Rheinmetall Defence Australia

Defence

Why Rheinmetall Defence Australia

The Rheinmetall Defence Australia values of Safety, Partnering, Openness, Respect and Trust (SPORT) support our team members to create a workplace environment where our employees value each other, live up to their promises, and communicate openly and work safely every day.

We advocate for work-life balance, ongoing professional development and training, providing pleasant and purpose-fit working environments and support active health and wellness management, all while delivering world-class innovative products and services to our customers.

One company, endless opportunities 

If you’re asking yourself where you can find us in the world, the answer is simple: we’re everywhere! 

Rheinmetall gives you a whole range of opportunities to gather wide-ranging experience in key markets. Discover the career opportunities that await you in our teams around the world. It doesn’t matter where you choose for your next career move – we’re looking forward to getting to know you! 

Diversity and Inclusion 

RDA recognises the strength that comes with employee diversity. We are committed to providing an inclusive work environment where each employee is treated fairly and respectfully. Diversity is critical to our ability to work successfully as a team regardless of borders, language or culture. Our workforce includes employees of varying gender, ages, races and ethnicity, and professional and cultural backgrounds. We encourage our employees to comfortably blend private and professional life and provide many attractive employee benefits that our team members can enjoy. 

Things you need to know

Apprenticeships, Traineeships & Graduate Programs

RDA is excited to have commenced the Apprenticeships and Traineeships program as part of our employment offering in 2021 and beyond. These programs will provide unique opportunities to launch your career in a highly specialised manufacturing space within our country. Our Graduate Programs set you up for success, offering exciting, and hands-on, real-life experience across many of our corporate disciplines including engineering, finance, IT, commercial and human resources.

Training & Development – A Game Changer!

We are committed to the professional development of our people and we advocate for the opportunity for continued career development and growth for all. Our “Technology Transfer” project gives many of our Australian-based employees the chance to work and learn on the job at our sites in Europe before returning to Australia to share knowledge to our wider Australian workforce.

The Sky is the Limit!

Starting your career at RDA has endless possibilities. If you are a committed and hardworking individual with a standout performance on the job, the sky is the limit. You will have the choice to grow your career within your chosen field: to become a specialist, a leader or even a Director one day. Or you can venture into new horizons and broaden your skills and experience into new areas of specialisation and roles that are rare in the Australian workplace.

Remuneration & Career Growth

Pay and benefits are important considerations in any career decision. At Rheinmetall, remuneration is reviewed against the market continually to ensure we are paying competitive salaries. We also offer the following benefits:

NINE-DAY FORTNIGHT

Rheinmetall introduced a nine-day fortnight for all employees to ensure a healthy work/life balance and that rest, recuperation and self-care are a priority.

FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

We offer work from home and flexible working hours. We operate in a hybrid environment empowering our teams to focus on results, not work hours or location.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRESSION

We are committed to supporting and encouraging professional growth and the acceleration of careers as part of every employee’s journey.

MARKET LEADING PARENTAL LEAVE

Our market leading parental leave policy supports our employees and their families during this important milestone in their lives with 26 weeks fully paid leave (primary carer) and 6 weeks fully paid (secondary carer), superannuation for primary for 12 months and no waiting periods.

ADDITIONAL LEAVE OPTIONS

Be rewarded with industry-leading leave options including Loyalty Leave, Study Leave, Reservist Leave and Special Leave all fully accessible upon commencement.

PURPOSEFUL WORK

No matter the team you join, you will be presented with rewarding challenges, collaborative thinking and the opportunity to be part of ground-breaking projects.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Our passionate and dedicated colleagues foster a culture of inclusion and respect, empowering our people to bring their whole selves to work each and every day.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Encouraged and supported participation in community activities including fun, rewarding, challenging and life changing events with our charity of choice, Legacy.

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (EAP)

Our comprehensive EAP offers our employees and their families both personal and professional support on a variety of work related and personal issues.

EMPLOYEE DISCOUNTS

Receive exclusive access to our #RewaRDA platform where you can reduce your cost of living with discounts and cashback at over 400 retails in Australia.

WELLBEING CENTRE

Exclusive access to our #RewaRDA Wellbeing Centre that provides education, support and tools to help you live a healthier and happier life, because your wellbeing matters!

Our Recruitment Process

Get excited to meet the future you!

Our recruitment process starts with an online application. After submitting this, you can expect to do several interviews, including a video screen interview as the first selection step. This will then be followed by a formal interview either face-to-face or via a phone or video-conferencing hook-up. Depending on the role you may also need to complete practical assessments (for trade-specific positions). When the interviews and assessments are completed we will conduct background checks and professional reference checks. Once successful you will receive a verbal offer, followed by a formal employment agreement and start date confirmation.

Rheinmetall Summer Internship Program

The Rheinmetall Summer Internship Program is the perfect foot-in-the-door to the tight-knit defence industry in Australia. We provide paid work experience to students who are currently in their penultimate or final year of undergraduate study and the program is the primary pathway into our Graduate Program.

Offered from November to February, the program provides students with hands-on experience, challenging real world projects, professional development opportunities and structured performance feedback. It also gives students the chance to determine their interest in the industry, and gives Rheinmetall an opportunity to make early offers for the following year’s graduate positions. Many of our interns also continue working part time during their final year of university, studies permitting.

We consider applications from students in the following disciplines:

• Engineering (Mechanical/Mechatronics, Electrical, Software)
• Commercial, Business, Finance, Procurement and HR
• Cyber Security and IT

To learn more about where your career can go with Rheinmetall as an intern, check out our Day in the Life pieces!

Meet Margaux

Student Engineer (Research and Development)

Bachelor (Honours) of Mechatronic Engineering

7:00 AM

My mornings usually start with either the first or third alarm of the morning followed by a notification that breakfast is ready. I detest a cold breakfast so it’s usually the best motivation to get out of bed and to get ready for the morning. Mornings are a struggle usually due to the fact that I’ve stayed up late working on projects or attending committee meetings for my international volunteer work.

7:30 AM

My mornings usually consist of me reading up on the news and putting on a podcast to listen to while getting ready. After ironing, getting dressed and doing my hair and makeup, I make sure I don’t leave the house without leftovers from last night’s dinner and the most importantly my 16oz keep cup!

8:00 AM

Drives to Rheinmetall at Redbank are quite enjoyable. Either it’s continuing the morning’s podcast (CSIRO’s Every Day AI series has been extremely interesting) or singing my go-to playlist which means that the 30 minute journey goes by effortlessly.

8:30 AM

As I arrive at the office, I’m always greeted by everyone, which is especially nice as I’m working in the Admin building surrounded by extremely busy managers. As long as they’re not on a call, they always say hello. As I approach my usual desk, I am always uncertain if I remembered to book using the Hot Desk system. Good thing I’ve booked the same desk for the next two weeks – no need for the concern!

9:00AM

I’ve recently moved from Engineering Design to Rheinmetall’s Research and Development which is a smaller team. I log into my dev laptop to check my Gannt chart for updates from my manager and my main laptop for emails. In R&D, many of my tasks are not directly obvious at first as I’m developing ideas, scoping projects and reading and developing solutions to problems. My current work involves building new applications for Rheinmetall’s current autonomous platforms. One of my colleagues is looking at ground vehicles while I’m looking at UAVs.

My manager has asked me to develop a full autonomous navigation solution in simulation for demonstration in a couple of weeks so I’m straight away booting up my simulator ready for the day’s coding session.

9:15AM

This process has been exhausting enough – time for coffee. While the kitchenette’s coffee machine gets lots of use at this time in the morning, everyone who knows me will confirm that I am definitely a coffee connoisseur – only a barista made coffee will suffice!

This is where my 16oz Keep Cup comes in handy as while the Redbank café scene isn’t up to scratch, MILVEHCOE’s canteen has an amazing barista service! As I approach I need only tap my phone knowing that my keep cup discount has been applied. The canteen is often filled with others who are struggling to get going in the morning and, after catching up on the morning’s news with the baristas, I return to my desk awake and ready to go!

9:30AM

Back at my desk now, simulator loaded, and buds in with music playing I start working on today’s challenge: stopping the UAV from crashing.

10:50AM

With no UAVs crashing anymore, I start to plan how I’m going to complete my autonomous mission. Today’s problem consists of working on the vision system. I consult my manager about what cameras and specs I should work towards and, with all details confirmed, I dive into the literature and my uni notes on how best to code a solution.

11:00AM

I usually get to this point in the morning wondering where the morning has gone as I’ve been focused reading papers, coding and watching copious numbers of tutorials to remember each function or command I need. After once again loading up the files, I find my error and magically everything works.

12:00PM

A notification on my phone alerts me that everyone is gathering for lunch. This always is a great opportunity to catch up with the other students and graduates working in the other buildings.

Today’s a special lunch as all the students and graduates are gathering for a ‘Lunch and Learn’ where the managers present what their team does in the overall scheme of the company. Today’s session was especially enjoyable as we were able to go over to production and see the systems in action after the presentation.

1:00PM

The afternoon takes me to the prototype shop to assist in the preparations for our upcoming demonstration. PPE is required for every trip to the production building so I dash down to my car and replace my RMs with my steel cap boots and Hi-Vis vest. It’s always enjoyable to get to go down to the shop and actually apply my robotics skills on actual robotic platforms, rather than just the simulator. 

2:00PM

Time to pull out the UAV to get some measurements for the simulation. We are certainly lucky to work with industry standard equipment to develop our autonomous solutions. Currently, I have been assisting in the debugging of LIDARs for the ground vehicles. Turns out it was a faulty connector as is usually the case for prototypes.

3:00PM

We also get an opportunity to explore the features of the Boxer and Lynx to discover the current capabilities of Rheinmetall’s vehicles. As the aim of R&D is to build upon the current capabilities, it’s always interesting for one of the senior engineers to show off the current designs. Understanding the design process is really interesting, especially knowing how CAD elements are scoped, designed, verified and developed on each of the vehicles.

4:30PM

Finally back at my desk in the air conditioning and working on documenting my process and solution. As the team is small, we document our errors and commands to assist each other in the debugging process. A quick catch up with my supervisor and colleagues follows, as well as checking my emails for any updates. Back to coding and improving my solution!

5:30PM

As the office starts to empty for the day, I’m usually one of the last to leave. After encouragement from some of the others in the office, I leave my debugging for refreshed Margaux in the morning. As I leave the carpark, I check the route home all is clear so I know I’ll have plenty of time for relaxing ready for the challenges that tomorrow will bring!

Meet Raeph

Student Design Engineering Intern

Bachelor (Honours) of Mechanical Engineering

University of Queensland

6:00am

After my third snoozed alarm goes off, it’s time to get up and start my day. I roll out of bed and face the morning struggle for the bathroom with my housemates. I get ready, grab my leftovers from the night before and jump in the car for a quick 20min drive down the Ipswich Motorway – avoiding traffic as best as I can.

7:30am

I arrive at the office and after saying a quick hello to everyone. I drop my bag at my ever-changing hot desk. I then complete the daily ritual of grabbing a coffee at MILVEHCOE’s very own café with a couple of my colleagues.

8:00am

I log into my emails and check my calendar to plan the day ahead. I am currently in a specialist design team based at MILVEHCOE. Today, my mentor has tasked me with modelling and drafting a new part, so I’ll set up a quick meeting to discuss the task in further detail and understand the requirements.

9:00am

My meeting is complete and I’m back at my desk, so it’s time to boot up my laptop. I load up my model and get ready for a CAD session by making use of my noise cancelling headphones to limit the distractions in the office.

10:00am

I take a break from CAD to attend my weekly update meeting, where all the engineers within the team meet to update our manger on the status of our work. The team I am apart of is responsible for both the design and integration of protection related systems on all vehicles developed at RDA. Time constraints are critical, so it is important that everyone is on the same page in regards to work that needs to be done. This week, I updated my team on my two design tasks and the issues which have come up throughout the previous week.

12:00pm

It’s time to grab lunch. My colleagues and I walk to the on-site cafeteria, then sit outside in the sun to defrost from the engineering buildings air-con. We catch up on what we got up to on the weekend. Every lunch is a game of who’s the first to go back to work; we know that once one person returns to the office, it’s time for us all to stop stalling.

12:45pm

Lunch is over and I return to work. I continue with my modelling work and run in to an issue with integration, so I chuck on my high vis and steel caps and walk over to the PWB with one of the senior engineers to have a look at the area of the vehicle in question. The great thing about working at Rheinmetall as a mechanical engineer is you can only learn so much from a CAD model, and with RDA’s manufacturing facility only a 50m walk from the engineering office, you can always get a firsthand look at the vehicles you are working on.

2:00pm

I set up my model on inbuilt software to run a quick preliminary simulation to ensure that my hand calcs are correct. As they say, “measure twice, cut once.” While I wait for the simulation to complete, I go grab my second coffee of the day.

3:00pm

My simulation’s worked, so I set up my final meeting of the day with one of the senior engineers to show them the model and get the tick of approval on the primary structure. I receive some feedback and ensure I note down the action items from the discussion to progress my model further.

5:00pm

Time to go home. I have a quick chat on my way out of the office with my colleagues before I jump in the car and drive to the gym and shops, and prepare myself for the day to come.

Rheinmetall Graduate Program

Our graduate program provides a platform to launch your career in the defence industry, providing a strong technical foundation through mentoring, technical rotations and development programs while offering opportunities to work on innovative projects and future technologies.

All graduates are offered permanent positions from the outset, and we have two main intakes in January and July (however we are able to accommodate other start dates).

Our week-long Induction Program provides an in-depth introduction to our business and projects.

Rotations give graduates exposure to a variety of teams, projects and locations providing them an understanding of the potential career pathways available.

Mentoring and support is provided to all graduates, with peer mentors to help them settle in and technical mentors who guide their development and provide career direction.

Development is a focus at all stages of our employee’s careers but particularly early on from a technical, safety and professional standpoint.

To learn more about where your career after university can go with Rheinmetall, check out our Graduate Stories!

Day in the Life of RDA Apprentices

Ronil Prasad

4:30 AM

I am a morning person so the earlier the better. My day starts at 4.30am with my alarm going off. I can confidently say that my dog does not have the same love of early mornings as I do, so he very happily goes back to sleep. I have a shower, get dressed, have a coffee and set some time to have plenty of hugs with the dog, before I leave for the day.

5:30 AM

I am on the road and battling the 60 min drive to work, hoping that there is no traffic to slow me down.

7:00 AM

I like to get in a bit early to catch up with everybody, usually around 6:30 as I’ve worked with a lot of my team for a few years now (across different roles) so we know how each other works and how to get the job done. Kickoff is 7 am and we always start with a Toolbox meeting. We get this brief from our supervisors every day. We always start with a safety moment, giving us the opportunity to discuss any ongoing safety points, and ways to reduce risks. It is a great opportunity to be focused from home to work and reminds us all to stay safe in our work practices.  After this, our supervisor will allocate the tasks for the day, who is working with who, and the expectations for the day.

As a Heavy Vehicle Mechanical Apprentice, here at RDA I am involved in the construction and ongoing maintenance of the latest Heavy Vehicle Fleet for the Australian Army.

I team up with my supervising tradesperson for the day and we get to work. Today we are working on a 45M Heavy Recovery Vehicle, a large off road Tow Truck with Army requirements added. We are fitting some hydraulic pumps first up today; it’s interesting working on the different components that eventually go together to build these Trucks. On any given day, I could be involved in light fittings, hydraulics, fitting external parts, winches and more.

9:30 AM

Its Smoko time! For me first break is a cup of tea and some crackers, I love the simple things. It’s a good time to have a quick chat with everyone, talk shop, catch up on social media; relax for a bit before we head back to work.

9:45 AM

Its back to the Production Hall, the hydraulics are finalised now so it is on to mounting storage lockers on the back of the truck. We use a 15 T Gantry Crane to maneuver them into place; it requires great communication and cooperation from all involved to get this done well and safely. Once the lockers are bolted in, we work on the wiring harness and make sure the vehicle electrics are working correctly.

12:00 PM

Lunchtime! Lunch usually consists of a hot meal, which is leftover from the night before. I do a bit of cooking at home so there is always plenty to last. Once a week, I like to indulge and make use of the new cafeteria at work. Anything with bacon is a winner for me, and those bacon and egg rolls certainly hit the spot.  I am usually on my feet all day, so this is a good opportunity to put my feet up. Today I catch up with some of the other Apprentices out on our lunch benches. We compare what is happening in each other’s training. There are a few different trades happening in the RDA Apprenticeship Program so it is interesting to hear how the other trades do their thing.

12:30 PM

Time for some quality checks on some of the installation work we did this morning. We installed some cables on the winch system so we take the vehicle to the Testing area to carry out the Winch Function tests, playing out the cabling and feeding them correctly to ensure correct function when our customers need those most.

There is a bit of downtime after the testing. I use the opportunity to go over some internal training Power Points we have for some of our Vehicle systems. I have Tafe next week; I am doing my trade at SkillsTech; I have Electrical Circuits training next week so I beef up on that, but it is also good to have a look at other systems. We are also building and maintaining some Armoured Vehicles for the Army here so I often use these opportunities to have a look at those. It is great talking to the various teams about how what I am doing in my trade equates to what they are doing. I do not think there are too many workplaces you can work on trucks in the morning and infantry fighting vehicles in the afternoon.

3:30 PM

Work finishes for the day and it is time to battle the afternoon traffic. My drive home occasionally involves a quick stop to Bunnings or Repco so I can spend some time on projects when I get home. The highlight of my afternoon is coming home to my dog who is waiting for me at the gate with a smile on his face.

Daragh Carroll

5:50 AM

My dreaded alarm goes off and I crawl out of bed to start another working day.  I have a quick shower, shovel down 4/5 Weet Bix and I begin my 30-35 minute commute from Kangaroo Point to work in Redbank. With our new state of the art facility, parking is never a problem and I always get one close to the warehouse, which is always a bonus.

7:00 AM

We begin every day in the warehouse with a 7am prestart where our Manager Brendan will go through any issues from the previous day, how we performed in our duties, any safety concerns or general challenges we have to raise with him and assign everyone their daily tasks. This is a great way to start as it gets the team together first thing and if anyone does have any issues or feedback, good ideas etc. we get to air them with everyone else in the warehouse.

7:30 AM

I go to my desk and start my day of work off by checking my emails of which there are usually plenty, mostly from my fellow staff in different departments looking for parts they may have been waiting on to arrive or things they need to ship out! The warehouse is made up of many different roles in which we change every 3 months to ensure everybody gets extensive exposure and training in every aspect of the job.  At the moment my role is dealing with inbound goods and outbound also.

8:00 AM

Today there is a flurry of early deliveries, which means I am in between unloading trucks with the forklift and trying to check off what has come in already.  It is a process of checking off the paperwork to ensure everything has arrived, then figuring out what project the parts are for and where to store them in our large warehouse. After the goods are put away, I then have to do the systems work to put the goods into SAP to ensure everything is ready for when we need to pick them for our production team or to send to the customer.

9:00 AM

Dealing with both inbound and outbound, I have to try to prioritize my day so that what is most urgent gets done first.  So around 9 am I usually deal with any requests to send products out from our warehouse.  This process involves getting the digital request from our freight register then packing it to our high standards and booking the transport through our online portal.

10:00 AM

It’s the part of the morning that keeps me going, smoko time!! We have a brand new canteen recently open onsite and they have the best of everything and do really good mates rates for Rheinmetall employees.  Today I grabbed a sandwich, yoghurt and cereal bar keep the energy levels pumping!

11:00 AM

Being sat at the goods incoming area I am constantly dealing throughout the day with delivery drivers and fellow employees coming down with requests and enquiries about different deliveries, time frames etc. it honestly makes the day fly by being so busy all the time.

12:00 PM

As I am currently doing my Cert III in Supply Chain Operations my Manager Brendan will take an hour out of my work day whenever we can both spare one to go over something in the course. Today it’s the chain of responsibility section, which despite having many years in warehouse under my belt, a lot of it is new to me so it’s good to be going over some new things I didn’t know beforehand and it is definitely improving my background knowledge in the warehouse.

1:00 PM

Training over and its back to the nitty-gritty! Today Ben and I have the challenge of wrapping a Millennium Gun, which needs to be ready for transport to Melbourne. It’s basically a giant piece of artillery that sits on the top of one of our vehicles. I’m not going to lie, this is a very tricky one, but we persevere and get it done via a lot of sweat, tears and swearing!!

2:00 PM

Lunch time for me and again I succumb to the lure of our canteen’s delights! Taco Tuesday was too hard to resist! As part of the warehouse we have to be functioning at all times because of deliveries etc, so we stagger our lunches to keep the place running effectively.

2:30 PM

I try get the last of the day’s deliveries put away and entered into the system, but the clock is against me and I put some aside for tomorrow. We generally have assigned different areas that we need to clean on a daily basis, so I make sure my area is done before I leave.

3:30 PM

I am out of here, usually home by 4pm, which gives me plenty of time to have a life outside of work.

The role as a warehouse employee in Rheinmetall is a bit of a different one than previous warehouse roles I have had, but it is so diverse that no day is ever the same. It is very busy and comes with a lot of challenges, but there is a really good team culture here where everyone will help each other out when they can. Having never worked in Defence before it has taken me a bit of time to get my head around all of it to be honest and there are still days I scratch my head and think “what the”?!!  But it is a hugely exciting company to be a part of and it has plenty of ups and downs, but its one great ride!

Meet Hunter Conochie

Graduate Software Engineer

You can set your own pace being a graduate at Rheinmetall. RDA is happy for you to just learn and take things in and partner with ore senior engineers if that is what you want to do.

What’s your job about?

Rheinmetall Defence Australia (RDA) is currently supporting many contracts with the Commonwealth of Australia including the Land 400 project which is supplying new Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles to the Australian Army. I am responsible for helping my team develop a general vehicle architecture for this new era of vehicles.

My current project at RDA is interfacing with the software development team and the systems engineers to work out how we can test and evaluate the software to ensure it is robust and acceptable, given the accepted requirements specified by the Commonwealth of Australia.

What’s your background?

I grew up on the Gold Coast, QLD, surfing and playing a lot of sports.

I always knew I wanted to study engineering but what type of engineering was the hard bit. So, I chose mechatronics to get a bit of everything. I never really liked software at university but once I got a bit better at it and realised I could work from home or anywhere with just a laptop, I was drawn to the profession. The best semester I had was my semester abroad in Sweden to study. I visited 25 countries and met plenty of amazing people that I still talk to, from all over the world.

I applied online and made sure I didn’t panic in the interview. I just tried to relate every question (even if I didn’t know the answer) back to a common strength to put myself in the best light.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Yes, many people come from different backgrounds in software. You DO NOT have to have studied software engineering. Many of the best software engineers I know actually studied physics or geology and then moved across for better pay and work/life balance. You must be willing to learn constantly. Software is a huge world, you’ll never learn it all. Being good at asking for help from the more experienced guys, can save you a lot of time.

What’s the coolest thing about your job?

I love the software at Rheinmetall because of the flexibility to learn and also get my code on the final product. There is a great mix of responsibility but also flexibility. 

What are the limitations of your job?

I choose to bear responsibility in my role because I like to get tasks done quickly and efficiently and have accountability in my work. You can set your own pace being a graduate at Rheinmetall. RDA is happy for you to just learn and take things in and partner with more senior engineers if that is what you want to do. You have to be self-driven to succeed and be willing to pick up a project or a piece of work and get it done to the best of your ability.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student…

1. Take better notes of things you might need in the future, and collate it all.
2. Study the theory, not the practice. eg. A subject on algorithms will be more important than solar panels as it’s more useful across a wider domain of industry and jobs.
3. Try and make studying more enjoyable by investing in your learning. Buy nice stationary, go to a café, reward yourself after 2 hours etc.

Meet Steve Berry

Contract and Commercial Graduate

For me to do my job well, I need input from people in a vast array of professions, such as engineers, project managers and salespeople. I never knew that it would be possible to learn so much in such a short period of time.

What’s your job about?

Rheinmetall is a defence contractor that manufactures tanks, armoured vehicles, weapons systems and much more. I work in the legal and commercial teams, which are responsible for managing contracts with the government, intellectual property and trade compliance. Specifically, I am working in contract management for projects other than Land 400 Phase 2. Many of these projects are not ‘public’, so I cannot talk about them (but trust me, they are cool).

General tasks that I undertake throughout the course of a project include: responding to heaps of government documents surrounding tenders and things like that, negotiating with Contract Managers who work for the government and liaising with an impressive multidisciplinary team. For me to do my job well, I need input from people in a vast array of professions, such as engineers, project managers and salespeople. I never knew that it would be possible to learn so much in such a short period of time.

What’s your background?

I grew up and still live in Redcliffe, Queensland. Living in a coastal suburb, I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to so many activities that are now my hobbies such as stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking and fishing.

The most important stages of my life were those spent road-tripping around Australia, particularly South Australia and Queensland. These experiences instilled a great sense of pride in my country, a genuine care for Australians from all walks of life and a profound appreciation for Australia’s beauty in me from a young age. I think these experiences are what make me love my role at Rheinmetall – because it brings me so much pride to feel like I am contributing to the safety of Australian personnel at home and aboard.

I was always a logical thinker, and I believe that law school reinforced this way of thinking; however, I thought that the legal solution was sometimes inflexible and very adversarial (not win-win, one winner and a loser). It has been great working in a commercial role at Rheinmetall, where I am tasked with prioritising business solutions over legal solutions. Business solutions are often win-win and better for everybody involved.

I got my position with Rheinmetall by studying law and applying for the role on Linkedin. I have been working here since January 2023, but have known my team since November 2022.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Absolutely. The legal and commercial team is made up of people who are lawyers, engineers, veterans and businesspeople. I think the main characteristics of my job are: attention to detail, a positive attitude toward learning and the ability to listen. To work at Rheinmetall generally, I think that you should be able to laugh at yourself and have a genuine passion for Australia and her interests.

What’s the coolest thing about your job?

I love being able to rock up every day and work with technology that others don’t even know exists. I love feeling like I have made a difference; when we win a bid, knowing that I have created work for hundreds of my mates in the production and engineering buildings, and knowing that we are keeping soldiers safe in the process.

What are the limitations of your job?

When the work is on, it’s on. You need to be able to identify when people are stressed and work around them; you need to recognise that if they say something that can come across as a bit harsh, it’s not about you; it’s often the stressors that they face and that they’re lashing out.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student…

1. Everybody is human, just like you. Don’t let imposter syndrome dominate your mind and soul when dealing with others. Give yourself some credit and recognise that everybody makes mistakes.
2. Learn yourself. Become secure in your own skin and own it. In doing this, you recognise your emotions which improves your relationships with others.
3. Recognise that life isn’t always easy. Sometimes you just need to cop it on the chin and carry on. No complaining. No throwing others under the bus. Adapt and overcome.

Meet Jessica Veivers

Design Engineer (Mechanical)

I’m part of an engineering design team working on armoured military vehicles. I have to work with various stakeholders in the project, including electronics engineers, senior mechanical engineers within the design team, as well as the manufacturer.

What’s your job about?

I’m part of an engineering design team working on armoured military vehicles. I’ve worked on designs in various stages, from researching and developing concepts prior to commencing design work, through to preparing designs for manufacture. In my current project, I am designing a mock-up of a vehicle and turret interior to allow for testing and fit of vehicle subsystems. In a typical day working on this project I spend a lot of my time using a 3D CAD program, referencing existing vehicle design and producing my designs.

Throughout the design process, I have to make sure I’m documenting what I’ve done and why, in case we need to come back to it later. I have to work with various stakeholders in the project, including electronics engineers, senior mechanical engineers within the design team, as well as the manufacturer. I may also spend time in meetings with our engineering team, reviewing designs and updating each other on the progress of projects within the team.

What’s your background?

I grew up in Cairns, in far north Queensland. When I finished high school, I moved to Brisbane to study engineering at QUT, and loved it. I studied a double major in mechanical and medical engineering, and did my placement and thesis in the area of rehabilitation engineering, working with custom assistive technology.

My favourite subjects at uni were definitely the design subjects, so I was really excited to get the opportunity to work as a design engineer. I started this position a few months after graduating uni, and I’ve now been working at Rheinmetall for close to a year.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

An engineering degree is required for my job, but someone with a different background otherwise could do it. Within my team, many of us have backgrounds outside of defence or vehicle systems – or are recent graduates like myself. I think the most important characteristics for this role are curiosity, and being able to take criticism about their work (an important part of making our designs better!).

What’s the coolest thing about your job?

My favourite part of my job is that we work on all aspects of the vehicles, so there’s always something new to learn about or work on. The tasks I enjoy the most are the design tasks that challenge my existing skills and knowledge, where I have to learn as I go.

Another part of my job I really enjoy is the travel opportunities – last year, I got to spend two months working in Germany. I got to work with engineers based there, as well as see the manufacturing facilities and various projects that Rheinmetall have.

What are the limitations of your job?

In this role, I have more design responsibility than I expected to as a new graduate. I am responsible for designing a number of systems and subsystems, as well as working with suppliers to get them manufactured. Thankfully, I can always ask more senior engineers within the team for advice and guidance, but it was definitely intimidating to start with!

Also, at busy times, we do have to do extra hours to make sure things get done on time – although this isn’t all the time.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student…

The three pieces of advice I would give myself as a uni student are:

1. Get involved more! There are so many student clubs available – related to your studies, and social hobby related. I wish I’d gotten involved in these more as a student.
2. Spend a little less time focussing on uni, and a little more time on your own hobbies.
3. Apply to any job you’re interested in! I almost didn’t apply to this role, because I didn’t think I was who they were looking for – but I’m so glad I did.

Engineering at RDA

Rheinmetall Defence Australia has an abundance of opportunities for both experienced and Graduate Engineers from all backgrounds. Being an Engineer with RDA means you play a fundamental part in exciting and groundbreaking global projects that you don’t see every day!

Whether you are working within our Electronics Solutions business innovating world-class simulation, training and state of the art surveillance and reconnaissance systems, or in our Vehicle Systems organisation where you will push technical boundaries to give our servicemen and women a decisive advantage on the battlefield, you will be presented with rewarding challenges, collaborative thinking and the opportunity to work and deliver technology superiority locally here in Australia, but also internationally.

The main engineering streams we recruit for include:

Cyber Security Engineer

The Cyber Security Engineer protects computers, networks and data from unauthorised entry and usually has experience in multiple software development methodologies, software configuration management, and coding languages.

Design Engineer

The Design Engineer is responsible for the design of systems, subsystems and components of tracked armoured vehicles over the products life cycle. A design engineer conceives and selects concepts in response to Requirements using a range of tools and methods such as weighted Trade-Off Studies and FMECA.

Electronics Engineer

The Electronics Engineer responsibility is to design, integrate, and verify hardware systems, subsystems, and components for the Vehicles.

Manufacturing Engineer

The Manufacturing Engineer is responsible for the specification of all tooling, machinery, plant and equipment to support the current and future operational requirements of the Production facility. These engineers lead the project management of equipment specification, budget development, procurement, installation and commissioning for both new and modified items.

Project Quality Engineer

The Project Quality Engineer ensures that the implementations of the projects comply with the contractual, customer-specific, project-relevant and company-internal quality requirements for the products and the processes used. A Project Quality Engineer adapts and develops methods and tools of quality, derives essential test points and criteria and ensures that the defined measures are carried out.

Software Engineer

Software Engineers are usually experienced in multiple software development methodologies, software configuration management, and coding languages.

Systems Engineer

The Systems Engineer is responsible for performing Systems Engineering and Verification to design, integrate, and verify systems, subsystems, and components for the Vehicle.

Welding Engineer

The Welding Engineer is responsible for supervising the overall design and manufacturing process of armoured steel welding assemblies to ensure that the manufactured product satisfies all the internal and external requirements. The Welding Engineer will provide expert guidance in welding technology, development of welding procedures and production plans as well as responsibility for ensuring weld quality and reducing welding defects.

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