Job Description

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation

Role Highlights

• Lead engineering and project delivery for innovative ammonia and charcoal slurry engine technologies
• Drive commercialisation outcomes
• Manage day‑to‑day collaboration to progress high‑impact energy

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The Opportunity

CSIRO’s Energy Research unit (RU) is developing technologies for medium speed ammonia and charcoal slurry compression ignition engines for dispatchable renewable power generation. An engineer and project manager is required to progress these projects focussing on commercialisation of key technologies, IP and commercialisation – including the formation of spinout entities.

In this role, you will successfully manage key day-to-day relationships between both internal (R&D programs, legal, finance, BD, IP), and external stakeholders within this commercialisation portfolio. This position is based at our Newcastle, NSW site.

Your high-level duties will include:

• Develop, design, and deliver client-focused research projects, or components of large-scale research and commercialisation initiatives – particularly for slurry and ammonia fuelled engines for electricity generation.
• Engage with external stakeholders to ensure that our research priorities are aligned with industrial and commercialisation needs.
• Manage the day-to-day actioning of those tasks allocated in the Project Plan.
• Anticipate industry/community needs and market direction through client liaison/networking and identify and adapt quickly to changes.
• Within broad guidelines, use professional expertise, knowledge of other disciplines and research experience/achievement to formulate, develop and complete an approved research program with general direction as to the aims of their activities.
• Communicate research results to clients and the scientific community through oral and written reports, which may include the preparation of documents for patent applications.
• Provide advice to policy makers and inform and transfer knowledge to non-scientific audiences.
• Lead and supervise the low emissions electricity team to ensure that experiments are established in accordance with the research design and are completed within the agree timeframes and budget.
• Undertake feasibility studies, demonstrating a considerable degree of originality, creativity and innovation in solving problems and introducing new directions and approaches.
• Other duties as directed.

Role Particulars

Location and office arrangements Newcastle, NSW

Salary: AU$135K – AU$158K per annum plus 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Indefinite; Full-time

Reference: 102682

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

• A PhD (or an equivalent combination of qualifications and research experience) in a relevant field such as mechanical engineering.
• The ability to work effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary, regionally dispersed research team, and carry out independent individual research, to achieve organisational goals.
• Experience in working on multiple projects simultaneously for internal and external clients
• A passion for solving hard problems with real-world impact.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to publish research results, prepare reports and present the results of scientific investigations at national and international conferences and stakeholder meetings.

Desirable

• Research experience with ammonia and slurry fuelled diesel engines, industrial experience in managing and delivering commercial projects.

For full details about this role, please review the

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description.

Setting You Up for Success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact the Talent Acquisition Partner via email (see details in the Position Description) and let us know how we can support you.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this position, you must be an Australian/New Zealand citizen or Australian Permanent resident.

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Life at CSIRO and Flexible Work Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Child safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy

How to apply

Please apply online, and provide a CV and a detailed cover letter, responding to each of the selection criteria in detail, that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role. Please attach your selection criteria responses to your cover letter as one document.

Applications close

25 March 2026, 11:59pm AEST