Safety Assurance Manager

About this role

The Role The acquisition of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines is an historic and transformative endeavour for Australia. The whole-of-nation effort to safely and securely deliver the cutting edge nuclear-powered submarine program will transform Australia’s economic and national security landscape for decades to come. The SSN-AUKUS Acquisition Branch of the Australian Submarine Agency (ASA) seeks an EL 1 Safety Assurance Manager to join our Adelaide team responsible for delivering Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines. This role is accountable for oversight and assurance of the shipbuilder’s Work Health, Safety and Environment (WHSE) management and nuclear safety programs, also providing oversight of the SSN-AUKUS Acquisition internal WHS program. The Safety Assurance Manager leads safety assurance within SSN-AUKUS Acquisition Branch providing specialist advice on shipyard WHS and nuclear safety issues and assurance within a complex industrial environment. They lead and manage a team and apply their knowledge and understanding of relevant legislation, regulations, codes of practice and assurance requirements to support ASA SSN AUKUS Phase 3 activities. About our Team We sit within the SSN-AUKUS Acquisition Branch in the Build, Test and Evaluation Directorate, supporting the SSN AUKUS program through strong systems, reporting, and governance. Our role is to act as an informed client, providing oversight, insight, and assurance to support effective decision-making and protect public investment. We focus on keeping delivery, reporting, and decision-making aligned between ASA and the shipbuilder. This includes making sure work is understood, progress is clear, and senior leaders have the information they need to make decisions. We maintain strong day-to-day links across organisations so issues are identified early and managed effectively. We are building a team that aims to be a high performing enabling and assurance function, known for strong professional standards, collaboration, and a positive working environment. As the program evolves, we are operating in a period of change and some ambiguity as we continue to build capability and capacity. This creates a strong opportunity to shape how we work and to influence how systems, reporting, and governance support effective performance. Our Ideal Candidate We are a dynamic organization seeking employees who are agile, innovative and energised by high-paced work. We are seeking highly motivated and collaborative minded people who will have the opportunity to contribute to a once in a lifetime program. Our ideal candidates will bring the following attributes and skills to the role: • Ability to plan, manage and deliver critical and complex safety assurance activities and provide advice in all relevant safety disciplines under broad direction; • Ability to translate high-level goals and outcomes, identify issues and uncertainties and incorporate these into planning, decision-making, priority setting and implementation; • The ability to assure Work, Health and Safety management in large industrial sites or nuclear safety management systems; • Ability to lead and develop a high-performing team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement to deliver effective safety assurance outcomes; • The ability to establish and maintain collaborative working arrangements across the ASA, the Shipbuilder and with AUKUS international partners. Within the ASA, SSN-AUKUS Acquisition Branch is accountable for managing and delivering the SSN-AUKUS build program, defining infrastructure requirements, analysing and modelling existing Australian industry and workforce capability and capacity and undertaking cost estimation for acquiring and sustaining the future Nuclear-Powered Submarine fleet; in consultation with our AUKUS partners. SSN-AUKUS Acquisition consists of the following directorates: Program Delivery, Program Business, Build Test and Evaluation, Build Commercial, Information and Knowledge Management and Engineering. As part of the Build, Test and Evaluation Directorate, the Safety Assurance Team provides oversight and assurance of the shipbuilder’s WHSE and nuclear safety programs, providing expert advice on nuclear safety cases, assurance of nuclear safety plans and assurance against the shipbuilder’s environment management plan for the nuclear-powered submarine construction yard.