Senior Hydraulic Engineer

Council Jobs; Gold Coast City; Hybrid; AUD 111,000 - 118,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements (hybrid/HW)

Personal and professional development

Fitness Passport access

4 free counselling sessions

Nutritionist and financial advice

Job summary

Gold Coast City Council seeks a Senior Hydraulic Engineer and flood modelling specialist to lead hydrologic and hydraulic studies for the city’s catchments and river systems. You will operate FEDSS during severe weather events, contribute to planning and policy for floodplains, and drive continuous improvement of modelling practices.

You will bring 5+ years in flood modelling, strong communication skills, and experience with URBS, TUFLOW, Python, ArcGIS Pro, and QGIS.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in hydrologic and hydraulic modelling for flood studies.
• Analytical thinker able to solve complex flood management problems.
• Strong communication of modelling results to professionals and the public.
• URBS and TUFLOW modelling experience preferred.
• Python programming experience preferred.
• Experience with ArcGIS Pro and QGIS.

Responsibilities

• Undertake hydrologic and hydraulic modelling studies of the city’s catchments and river systems.
• Contribute to flood planning and policy development for floodplains and waterways.
• Operate FEDSS during severe weather events to provide flood intelligence.
• Improve flood modelling data, systems, methodologies and engineering practices.
• Undertake GIS analyses, processing modelling results, and prepare flood study reports.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to deliver technical responses and customer service.

Skills

Hydrologic modelling

Hydraulic modelling

Analytical thinking

Communication

URBS modelling

TUFLOW modelling

Python

ArcGIS Pro

QGIS

Education

Bachelor's degree in civil or environmental engineering

Tools

URBS

TUFLOW

Python

ArcGIS Pro

QGIS

Job description

• Salary: From $111,401 to $117,923 plus Superannuation

About Us

Join a team dedicated to providing various levels of technical services to ensure resilience to flooding are maintained and improved for the Gold Coast and its community. Our team develops and maintains regional flood models for all catchments and major river/creek systems of the city, developed, maintains, updates and operates the City’s Cloud based highly sophisticated and efficient flood forecasting decision support system (FEDSS) and provides flood technical support to major infrastructure projects undertaken by the City and State departments.

The Natural Hazards Engineering team also provides a range of customer services including flood technical information and responding to enquiries relating to flood data and models.

As a team, we bring diverse technical skills and experiences, continuously innovating to meet the unique needs of flood modelling projects and activities to provide the best possible flood intelligence to our community and the development industry. The team also provides technical support in developing and improving flood warning systems utilising our regional flood modelling outputs.

About the role

As a Senior Hydraulic Engineer and flood modelling specialist, you will have the opportunity to work on some of the City’s most complex and challenging flood risk management, planning and engineering initiatives. Leveraging your expertise in hydrology, hydraulics and numerical modelling, you will provide specialist technical advice that supports resilient communities, informed land-use planning and sustainable infrastructure delivery. Working alongside other flood modelling specialists, you will contribute with vision and purpose, ensuring that every project achieves value for money and adheres to high standards in quality and safety.

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Undertake hydrologic and hydraulic modelling studies of the city’s catchments and river systems.
• Contribute to flood planning and policy development in managing the city’s vast floodplains and complex waterway systems.
• Operation of the City’s flood emergency decision support system (FEDSS) during severe whether events to provide flood intelligence for emergency management.
• Contributing to the continuous improvement of flood modelling data, systems, methodologies and engineering practices associated to the City adopted flood policies
• Undertake GIS analyses, processing of modelling results, and prepare flood study reports.
• Work collaboratively and productively to ensure technical responses and customer services are provided in a timely manner to external and internal stakeholders.

We’re looking for people who have:

You are a talented civil engineer with 5+ years of experience in flood modelling, eager to take on a challenging role within a high-performance work environment where your work directly relates to the city’s resilience to natural hazards. You thrive in a team environment, tackling complex engineering challenges, and working collaboratively with a range of other professional, who are also working for the city’s resilience to natural hazards. You are also willing to assist the Local Disaster Coordination Centre (LDCC) during a flood emergency with your sound understanding of flood modelling and using appropriate systems or tools as per management direction.

Your qualifications and skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in civil or environmental engineering.
• 5+ years in hydrologic and hydraulic modelling relating to flood studies and flood risk assessment.
• Analytical thinking and ability to address complex flood management problems and to provide fit-for-purpose modelling outcomes.
• Strong ability to communicate flood modelling information and outcomes to other professionals and the public.
• Preferably, experience in URBS and TUFLOW modelling and coding / programming with Python.
• Working experience in ArcGIS Pro and QGIS.

Be part of shaping the Gold Coast’s future

The Gold Coast is inspired by lifestyle and driven by opportunity. We are the second largest Council in Australia.

We care about being the most flexible government organisation in Australia. We have a range of benefits to help you create the right balance:

• Flexible work arrangements to suit your lifestyle, including hybrid/work from home options, flexible working hours and locations
• Personal and professional development courses
• Access to 350+ fitness facilities through Fitness Passport
• 4 free confidential counselling sessions a year for you or an immediate family member
• 1 free nutritionist and financial advice session per year

We pride ourselves on our shared mission of being a high-performing, customer-focused organisation which delivers value-for-money services to the community.

Closing Date26 October 2026 / 11:59pm AEDT

Our selection process may include a one-way video interview via Criteria, a face-to-face or virtual interview via Microsoft Teams, reference checks via Xref and additional checks including police checks, employment history checks, qualification checks, pre-employment medical reviews and drug and alcohol testing.

We’re committed to creating a diverse workplace and inclusive culture. We take pride in people who align with our high-performance principles. We believe that the diverse makeup of our workforce reflects the community we serve. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and identities, and encourage candidates to discuss any support or adjustments they may need throughout the recruitment process.