Systems Planning and Analysis Australia Pty Ltd (SPA Australia) provides senior decision makers within the Australian Department of Defence with timely and objective assessments affecting their capability employment and investment strategies. Our team of former military professionals and operations research analysts integrate military expertise with advanced analytic methods - including force generation modeling, agent-based tactical simulations, and operational mission analyses - to deliver trusted decision support that directly contributes to national security outcomes.

SPA Australia is seeking a Graduate Software Engineer or Software Developer who can work as part of an integrated team including military operational analysts to develop and utilise software models, simulations and other software tools to explore a diverse range of real-world problems in order to inform decision making.

#MC

The Software Engineer/Developer will need to translate client requirements into software design requirements to ingest, process, translate, utilise and output datasets in support of the various analysis tasks. The role will initially commence with unclassified representative datasets allowing you to prototype coding solutions that can then be applied and finalised at the classified level by other staff. You will commence working with classified material once appropriate Australian security clearances have been obtained. This role will involve the potential to work across the various capability areas that SPA Australia supports, which range from space capabilities to undersea capabilities and include both existing and emerging capabilities, including Remote and Autonomous Systems (RAS) and Artificial Intelligence.

Required Qualifications:

• Diploma or Advanced Diploma covering Software Development; Bachelor’s Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology or similar STEM-related qualification
• Experience in developing software/models/simulations
• Experience in programming languages, preferably Python, Java, and/or VBA
• High-level critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Strong ability to communicate with a range of stakeholders and subject matter experts to inform problem definition and to elicit software requirements
• Positive attitude towards continuous professional development and a demonstrated ability to research and implement software solutions
• Must be eligible to obtain an appropriate Australian security clearance.  More information on eligibility for an Australian security clearance can be found at: https://www.defence.gov.au/security/clearances/about/vetting-assessment#eligibility.
• International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) are applicable to this role and as such, the position will or is likely to require access to material controlled by ITAR and EAR (Controlled Material).  Therefore, any person occupying the position must be able to satisfy ITAR and EAR controls, which may require specific authorisation to access Controlled Materials.  Accordingly, your citizenship, previous citizenships, race or nationality, or substantive contacts where such contacts are affiliated with proscribed countries under ITAR may be a factor in determining your suitability for this role. Further information on this requirement can be found at: https://spa.com/about/compliance-statements/. If you are concerned about whether you will satisfy the requirements of the role insofar as they relate to ITAR and EAR, you should contact Talent@spa.com, who will be able to provide you with relevant information.

Desired Qualifications:

• Prior experience or demonstrable aptitude for modelling and simulation, or
• Prior experience or demonstrable aptitude for object-oriented model development, data science, data analysis, or data engineering, background or demonstrated experience in developing software to support data translation and processing, or
• Prior experience or demonstrable aptitude for systems engineering, systems analysis and design, or
• Prior experience or demonstrable aptitude for machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and/or natural language processing algorithms
• Active Australian Government security clearance