execution.

Are you seeking a career that offers a healthy work-life balance, a friendly company culture, and engagement with a supportive community?

We’ll inspire and empower you to deliver your best work so you can evolve, grow and succeed – today and into tomorrow. We offer an exciting range of opportunities to develop your career within a supportive and diverse team who always strive to do the right thing for our people, clients and communities.

People are our greatest asset, and we offer a competitive package to retain and attract the best talent.

Our values stand on a foundation of safety, integrity, inclusion and diversity. We put people at the heart of our business, and we genuinely believe that we all succeed by supporting one another through our culture of caring. We value positive mental health and a sense of belonging for all employees.

Amentum is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, please refer to our Enterprise Agreement and www.fairwork.gov.au for more information.

Role Description:
Working within the Technical Authority, the Principal Engineer will provide independent, authoritative engineering decision-making within a client-side Engineering Authority function. The role will ensure engineering outputs, designs, and changes are safe, compliant, fit-for-purpose, value for money and aligned to asset intent and regulatory requirements.

Act as a technical authority for complex, high-risk systems across the asset lifecycle and govern and assure external design organisations, contractors, and delivery partners, while supporting engineering governance, risk management, and configuration control across programs.

Duties and Responsibilities:
Design Authority & Decision Making

• Exercise delegated technical authority for approval of engineering designs, changes, and deviations.
• Make risk-informed decisions on design acceptability, fitness-for-purpose, and compliance.
• Define and uphold engineering standards, design intent, and technical baselines.

Engineering Assurance and Governance

• Provide independent assurance of engineering deliverables from consultants and contractors.
• Lead technical reviews (e.g. PDR, CDR, safety reviews) and provide formal endorsement.
• Ensure adherence to governance frameworks, standards, and regulatory obligations.

Change and Configuration Control

• Assess and approve engineering changes within formal change control processes.
• Maintain integrity of configuration baseline and asset design intent.
• Evaluate impacts of change across design, safety and asset management.

Technical Leadership

• Provide subject matter expertise in discipline or system domain.
• Influence technical direction and engineering strategy across programs.

Risk, Safety & Compliance

• Identify and manage technical risks, hazards and safety issues.
• Ensure designs meet statutory, regulatory, and Defence/Nuclear safety requirements.
• Support hazard analysis, safety cases, and certification activities.

Stakeholder Management

• Engage with internal stakeholders, external designers, regulators, and operators.
• Where applicable act as the client engineering interface for complex technical matters.

Essential Requirements:
1. Degree-qualified in an Engineering discipline.
2. Proven experience in a similar position or roles that comprise the same or similar responsibilities.
3. Experience of technically complex, highly regulated infrastructure (nuclear experienced preferred but not mandatory).
4. Strong communication skills and ability to build and maintain positive working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
5. Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
6. Demonstrated drive, initiative and flexibility in responding to emerging needs.
7. Chartered Engineer status or equivalent.

Required Security Clearance Level: Baseline

Location: ADL

Weekly Hours: 40