Principal Engineer – Structures

When you join us at Tonkin, you become part of a team who thrive on delivering exceptional outcomes that put people and our communities first.

Founded in 1955, Tonkin is on a strong, sustained growth journey, with a creative and progressive national team working across seven offices throughout Australia. Proudly employee-owned, we provide imaginative and dependable engineering, environmental, urban development, and onstruction solutions to our clients in both the public and private sectors. With expertise characterised by diversity and industry excellence, Tonkin is a national leader across the markets of water, waste, transport, natural resources management, buildings, public works, and land development.

Our growing pipeline of large-scale, high-profile, and technically challenging projects means we are seeking the best professionals in their fields to join us as we realise our vision to be Australia’s infrastructure consultant of choice.

You will be joining a close-knit team that prides itself on professional, technical, and collaborative excellence while supporting Tonkin’s multidisciplinary approach that ensures our clients receive the best solutions.

About the Role

We are seeking a Principal Engineer to join our Structural team, based in our Sydney CBD office – home to over 40 professionals – just a 2-minute stroll from the Sydney Metro Gadigal Station and well-connected by multiple transport options.

In this role, you’ll provide specialist technical expertise and leadership to support the successful delivery of complex projects. You’ll lead our structural delivery on complex projects, coordinate multidisciplinary teams, build strong client relationships whilst leveraging your existing relationships to generate new work, provide technical guidance, and contribute to the continued growth and development of our people and technical capability.

Key Responsibilities

Project Leadership & Delivery

• Lead large multidisciplinary project teams, including projects involving multiple stakeholders and some subconsultant involvement.
• Take ownership of project scope, deliverables, budgets, timeframes and overall project outcomes.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget and to agreed quality standards and client requirements.
• Identify and proactively manage contractual, commercial and technical risks across assigned projects.
• Maintain regular communication with clients throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring expectations are clearly understood and effectively managed.
• Oversee project financial management, including invoicing and work-in-progress management.
• Ensure compliance with Tonkin’s Quality Management System and project delivery processes.

Technical Excellence

• Apply specialist technical expertise across allocated projects and provide high-level technical advice to project teams and clients.
• Interpret project documents, client briefs, methodologies and deliverables to identify complexities, interdependencies and potential risks.
• Develop strategies and action plans that achieve agreed project outcomes and meet client requirements.
• Provide technical input and advice to project leaders and internal teams within required timeframes.
• Communicate technical expectations clearly to clients, project leaders and project teams.
• Prepare and review proposals, methodologies and technical documentation that meet company and client requirements.
• Maintain current knowledge of relevant Australian Standards, legislation, industry developments and emerging technical practices.
• Contribute to innovation and continuous improvement across Tonkin’s technical capabilities and project delivery.

Leadership & Capability Development

• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineers and project teams across the organisation.
• Mentor and support the technical development of project and graduate staff.
• Share specialist knowledge and experience to strengthen capability across teams.
• Support Program Managers in developing technical capability within project teams and across the organisation.
• Provide regular feedback and guidance to less experienced team members, supporting their professional growth and development.
• Foster a collaborative culture that encourages knowledge sharing, innovation and technical excellence.

Client Engagement & Business Development

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with current and prospective clients.
• Leverage existing client relationships to win work for Tonkin.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor, providing clear and practical advice throughout the project lifecycle.
• Contribute to business development through client engagement, proposal preparation and identifying opportunities for new work.
• Build Tonkin’s reputation and credibility through high-quality technical delivery and professional client relationships.
• Represent Tonkin at relevant industry events, forums and professional associations.

 Industry Profile & Innovation

• Actively participate in relevant industry sectors and professional associations.
• Present at industry forums and contribute to technical discussions where appropriate.
• Maintain awareness of emerging technologies, technical developments and innovative approaches relevant to your area of expertise.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate new ideas, technologies and approaches that improve project outcomes and technical capability.

 Quality, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure project deliverables are reviewed and verified prior to issue.
• Identify and manage technical, contractual and commercial risks throughout project delivery.
• Ensure compliance with Tonkin’s Quality Management System and relevant legislation, standards and professional requirements.
• Promote a strong culture of quality, accountability and professional excellence across project teams.

About You

You may be an experienced Senior or Associate Engineer ready to step into a principal-level position, or an established Director, Principal or Associate Engineer looking for an opportunity to take greater ownership of technically complex projects and contribute to the development of people, clients and the wider business.

You are technically strong, commercially aware and confident working with clients and multidisciplinary teams. You enjoy solving complex problems, sharing your knowledge and influencing positive project outcomes.

You will have:

• A degree qualification in Structural or Civil Engineering.
• Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) status with Engineers Australia, or equivalent professional recognition.
• Design Build Practitioner (DBP) registration is highly desirable and registration in other states will be viewed favourably.
• Significant engineering experience within a consultancy.
• Demonstrated experience providing specialist technical expertise on complex projects.
• Experience leading structural teams and taking technical ownership of projects, with the ability to coordinate effectively across multidisciplinary teams and subconsultants.
• Strong understanding of project delivery, including scope, budget, programme, risk and quality management.
• An established local network of clients with a track record of winning and growing client work – through trusted relationships, proposal development, or repeat engagements.
• A strong understanding of relevant Australian Standards, legislation and industry requirements.
• A genuine interest in mentoring and developing engineers and graduate staff, with experience doing so.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and interpersonal skills.
• A strong commitment to technical excellence, innovation and delivering outcomes for clients and communities.
• We know great candidates don’t always match every criterion perfectly – if this role excites you and you bring most of what we’re after, we encourage you to apply.

Why Tonkin?

This is an opportunity for an experienced engineer to take a genuine technical leadership role within a growing, employee-owned consultancy. You’ll have the opportunity to work on challenging and diverse projects, influence technical outcomes, develop the next generation of engineers and build strong relationships with clients and industry.

At Tonkin, we know people perform at their best when they enjoy coming to work. We offer you the opportunity to collaborate with leading industry experts in a genuinely supportive and caring environment. We value flexibility and trust, empowering you to build your skills, progress your career and work in a way that suits you.

Good people. Challenging projects. Caring environment. That’s Tonkin.

Click Apply Now to join Tonkin!

For further information about Tonkin and to view our other vacancies, please visit www.tonkin.com.au/careers

You must have the right to live and work permanently in Australia to apply for this position.

For this position, Tonkin will only consider applications submitted directly by candidates. We will not accept or consider applications from recruiters or recruitment agencies unless requested.