Senior Engineering Lead

Kinexus; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Kinexus is partnering with a leading Defence organisation in Sydney to recruit an experienced Senior Engineering Lead for a secure, long‑term sustainment environment.

You will lead a multidisciplinary team, provide technical direction across design, integration and sustainment, and mentor engineers while shaping engineering standards.

Qualifications

• Degree in engineering required.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Hands-on design engineering background with lifecycle exposure.
• Strong grasp of design principles, reviews and governance.
• Experience in regulated defence environments and risk management.
• Ability to mentor engineers and manage stakeholder expectations.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop a multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Provide engineering leadership and technical direction across projects.
• Drive design development, reviews and technical decision-making.
• Oversee design, systems integration, verification and sustainment.
• Review solutions to ensure compliance and fit-for-purpose.
• Drive governance, quality, configuration management and assurance.
• Manage resources, priorities and delivery timelines.
• Collaborate with project, production and commercial teams.
• Develop capability through coaching and leadership.
• Promote continuous improvement and best practices.
• Build relationships with Defence customers and senior stakeholders.
• Contribute to strategic planning of the engineering function.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Multidisciplinary teams

People mentoring

Design reviews

Stakeholder management

Technical risk management

Regulated environment

Defence industry experience

Defence clearance

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

Job Description

ABOUT THIS ROLE

Kinexus is partnering with a leading Defence organisation to recruit an experienced Senior Engineering Lead for a secure, long-term Defence sustainment environment.

This is a senior engineering leadership opportunity for someone who combines strong people leadership with a genuine technical and design engineering background.

You will lead and develop a multidisciplinary engineering team responsible for supporting complex Defence capability throughout its lifecycle, while providing technical direction across design, integration, engineering change and sustainment activities.

We are looking for a strong engineering leader who is comfortable mentoring engineers, reviewing and challenging technical solutions, driving engineering standards and helping shape the capability and direction of the engineering function.

This position would suit an experienced Engineering Lead, Engineering Manager, Principal Engineer or senior technical leader who has progressed from a hands‑on design engineering background and enjoys balancing people leadership with technical oversight.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop a multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Provide strong engineering leadership and technical direction across multiple projects and engineering activities.
• Lead and support design development, design reviews and technical decision‑making.
• Provide oversight across engineering design, systems integration, verification, validation and sustainment activities.
• Review and challenge technical solutions to ensure engineering outputs are practical, compliant and fit for purpose.
• Drive engineering governance, quality, configuration management and technical compliance within a highly regulated environment.
• Manage engineering resources, capability, team workload and delivery priorities.
• Work closely with project, production and commercial teams to achieve successful project outcomes.
• Develop engineering capability through coaching, mentoring and technical leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement and promote engineering and design best practice.
• Build strong relationships with senior internal stakeholders and Defence customers.
• Contribute to strategic planning and the ongoing development of the engineering function.

Skills & Experience Needed

• Degree qualified in a relevant engineering discipline.
• Strong engineering leadership experience, with demonstrated success leading and developing multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Previous hands‑on design engineering experience, ideally gained earlier in your engineering career.
• Strong understanding of engineering design principles and the ability to review, challenge and guide technical solutions.
• Experience across the engineering lifecycle including design, systems integration, verification, validation, certification and through‑life support.
• Experience leading or participating in formal design reviews and engineering change activities.
• Strong understanding of technical risk, configuration management, engineering governance and assurance.
• Experience managing engineering resources, priorities and competing project requirements.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers and build capability within an engineering team.
• Excellent communication and senior stakeholder management skills.
• Experience within Defence, maritime, subsea or another safety‑critical or highly regulated engineering environment would be highly regarded.
• Australian Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain an Australian Defence Security Clearance

All applications should include your resume as a word document.

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