The Role

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) Safety Operations team is looking for one experienced Senior Safety Advisors at each of Fishermans Bend, Victoria and Edinburgh, South Australia. We are seeking Work Health and Safety professionals who are passionate and driven to enable safe Defence Science and Technology research.

If you have a passion for safety, can demonstrate relevant skills and experience in delivering for positive safety outcomes, love working within a team, and have great communication and stakeholder engagement skills, we would love to hear from you.

The Senior Safety Advisor is accountable under broad direction from the Regional Safety Lead to deliver professional and complex safety advice to Science and Technology (S&T) researchers and communicate effectively with stakeholders at varying levels including senior leaders.

Our approach and advice is guided by the legislative framework, policy, and established principles and procedures contained within the DSTG Safety Management System – DSTGsafe and the Defence Safety Manual.

Key tasks include:

• Overseeing implementation of DSTGsafe and providing learning and support for continuous improvement.
• Undertaking both simple and complex safety investigations, including the delivery of comprehensive reports and lessons learnt.
• Communicating proactively with senior leaders and researchers by:
• Drawing attention to areas of risk;
• Providing professional and timely safety advice and assistance; and
• Confidently sharing your knowledge and influencing for positive safety outcomes.
• Leading safety projects to improve DSTGsafe and enable safe research.
• Mentoring less experienced safety advisors as part of their career development and professionalisation.
• Proactively engaging with safety specialists (Hazard Leads) to ensure consistency with hazard specific, technical advice to researchers, as required.

About our Team

The Safety team partners with DSTG researchers to identify novel hazards, link researchers with a broad range of specialist expertise and achieve better safety outcomes overall. The hazard profile for DSTG is in many ways unique and high risk with the safety function divided into two streams comprising Safety Operations, and Safety Strategy and Assurance. The streams work closely and cooperatively together, but with some distinct accountabilities.

Safety Operations is delivered through two regional teams based in each of Fishermans Bend (Port Melbourne), Victoria and Edinburgh (Adelaide), South Australia. These teams work dynamically to deliver high quality and consistent health and safety advice and assistance to researchers at these sites, but also across regional sites in Australia. Reach back to safety specialists for hazardous chemical, radiation, plant, test and evaluation and trials activities is a critical component of the role as is the responsibility for contributing to a continuous improvement approach to safety management.

Vacancies exist for two safety advisors to join the Operations team at each of Port Melbourne, Victoria and Edinburgh, South Australia respectively, and this is a unique opportunity to understand and contribute to a safe work environment for researchers at the cutting edge of innovation to protect the Defence warfighter.

Our Ideal Candidate

Our ideal candidates will be highly motivated, capable, self-sufficient and resilient safety professionals with proven experience in delivering sustainable and effective safety outcomes.

While we are looking for the following skills and attributes, we are able to offer a range of training and development opportunities to the right candidate including opportunities to act in more senior roles, and move into hazard specialisation roles.

To be successful you will have:

• Well-developed organisational skills with the ability to set priorities and meet deadlines,
• Curious and a desire to work with our people and understand our novel and complex work. Building open and trusting relationships with S&T staff to partner and enable safe research.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate with clarity, listen, understand, and adapt your communication style to the audience. Articulate risk in a language people understand from the researcher to the executive, to allow them to fill their safety responsibilities.
• The ability to lead and participate in a range of safety investigations, including the delivery of informative and factual reports, capturing and sharing lessons learnt across the Group.
• Strong stakeholder management and engagement skills including the ability to nurture internal and external relationships.
• Work as a team player with a willingness to share learning and support peers.
• The ability to negotiate confidently, commit to action and get results

Application Closing Date: Thursday 31 July 2025

For further information please review the job information pack, reference DSTG/05295/25 on https://defencecareers.nga.net.au/?jati=CE48CC9A-5076-A46D-59FA-E3F135773417