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You may be posted to any Air Force Base within Australia or possibly overseas, although overseas posting are limited.

You will be paid while you study. On completion of your degree, Initial Military Training and Initial Employment Training, you'll earn at least:

Training

Your salary while completing your studies

Trained

Your salary once trained

In the Air Force you'll get paid a good salary from day one regardless of your age, experience or qualifications; and your pay increases as you progress through training. In addition to your salary you'll receive a variety of allowances, extra pay for relevant qualifications – plus 16.4% superannuation, a far higher rate than you're likely to find in the civilian world.

Officer Entry: Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA)

Officer Entry: ADFA

Further specialist courses provide Engineers with specific knowledge on the functions of their specialisation and are normally completed within the first 12 months of service.
<div class="p" >Civilian Recognition</div>
ADF Senior Engineers will become Members of Engineers Australia, and depending on their qualifications and experience, they will be concurrently chartered in the Leadership and Management College of EA as a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEngA). They will also be offered an additional technical Area of Practice depending on their employment history, qualifications and training. Junior Engineers are able to self-fund their accreditation at a discounted application rate and a discounted annual membership rate.

You will be paid while you train, and on completion of your Initial Military Training and Employment Training, you’ll earn at least:

Officer Entry: Graduate

Further specialist courses provide Engineers with specific knowledge on the functions of their specialisation and the tasks for which they are responsible. This training will be provided as required.
<div class="p" >Civilian Recognition</div>
ADF Senior Engineers will become Members of Engineers Australia, and depending on their qualifications and experience, they will be concurrently chartered in the Leadership and Management College of EA as a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEngA). They will also be offered an additional technical Area of Practice depending on their employment history, qualifications and training. Junior Engineers are able to self-fund their accreditation at a discounted application rate and a discounted annual membership rate.

Officer Entry: Undergraduate

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Air Force Aeronautical Engineers lead an engineering team to help create and deliver Australian Defence Force (ADF) capability by applying engineering principles to acquire, sustain, maintain, and manage technology. They work on state aircraft, infrastructure, weapons, ancillary technical equipment and related aviation ground combat support systems like RADAR, SONAR, IT and networks; and operate within a defined engineering management framework comprising relevant ADF regulations and procedural guidance. 
As an Aerospace Engineer in the Air Force you would be able to be employed in roles where you are responsible for regulation, design, project management, logistics support and technical maintenance, to ensure technology is safely, efficiently and effectively employed to generate the required ADF capability. Additionally, as an Officer you are also responsible for the leadership, management, and welfare of technical and logistics personnel within the engineering environment.
You will be posted and rotated around new roles approximately every 3 years to gain the depth and breadth of experience required to develop you as a competent engineering leader with increasing levels of responsibility along the way.
There are three Aerospace Engineer specialisations that all have similar roles. These are: 
<ul>
 <li>Aeronautical (AERO) - responsible for aircraft structures, propulsion and associated mechanical systems and ground support equipment</li>
 <li>Armament (ARMO) - responsible for weapons, weapons systems and associated test equipment and bomb disposal; and</li>
 <li>Electronic/Electrical (ELECTR) - responsible for airborne power generation and distribution, electronic/electrical control systems, instrument and navigation systems, automatic test equipment, communications, and RADAR and SONAR equipment, heavy ground radar, ground telecommunication equipment and computer networks. ELECTR Officers can further specialise into aircraft related systems or Ground telecommunications related systems.</li>
</ul>
<div class="p" >Roles of an Aerospace Engineering Officer</div>
After you complete Initial Officer Training you will undertake a Professional Development and Training (PD&amp;T) year during which time you will rotate around different roles on a base every few months and undergo your Initial Employment Training. After completing your PD&amp;T year, your first or second posting will likely be Maintenance Engineering or Engineering Management.
The roles of Aerospace Engineers (AERO, ARMO and ELECTR) include:
<ul>
 <li>Maintenance Engineering.&nbsp;Your initial employment in the Air Force would usually be as the officer in charge of a team of technical personnel and facilities associated with day to day maintenance and equipment overhaul at either a maintenance unit, or flying squadron. You will be one of up to half a dozen junior engineers under the guidance of the Senior Engineering Officer, responsible for contributing to the availability of airworthy aircraft or associated equipment by ensuring safe work&nbsp;practices and that other regulatory requirements are met. A flying squadron usually presents opportunities for travel and participation in operations and exercises in Australia and overseas.</li>
 <li>Engineering Management.&nbsp;A posting to an Engineering Management role usually involves working in a Systems Program Office (SPO) within the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG). SPOs provide engineering and logistics support to wings, squadrons and units. During the service life of an aircraft or item of technical equipment, Air Force Aerospace Engineers may lead a team to: monitor failure; evaluate proposed modifications and repair schemes; supervise and evaluate equipment trials; manage repair contracts; liaise with regulatory authorities; prepare financial estimates; and provide technical and logistics solutions to operational availability issues. To assist in those tasks you will have access to external organisations where you will liaise closely with your civilian counterparts. An engineering management role presents a great opportunity to build systems knowledge and work towards gaining Chartered Professional Engineering status with Engineers Australia.</li>
 <li>Project management.&nbsp;As you progress through your career you can be posted into project management roles. These are typically within the CASG and involve either the engineering and maintenance aspects of large acquisition projects (e.g. the purchase of new aircraft and associated weapon systems), or as the manager of a specific engineering or maintenance project (e.g. the F/A 18 Hornet Upgrade Project) within a SPO. Project management roles often present opportunities for travel and the development of your business acumen.</li>
 <li>Design Engineering.&nbsp;The Air Force needs professional engineers to sign off on the integrity of a system or piece of equipment to ensure continued airworthiness and safety. You may be posted to a position within a SPO, a regulatory authority, or a niche role (e.g. aerial delivery, operational test and evaluation etc) where you will develop your engineering authority so that you can make technical decisions on engineering changes such as software upgrades, modifications to equipment, system safety, and the approval of structural repairs to name a few. Later in your career, design engineering roles give you the opportunity for overseas Masters Programs sponsored by the technical airworthiness regulatory authority.</li>
 <li>Any officer roles (ANYO).&nbsp;Officers in the Air Force may also undertake a posting to an ANY role at some stage during their careers. Examples include instructor/training roles and staff officer roles. This helps to broaden the skill set of an Engineering Officer in preparation for more senior roles.</li>
</ul>
With the constant introduction of new aircraft (Joint Strike Fighter for example) and equipment to Air Force, life as an Aerospace Engineering Officer is constantly challenging and changing. The Air Force provides many internal courses as well as offering the chance of post-graduate training, workshops and seminars at external institutions to help you meet these new challenges throughout your career.

Maintain and manage aircraft structures, propulsion systems, ancillary equipment and related ground support systems, working at the leading edge of aircraft technology.

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Aeronautical Engineer

Find out what it’s like

Benefits you won't see anywhere else

You’ll enjoy the following:

Great salary from day one, which increases with experience

Generous superannuation of 16.4% – a huge 4.9% over the Australian standard

Help to buy a home, a subsidised home loan or rent allowance

Free medical and dental for you, and subsidised healthcare for you and your family

Fully paid training

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