Civil Engineering Careers Explained: Australia

Civil Engineering Careers in Australia: An Introduction

This article (and website) aims to guide undergraduate engineers and all civil and construction engineering professionals on what it is like to work in the construction and civil engineering industry on major infrastructure projects.

 

This article will cover:

 

• The civil engineering and project delivery landscape in Australia
• The benefits of working with a Tier 1 Contractor
• Engineering disciplines or streams
• Engineering roles and career progression

The Civil Engineering and Project Delivery Landscape in Australia

Australian construction and civil engineering firms are classified as either Tier 1, 2, or 3. These tiers define the companies by company size, revenue, number of staff, project sizes, and level of complexity. Tier 1 contractors can take on the largest projects and often self-deliver much of the project scope. Recent examples include CPB, John Holland, or Acciona self-delivering the tunnelling scopes on the Sydney Metro and Westconnx projects in Sydney.

 

 

This article focuses on working with Tier 1 contractors. Starting your career with a well-respected Tier 1 contractor will set you up for success later in your career by exposing you to a broader level of experience early on.

 

Our tables below list the top 22 construction companies operating in Australia by annual revenue and number of employees in 2024. These are the companies a prospective engineer should apply to if seeking a civil engineering career in Australia.

 

Top 22 Civil Engineering Contractors by Revenue

Top 22 Civil Engineering Contractors by Number of Employees

Engineering Disciplines & Sectors

Now that we know the companies involved, we can explore the disciplines of engineering work they deliver. Working with Tier 1 contractors will expose engineers to the following engineering disciplines. They include:

 

• Geotechnical (piling & foundations)
• Civil
• Structural
• Building fit-out & finishes
• Hard & Soft Landscaping and civil finishes
• Mechanical & electrical engineering
• Communications

Along with the opportunity to work on the following project types and industry sectors:

 

• Road / Highway
• Rail
• Aviation
• Port & Marine
• Mission-critical
• Tunnelling
• Utilities
• Energy
• Defence
• Mining & resources
• Healthcare

Benefits of working with Tier 1 contractors.

We have covered the experience and sector benefits for an engineer’s career. Now let’s look at some additional career benefits of working with Tier 1 contractors. These include:

 

• Job security – often larger contractors have the financial reserves to weather a downturn, thus retaining good employees until another project commences.
• Job longevity – the major infrastructure projects that contractors take on can range from 2 to 10+ years.
• Opportunity to travel – Projects can be in local or international locations, and decent relocation, travel, or uplift payments are often provided.
• Visa & Immigration – Larger Tier 1 contractors are often willing to sponsor a candidate, which may include organising and paying for their working Visa.
• Career progression – all Tier 1 contractors have structured career advancement toolkits and programs.
• Networking & Mentorship—A major infrastructure project office may have 100 to 500 staff. An engineer can garner a massive range of experience and knowledge among a group of this size.
• Professional development – often, contractors will support your journey towards chartered status, and most will provide regular training and development programs.
• Reputation – A hiring or project manager for a Tier 1 contractor will be familiar with all the 22 companies listed in the previous tables. Your chances of standing out will be dramatically improved if you have experience with one of these Australian companies.

Engineering Roles, Disciplines and Project Structure

The engineering roles for a significant infrastructure project with a Tier 1 contractor in Australia will be characterized by two essential criteria:

 

1. The standard structure of a major infrastructure project team. This is demonstrated in the tables below.
2. Expertise relevant to the project requirements. For example, requiring engineers with overhead line and track experience for a rail project or engineers with structural concrete experience for a concrete frame or multi-level basement.

To address point 1 above, we have put together a series of tables describing the team structure on a Tier 1 major infrastructure project and listed the roles within these team. The project team comprises of eleven functions or smaller teams. (Delivery, Commercial & Procurement, Planning & Project Controls, Quality, Completions & Commissioning, Technical, Sustainability, Environmental, Health & Safety, Community & Stakeholder Engagement, HR & People, Project Administration).

 

Engineers are present in all functions except HSE, CSE, Sustainability, and project administration. Although they interface with all functions daily. The roles highlighted in red font usually possess an engineering degree or started their career as an engineer. The delivery team is where most of the engineers work.

 

The delivery team may also be larger than indicated below and can be organized by discipline or location. We will delve into this later when we address point 2.

 

Team	Delivery Team
Sub-Team (can be more sub-teams depending on project scope)	Civil Team	Structures Team	Utilities / Services Team
Roles	Project Mangers	Project Mangers	Project Mangers
	Construction Managers	Construction Managers	Construction Managers
	Graduate Engineers	Graduate Engineers	Graduate Engineers
	Site Engineers	Site Engineers	Site Engineers
	Project Engineers	Project Engineers	Project Engineers
	Senior Project Engineers	Senior Project Engineers	Senior Project Engineers
	General Superintendents	General Superintendents	General Superintendents
	Superintendents	Superintendents	Superintendents
	Site Managers	Site Managers	Site Managers
	Senior Supervisors	Senior Supervisors	Senior Supervisors
	Supervisors	Supervisors	Supervisors
	Leading Hands	Leading Hands	Leading Hands

Team	Commercial & Procurement Team
Sub-Team	Procurement Team	Commercial	Cost Team
Roles	Senior Procurment Manager	Senior Commercial Managers	Senior Cost Engineer
	Procurement Manager	Commercial Managers	Project Accountant
	Procurement Officer / Coordinator	Senior Quantity Surveyors
		Quantity Surveyors
		Contract Administrators

Team	Planning & Project Controls Team
Sub-Team	Planning Team	Information & Document Management Team
Roles	Planning & Project Controls Manager	Project Information Manager
	Planning & Project Controller (planning engineer)	Senior Document Controller
		Document Controller

Team	Quality, Completions & Commissioning Team
Sub-Team	Quality Team	Completions Team	Commissioning Team
Roles	Quality Manager	Completions Manager	Commissioning Manager
	Senior Quality Engineer	Senior Completions Engineer	Senior Commis. eng.
	Quality Engineer	Completions Engineer	Commissioning Engineer

Team	Technical Team
Sub-Team	Technical Team (support delivery)	Design Management	Construction Support Team
Roles	Technical Manager	Lead Design Manager	Design Manger
	Senior Technical Engineer	Discipline design managers	Interface Design Engineers
	Temporary Works Mangers

Team	Sustainability Team	Environmental Team	Health & Safety Team
Roles	Sustainability Manager	Environmental Manager	HSE Manager
	Sustainability advisor	Environmental Advisor	Senior HSE Advisor
			HSE Advisors

 

Team	Community Stakeholder & Engagement Team	HR & People Team	Admin Team
Roles	CSE Manager	People / HR Manager	Project Admin Manager
	Senior CSE Advisors	People / HR Advisors	Project Admins
	CSE Advisors		Site Admins

Project Case Study: Rail Project Involving Station Construction

To address point 2, we will use a rail project as an example and provide a brief project scope. The delivery team will comprise of four discipline-led teams of experienced engineers. Each team will be directed by a project manager who will coordinate with the other teams.

Is it possible for one engineer to have detailed experience of all these disciplines? Or have the competence to work in all 4 of these teams? The answer is more than likely no.

 

When beginning your career or joining a new company as an engineer, there isn’t a requirement to be proficient in all these disciplines. Engineers typically have deep expertise in one of civil and structural engineering, building fit-out, building services, rail systems, or tunnelling.

 

Technical Delivery Team

You may also decide that delivery is not for you, and you would like to pursue a more technical role within the delivery environment. Most major project teams will have a technical team. Technical teams work ahead of the delivery team, reviewing technical challenges and implementing solutions to allow construction to proceed without delay.

 

They also step in when there is a major technical or non-conformance issue. A role in the technical team may be better suited to an engineer who takes a more in-depth view on finding a solution and doesn’t enjoy the fast-paced setting of site-based decision making! The technical route can offer fantastic opportunities for a civil engineering career in Australia.

 

The key is to gain firsthand experience in various disciplines early in your career. This will allow you to decide what you want to focus on later. You can advance to a project or technical manager role with confidence, having acquired experience in several disciplines. As a manager, you need sufficient experience to understand and coordinate with other teams within the project. You certainly do not need to be an expert in everything!

Engineering Career Progression

A major benefit of working in civil engineering is the career progression that is attainable for anyone who has an interest and is willing to put in the work. Typically, an engineer can work their way from graduate to Senior Project Engineer in as little as 7 years and earn a salary of up to $220,000.

The progression isn’t the same for everyone, but the table below demonstrates what is very much attainable.

So, how does one improve their chances of decent progression in a civil engineering career in Australia? There are many factors that we will touch on here.

 

Tips to Improve your Career Progression

Like most careers, one of the most important aspects is showing interest and working hard. This will demonstrate your commitment to your manager and the rest of the site team (supervisors, senior engineers, managers, workers) and that they can rely on you to close out issues. This is especially important in a project delivery role.

 

The next step is to gain as much experience as possible and ask questions. Get out on-site and speak with the supervisors and contractors delivering the work. They will have teams of workers with years of experience carrying out specialized tasks that you can watch and learn from. These are the people from whom you will learn methodologies and technical aspects of civil engineering. Most are not gatekeepers and are happy to share their knowledge with someone willing to learn.

 

Show an appetite for more responsibility and remind your manager of this. Ask to take on more work, particularly tasks that are a step above your current role. An example of this would be a site engineer producing a basic lift plan. Then, request a project or senior project engineer to review it before being used on site. This demonstrates an independent way of working and an appetite to progress.

 

Lastly, be organised. Site-based civil engineers are more like junior project managers. Their role is to understand the program and ensure that materials, methodologies, and controls are in place at the right time to keep the project moving. The main difference as you progress from site to senior project engineer is the extended time frame for future planning and the increased level of commercial delivery risk management.

 

Related Information

If you would like to delve deeper into the specific role of site, project, or senior project engineers, please click on the links below to our mini-series on these roles.

 

• Site engineer role
• Project engineer role
• Senior Project Engineer role