Senior Associate Engineer - Waste & Resource Recovery

Surbana Jurong; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangement

Parental leave

Wellbeing benefits

Professional development

Nationally/International projects

Job summary

SMEC is seeking a Senior Associate Environmental or Civil Engineer to strengthen our Waste & Resource Recovery team in Melbourne/Geelong. You will guide landfill design, lead projects, and expand services across VIC/TAS, leveraging 15+ years of experience to deliver sustainable infrastructure.

You’ll collaborate with a diverse design team, manage client relations, and mentor junior engineers while advancing our waste-focused portfolio.

Qualifications

• 15+ years' experience in landfill and waste industry.
• Proven project management and client relationship capability.
• Excellent communication skills, verbally and written.
• Environmental/Civil Engineering qualifications, or similar.

Responsibilities

• Lead and deliver landfill and waste infrastructure design projects.
• Oversee construction phase services and contract administration.
• Project management of waste infrastructure projects.
• Provide engineering input into design of landfills and facilities.
• Develop and maintain client relationships; drive business development.
• Mentor junior team members.

Skills

Lead landfill/waste design

Client relationships

Project management

Communication

Environmental/Civil engineering

Education

Environmental/Civil Engineering qualifications

Job description

Key Highlights

• Rare opportunity to join our Waste team based in Melbourne or Geelong


• Environmentally sensitive and sustainability-focused organisation


• Flexible working conditions

About SMEC

Delivering exceptional outcomes starts with having exceptional people. SMEC provides unique opportunities to work on iconic industry projects with experienced colleagues and leadership teams. We support and empower employees to drive innovation initiatives within a well-established and growing organisation. We offer a culture of support, collaboration and professional growth, where your ideas are heard and your technical leadership genuinely shapes the future of our waste practice. Infrastructure At SMEC, we understand that our continued success within the infrastructure market is the result of building long-term client relationships. We listen and understand the specific needs of our clients and deliver a complete value chain of services to provide sustainable solutions across major infrastructure projects worldwide.

The role

We are seeking a Senior Associate Environmental or Civil Engineer to strengthen and grow our Waste & Resource Recovery team. This role is ideal for a landfill design specialist or construction‑focused engineer who enjoys technical delivery and wants the opportunity to lead projects, develop client relationships and expand service offerings across VIC/TAS. With 15+ years’ experience, you will assist in delivering waste, resource recovery and recycling infrastructure design; construction management projects; managing client relationships and business development activities. Experience in landfill design would be highly regarded. As a member of a diverse infrastructure design team, there is opportunity to work across multidisciplinary projects. You’ll work on a broad range of waste and resource recovery projects including landfill containment and capping, cell development, leachate and gas management systems, resource recovery centres, materials recycling facilities, and major upgrades.

Your Key Responsibilities Will Be To

• Lead and deliver landfill and waste infrastructure design projects (containment cells, capping, lining systems, leachate and gas infrastructure)


• Oversee GITA/construction phase services including contract administration, superintendent roles, quality assurance and site supervision


• Project management of waste infrastructure and other waste related projects


• Engineering input into waste infrastructure designs including landfills, materials recycling facilities, resource recovery centres and other design projects


• Building and maintaining relationships with clients and key stakeholders


• Drive business development activities


• Mentoring and supporting junior team members

Ideal Applicants Will Have/be

• Environmental/Civil Engineering qualifications, or similar


• 15+ years' experience, ideally within the landfill and waste industry


• Proven project management and client relationship management capability


• Excellent communication skills, verbally and written

What We Offer

• Flexible work arrangement to support work/life balance


• Ethical client base


• Opportunity to work alongside and be mentored by industry leaders


• Professional Development Programs from graduates to leaders through mixture of inhouse programs and external courses as well as tertiary education financial assistance


• Dynamic career pathways and opportunities to work on projects nationally and internationally


• Purchased additional annual leave


• Generous paid parental leave (primary and secondary)


• Wellbeing benefits

SMEC is committed to building a diverse, inclusive and gender‑equitable workforce and encourages applications from people of all backgrounds across engineering and technical disciplines.

We provide a supportive and flexible working environment that recognises individual contribution, supports career progression, and enables our people to balance work and life at all stages of their career.

As a family‑friendly employer, we offer flexible working arrangements and benefits including 18 weeks of universal paid parental leave.

We are proud to foster an inclusive culture that supports gender equity, LGBTI+ inclusion and First Nations representation, with access to strong professional networks, role models, and mentoring and sponsorship programs.

SMEC is a global engineering, management and development consultancy delivering innovative solutions for our clients and partners. Leveraging our 70-year history of delivering nation-building infrastructure, we provide technical expertise and advanced engineering services to resolve complex challenges across major infrastructure and energy projects. SMEC has a long and proud history which dates back to Australia’s iconic Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in 1949, one of the largest and most complex hydroelectric schemes in the world. Headquartered in Australia, we have offices across more than 35 countries in Oceania, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa and the Americas. Together with our clients and partners, we deliver projects that directly contribute to improving health, quality of life and development outcomes for communities and neighborhoods around the world. Driven by innovation, ingenuity and skill, our people have shaped these outcomes in some of the world’s most remote and challenging environments. Since 2016, SMEC has been a member of the Surbana Jurong Group, an Asia-based global powerhouse of over 16,000 employees. Through our network of global specialists and by collaborating with local partners, we connect clients with the best teams and capabilities to deliver sustainable solutions.