Title:  Engineering Lead - Water

About John Holland:

At John Holland, our purpose is simple, we transform lives with everything we do. We've always known at its heart infrastructure is about people — our customers, our employees, and the communities in which we work.

That's our difference. Deep experience and capability with a genuine care about creating better lives for people along the way.

Be part of a team that thrives on rising to the challenge of transforming lives for good.

About the role:

John Holland’s Infrastructure division is currently constructing some of Australia’s most complex projects, including the Black Hill to Tomago M1, Belmont Desalination Plant, and the Upper South Creek Advanced Water Recycling Centre.

As Engineering Manager, you will maintain oversight and coordinate all engineering management activities on a water tender or project, with an aim to ensure our technical solution development aligns with strategic client objectives, while optimising time and cost outcomes.

The role provides technical, strategic leadership and commercial oversight in the design, development, and implementation of water and wastewater treatment systems, ensuring innovation and application of best practices.

The role reports into our National Engineering Lead – Water, and can be based in either Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane.

Responsibilities of the role include:

• Provide engineering services and support to site and project management throughout contract lifecycles.
• Oversee estimates, tender submissions, construction techniques, engineering procedures, and adoption of new technologies.
• Liaise with clients, consultants, subcontractors, suppliers, and planning authorities to ensure successful project delivery.
• Ensure compliance with legislative, pre-contract, and commercial obligations, including the Building Code.
• Lead engineering governance processes, including technical reviews, design assurance, and risk workshops.
• Oversee design development, review, and approval to ensure compliance with standards and client specifications.
• Manage interface coordination across all disciplines (civil, structural, systems, electrical, etc.).
• Lead Safety in Design (SiD), constructability reviews, and technical risk assessments.
• Maintain engineering registers, decision logs, and assurance records for compliance and traceability.
• Manage resourcing, coach engineers, and foster a high-performance environment.
• Lead in health, safety, environmental, sustainability, and risk management practices.
• Drive adoption of digital engineering tools (e.g., BIM, VDC, Aconex) to enhance design and delivery.
• Champion digital workflows for design coordination, document control, and reporting.
• Support upskilling of the team in digital engineering practices.

To be successful in this key role, you must have:

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in engineering, project management or other associated disciplines.
• Management of multidisciplinary teams with a focus on technology and process, including an advanced understanding of technology investment vs risk and opportunity cost.
• Advanced understanding of commercial drivers and motivations.
• Extensive experience in the water sector, preferably as a contractor or consultant (10+years)
• Experience of prospect and project planning in a large corporate environment.

As part of the team, you help us deliver on our promise to transform lives

Your success is reflected in ours, so we're committed to being an employer of choice. We pride ourselves on having a diverse and inclusive workplace, as different perspectives and ideas will deliver our long-term success.

We want you to be with us for the long-term, so providing you with rich career experiences and ongoing development is our priority.

What's in it for you when you join John Holland?

We're about connecting your sense of purpose to ours. We understand that your career is one of the biggest ways to have an impact on the world. We also believe in supporting you as a whole person, not just an employee.

We reward and support our people in so many ways. This starts with being flexible about how different people like to work. From industry-leading leave policies to wellbeing and relationship support, your needs sit at the heart of our employee benefits.

We offer:

• Competitive remuneration with salary continuance, and salary sacrifice options.
• Great leave benefits including 18 weeks paid parental leave with super and up to an extra 18 weeks of super paid on further periods of unpaid parental leave, multicultural leave exchange and two extra days to prioritise your wellbeing.
• Career progression underpinned by our exciting pipeline of work means you'll have the opportunity to work on iconic projects that are shaping cities and communities.
• Learning and development opportunities where you’ll have access to emerging talent programs, building your career through clear career pathways, plus technical and leadership training and development opportunities.
• Inclusion, diversity and equity is part of how we work. We want everyone at John Holland to feel that they belong – that’s why we’re working hard every day to foster a more inclusive culture, backed by a business-wide inclusion strategy to bring about meaningful change. We’ve also got active employee resource groups that support our commitments including those around gender equality and reconciliation.
• Flexible working that works for you as we know flexibility means different things to different people. Whether its flexi-hours, flexi-parenting, flexi-leave, flexi-shifts, flexi-work, we're committed to helping our people work flexibly.