Engineering Manager
An Engineering Manager oversees the technical work, budget, and human resources of an engineering team or department within manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, or professional services organisations.
What this job is
An Engineering Manager oversees the technical work, budget, and human resources of an engineering team or department within manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, or professional services organisations. They are responsible for translating business objectives into engineering deliverables, managing project timelines and budgets, and ensuring compliance with relevant Australian standards and safety regulations. They combine technical expertise with people management and strategic planning to deliver engineering outcomes that meet client or internal stakeholder requirements.
Are employers advertising this role?
Rising, up 37.3% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Develop annual engineering department budgets and monitor expenditure against forecast, including capital equipment, contractor costs, and personnel. Plan and allocate engineering projects to team members based on technical capability, project scope, and resource availability. Conduct monthly or quarterly performance reviews of direct reports, assess technical competency, and identify professional development needs aligned to Engineers Australia standards. Review engineering designs, calculations, and technical documentation to ensure compliance with Australian Standards (AS/NZS), Building Code of Australia, and relevant industry codes. Establish and enforce workplace health and safety protocols specific to engineering activities, including risk assessments for laboratory, design, or site-based work. Prepare tender responses, proposals, and cost estimates that align capital and labour resources with client brief requirements. Conduct weekly or fortnightly team meetings to review project progress, resolve technical bottlenecks, and communicate strategic priorities from senior leadership. Manage relationships with external stakeholders including clients, regulators, supply chain partners, and certifying bodies such as NATA or third-party inspectors.
Who does this now
About 22,600 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Bachelor degree or higher (ABS skill level 1)
Registration or licensing may be required.
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Skill Level 1). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You need solid technical credibility from hands-on engineering work first: jumping straight into management without 5 to 10 years as a practising engineer will make your team question your decisions. You'll also spend half your time in meetings and paperwork instead of actual engineering, which frustrates people who love the technical side.
Where the jobs are
Some exist in regional areas tied to specific industries like mining or infrastructure projects, but remote work is uncommon because you need to be present for team management and site oversight.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 1332, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Conflict Resolutioncore
- Goal Setting and Planningcore
- Negotiationcore
- Problem Solvingcore
- Process Improvement Identificationcore
- Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
- Report Writingcore
- Reporting and Analyticscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Stakeholder Communicationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Workload Self-Managementcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Escalation Management
- Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
- Power BI Reporting and Dashboards
- Process Documentation
- Quality Assurance Monitoring
- Research and Analysis
- SLA and KPI Adherence
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Engineering Manager workers move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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