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Specialisms - Cloud Engineering - Defence
Defence cloud engineering is its own discipline: PROTECTED and SECRET-level cloud environments, IRAP-assessed platforms, and infrastructure that must satisfy both a hyperscaler well-architected review and a Defence security assessor. Re:Sourced recruits the cleared platform engineers who work at that intersection.
The work
Current demand concentrates in three areas: landing-zone and platform builds inside PROTECTED-level AWS and Azure environments, the DevSecOps pipelines that let defence programs ship software at commercial cadence under defence assurance, and the hybrid connectivity engineering between on-premises classified networks and assessed cloud regions.
The capability stack is standard platform engineering (Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps) plus the assurance layer: ISM control mapping, IRAP evidence preparation and the documentation discipline that defence delivery demands. Engineers with both halves are scarce; clearance plus the assurance experience is scarcer still.
Market dynamics
Cleared cloud day rates run 15-25 per cent above the commercial bands in the Salary Guide 2026, and AUKUS-adjacent programs guarantee structural demand for a decade. Adelaide and Brisbane are the geographic centres of gravity, with Canberra carrying the federal program weight.
Brief design matters more in defence than anywhere else: a brief that requires NV2-now plus deep Kubernetes plus IRAP experience describes perhaps a dozen people nationally. We calibrate at intake which requirement can flex - clearance sponsorship, skills development on-program, or interstate sourcing.
Submit a brief
30 minute working session. No fee until placement. Replacement inside 90 days.