Home/Industries/Defence
Industries ยท Defence
Re:Sourced supports defence primes, defence-adjacent system integrators, and dual-use scale-ups hiring senior engineering talent. Strong networks in cleared engineering profiles and security-cleared cyber and cloud.
The Australian defence-tech market
Defence and defence-adjacent technology hiring concentrates in Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney. Major employers include the primes (BAE Systems, Boeing Defence, Lockheed Martin Australia, Saab Australia, Thales Australia), the SIs (Babcock, Serco, KBR), and a growing tail of dual-use Australian scale-ups (Anduril Australia, Saber Astronautics, Penten, DroneShield).
Security clearance is a hard gate. NV1, NV2 and TS-cleared engineers are scarce; the candidate pool is small enough that direct outreach and trusted-network referral matter more than open-market sourcing.
Most-recruited defence roles
Salary bands 2026
Sydney base salary bands for the disciplines defence teams hire most, drawn from our Salary Guide 2026.
| Discipline | Senior base | Principal base |
|---|---|---|
| Cyber engineer | AUD 170-200k | AUD 200-240k |
| Cloud / SRE / platform | AUD 170-210k | AUD 200-230k |
| Software engineer | AUD 160-190k | AUD 190-225k |
These are commercial Sydney bands. Cleared (NV1, NV2, TS) roles run 15-25% above them for cyber and cloud work in defence-adjacent contexts, and many defence programs price against contractor day rates instead.
Base only. 25th-75th percentile of accepted offers. Full Salary Guide 2026 ->
Hiring in defence
Defence engineering hiring is gated before it is competitive. Security clearances are administered by AGSVA, cleared roles typically require Australian citizenship, and strict-onsite mandates compress the candidate pool further. AUKUS-adjacent programs guarantee structural demand for a decade, and Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra carry much of the program weight alongside Sydney.
Brief design matters more here than anywhere else. A brief that requires an active high-level clearance, deep platform skills and assurance experience at once can describe only a handful of people nationally. We work out at intake which requirement can flex, whether clearance sponsorship, on-program skills development, or interstate sourcing, before the search starts.
Go deeper
PROTECTED and SECRET cloud expertise.
Cleared and clearable engineers.
The clearance premium explained.
AGSVA levels and the search.
Bands by discipline, seniority and city.
The all-in cost of a senior engineer.
Common questions
Yes. We recruit cleared and clearable engineers, including NV1, NV2 and TS-cleared cyber and cloud engineers, for primes, systems integrators, dual-use scale-ups and government programs.
Cleared day rates run 15-25% above the commercial bands in our Salary Guide 2026 for cyber and cloud roles in defence-adjacent contexts.
Often, yes. Where a program can sponsor a clearance, widening the brief to clearable candidates is usually the fastest route to a strong shortlist.
Start a hiring campaign
20 minute working session. No fee until placement. Replacement inside 90 days.