This article provides an overview of the potential salaries available to engineers working with Tier 1 contractors in Australia. Typically, an engineer can advance from graduate to Senior Project Engineer in as little as 7 to 8 years and earn a salary of up to $220,000. Superannuation would be additional on top of these salaries. We have provided experience levels to give an idea of the number of years’ experience required to attain the various salary levels.
These are for metro or local roles. FIFO roles often come with a 30% uplift on top of the base salary. Salaries may vary slightly from state to state, but will generally fall within these ranges. Some employers will offer a vehicle & fuel card to get to and from the site.
Some employers will also offer retention bonuses; for example, they will pay 10% of a worker’s salary if they stay until a certain date or project completion.
The progression isn’t the same for everyone, but the table below demonstrates what is very much attainable.
So if you are in one of these roles and your salary does not align, it may be time to evaluate the value you bring to the team. You should also have access to your role & responsibilities document. This will allow you to evaluate whether you are fulfilling the role for which you are employed.
Once you are confident you are performing as expected, you can arrange to have a discussion with your line manager on potential for improvement.
