Senior Project Lead - Defence Engineering

Leidos Australia; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos Australia is seeking a Senior Project Lead / Project Engineer to support the delivery of existing and future CBRN and Counter-CBRN capabilities for the Australian Defence Force. This role suits an experienced Senior Project Engineer or Project Lead with Defence acquisition program experience.

You will play a key role in leading work packages, coordinating technical and project inputs, engaging with Defence stakeholders and influencing project outcomes across emerging Defence capability

Qualifications

• Experience leading or coordinating technical work packages, project engineering tasks or capability delivery activities.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, including experience with Defence customers, suppliers and project teams.
• Experience applying systems engineering, project engineering or ILS practices across requirements, design, integration, verification, validation and sustainment.
• Strong documentation skills, including technical records, decision evidence, review material, requirements, traceability and project reporting.
• Ability to identify risks, manage dependencies, coordinate inputs and influence practical delivery outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate assigned work packages across CBRN and Counter-CBRN capability delivery, acquisition and sustainment activities.
• Support emerging Defence capability programs, for CBRN-related initiatives.
• Coordinate engineering inputs across requirements, design, integration, verification, acceptance, installation, commissioning and sustainment.
• Develop and maintain clear project and engineering documentation, including requirements, review material, decision evidence and technical records.
• Support formal technical and project governance reviews, including SRR, PDR, DDR, TRR and customer forums.
• Identify technical risks, delivery issues and dependencies, and drive practical recommendations to keep outcomes on track.
• Support planning, estimating, progress reporting, stakeholder updates and project performance activities.
• Influence project outcomes by bringing structure, engineering judgement and strong stakeholder engagement to complex Defence delivery environments.

Skills

Lead technical work packages

Stakeholder engagement

Systems engineering practices

Documentation of technical records

Risk and dependency management

Tools

DOORS

CAMEO Systems Modeler

Job description

Description

• Location: Melbourne – Mulgrave | Hybrid working | NV1 clearance required
• Contribute to long-term, mission-critical Defence LAND capability programs
• Work across emerging Defence capability, in CBRN and Counter-CBRN

Due to the nature of the role, you must be an Australian Citizen and have the ability to hold a NV-1 AGSVA security clearance.

Life Days are the Leidos way of recognising that we all need extra time to take care of life. By working slightly more than the minimum weekly hours (2 hours per week for full-timers), you can accrue up to12 days of leave per year.

Our team feel Leidos is a great place to work. Learn more about our culture and benefits by visiting us here https://www.leidos.com/company/global/australia/careers

Do Work That Matters

Leidos Australia is seeking a Senior Project Lead / Project Engineer to support the delivery of existing and future CBRN and Counter-CBRN capabilities for the Australian Defence Force. This role would suit an experienced Senior Project Engineer or Project Lead with Defence acquisition program experience.

You will play a key role in leading work packages, coordinating technical and project inputs, engaging with Defence stakeholders and influencing project outcomes across emerging Defence capability areas, for CBRN-related programs.

Do Work That Matters

This is a hands‑on, customer‑facing role where you will help translate operational and technical needs into practical delivery outcomes. You will support disciplined engineering and project delivery across acquisition, integration, verification, acceptance and sustainment activities, while helping build capability within an established engineering team.

Your New Role and Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate assigned work packages across CBRN and Counter-CBRN capability delivery, acquisition and sustainment activities.
• Support emerging Defence capability programs, for CBRN-related initiatives.
• Coordinate engineering inputs across requirements, design, integration, verification, acceptance, installation, commissioning and sustainment.
• Develop and maintain clear project and engineering documentation, including requirements, review material, decision evidence and technical records.
• Support formal technical and project governance reviews, including SRR, PDR, DDR, TRR and customer forums.
• Identify technical risks, delivery issues and dependencies, and drive practical recommendations to keep outcomes on track.
• Support planning, estimating, progress reporting, stakeholder updates and project performance activities.
• Influence project outcomes by bringing structure, engineering judgement and strong stakeholder engagement to complex Defence delivery environments.

What You’ll Bring To Make An Impact

You are an experienced Project Engineer/ Project Lead who enjoys working across complex programs and bridging the gap between engineering, project delivery and customer engagement. You are comfortable leading work packages, influencing stakeholders and helping shape outcomes in a growing engineering team.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience leading or coordinating technical work packages, project engineering tasks or capability delivery activities.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, including experience working with Defence customers, suppliers, subcontractors and project teams.
• Experience applying systems engineering, project engineering or ILS practices across requirements, design, integration, verification, validation and sustainment activities.
• Strong documentation skills, including technical records, decision evidence, review material, requirements, traceability and project reporting.
• Ability to identify risks, manage dependencies, coordinate inputs and influence practical delivery outcomes.

Due to the nature of this role, Australian Government NV-1 security clearance, or the ability to obtain and maintain one.

Highly Desirable

• Proven experience with Defence acquisition, sustainment and ASDEFCON delivery environments.
• Experience in Counter-CBRN, CBRN, UAS, drone, sensors or complex Land Systems programs.
• Knowledge of the Land Materiel Safety Manual or Defence engineering governance processes.
• Experience with tactical RF communications, cyber security considerations or fibre optics.
• Experience with DOORS or equivalent requirements management tools.
• Exposure to model-based engineering tools such as CAMEO Systems Modeler or equivalent.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Pay And Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.