Principal Geotechnical Engineer

Title:

Principal Geotechnical Engineer

KBR’s Infrastructure Solutions business employs over 1,400 people across Australia. Our strong project delivery record, industry reputation and trusted partnerships have driven significant growth, creating outstanding career development and project opportunities for our people.

We’re known for our collaborative “One Team” culture and our commitment to working closely with clients and construction partners to achieve exceptional results. Our open, inclusive environment ensures people are valued, supported and able to thrive. By joining KBR, you become part of a team that works together, shares common values and is united in delivering great outcomes.

The Opportunity

KBR is seeking an experienced Principal Geotechnical Engineer to join our Infrastructure Solutions team, based in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne or Brisbane and help shaping our Australia wide projects.

This is a senior technical leadership role suited to an authoritative subject matter expert. You will own geotechnical technical outcomes across multiple packages or projects, act as the technical escalation point for complex and atypical ground risks and provide independent review/approval of major deliverables (including Basis of Design and key design reports).

You will be accountable for discipline-wide technical quality, proactively identifying and mitigating risks to delivery, safety, and long-term asset performance. You will lead projects as a Subject Matter Expert and be available to support time-critical “emergency” meetings to provide sound advice and clear recommendations.

With a confident, collaborative and commercially aware approach, you will work closely with clients, contractors and multidisciplinary teams, guide design direction and review outcomes, and contribute to growth by advising on opportunities, win themes and capability development for geotechnical services.

• Act as an authoritative geotechnical subject matter expert and technical escalation point both internally and externally, providing technical challenge and direction on complex infrastructure projects (e.g., rail, roads, utilities, earthworks and civil structures).
• Own technical outcomes across multiple packages or projects, ensuring geotechnical assumptions, analyses, interfaces and recommendations are consistent, defensible and aligned with project requirements.
• Develop, refine and deploy tools, templates and novel methodologies for complex issues and share lessons learned to uplift capability across the discipline.
• Provide geotechnical leadership across interdisciplinary interfaces (civil, structural, hydraulics, utilities, construction staging and temporary works), ensuring design inputs/outputs are complete, coordinated and fit for purpose.
• Mentor and develop engineers across the discipline through structured technical coaching, independent review feedback, and capability initiatives (e.g., training sessions and lunch-and-learns).
• Demonstrate industry leadership through participation in professional bodies, conference attendance/presentations and maintain currency with evolving standards and guidance.
• Support work winning and market shaping by advising which projects to pursue and which capabilities to develop; contribute to solution development, identification of value adds/novel approaches, and review of methodology, scope and pricing for soundness.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering (or equivalent) with post-graduate qualifications in geotechnical engineering or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Extensive relevant professional experience delivering geotechnical scopes in consulting and/or major project delivery environments.
• Chartered status (Engineers Australia CPEng and/or NER).
• Demonstrated expert-level capability in geotechnical interpretation and design (investigations through to construction support), including foundations, retaining systems/excavations, earthworks, slope stability, groundwater/seepage, settlement/ground movements, soil–structure interaction and ground improvement, including atypical conditions where standard solutions are not feasible.
• Strong capability reviewing and assuring analyses produced using common geotechnical tools (e.g., GeoStudio suite, PLAXIS 2D/3D, WALLAP, LPILE or equivalent) and setting fit-for-purpose modelling approaches and acceptance criteria.
• Proven experience owning technical outcomes across multiple projects/packages, including leading technical challenge, independent review/approval workflows and design governance in a regulated environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical justifications and risk appraisals to clients and stakeholders, and to influence design direction across multidisciplinary teams.
• Commercial awareness and work-winning mindset, including developing/reviewing scopes, methodologies and hours estimates, and identifying value adds/novel solutions.

Who are we?

KBR’s Infrastructure Services Australia business offers a wide range of professional services to private and public sector clients delivering projects in both urban and remote environments across transport, water, environment, buildings and defence. 

We are committed to social and environmental sustainability and delivering projects with a digital mindset that drives innovation within our business, for our customers and stakeholders.   Our continued growth allows us to offer unrivalled opportunities to our staff in terms of career paths, career development and project exposure. 

Find out more about us via these links:

IS Australia overview brochure: 

https://kbr.foleon.com/is-australia/who-we-are/

At KBR, we value you – here’s how. 

While our people are busy delivering leading science, technology, and engineering solutions, we’re committed to providing them with a supportive, trusting environment and benefits that enable them to thrive and continue doing what they do best. 

Benefits include:

• Industry leading salaries reviewed annually.  
• 20 Days of annual leave Leave per year + an additional day off every 4 weeks (33 days in total)  
• Flexible work arrangements (start/finish times, WFH, Flex time) 
• Salary packaging and novated leases  
• Paid professional membership fees
• Life/Health insurance discounts 
• Employee stock purchase plans  
• Paid parental leave
• Personal career development plans  
• Growth and promotion opportunities 

Help shape tomorrow by applying today! 

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to leave your impact on our society with one of Australia’s leading infrastructure businesses. Apply now and follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date with all the latest news and job opportunities.

KBR values an inclusive and diverse work environment, and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply. Our hiring decisions are based on the key requirements of each role and candidates are selected based on their unique strengths and experiences.

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