Flood Engineer, modelling focus. Anywhere on the east coast.

You are the person other engineers send their model to when it will not behave. You would rather be building, running and picking apart a RORB or a TUFLOW model than sitting in a meeting about one.

A note from Alex, SWM's founder:

I started SWM in 2019 after years as a flood modeller and reviewer inside catchment management authorities, then a stint in consulting. I wanted a firm where the modelling was done properly, where reports get approved the first time because they are written for the reviewer, and where good modellers are valued as modellers rather than pushed into management because that is the only way up.

We are three people and we need a fourth, and this one is for the person who loves the craft. Someone who knows RORB and TUFLOW deeply, needs only light oversight, and is happy to model all day. You will also help us scope and quote work and have a say in where the firm goes, because in a team this size everyone does. But the centre of this job is the model, and we want it to stay that way for you, at least until you feel you want to dip your toes into another part of the business.

You do not need to tick every box below. We care more about how you think about a catchment than about exactly how many years you have.

WHO WE ARE

SWM Consulting is a flood and stormwater engineering practice based in Melbourne, working for councils, catchment management authorities, Melbourne Water, land developers and renewable energy developers across Victoria, TAS, SA, NSW and Queensland. Flood studies, flood impact assessments, RORB and TUFLOW modelling, floodplain risk management, stormwater strategies, peer review and planning approvals.

The team is three people: Alex, our founder and a flood engineer; Madie, a flood engineer who leads our hydraulic modelling; and Anne, who runs operations and business support and keeps the two of us honest. Everyone who does the engineering here is a Flood Engineer, including the founder. No hierarchy of titles to climb, just the work.

We take the modelling seriously. Our founder spent years reviewing other people's models on the authority side before consulting, and co-authored the Melbourne Water Flood Impact (Afflux) Practice Note. Over 98 per cent of our flood assessments get through statutory approval, and councils and CMAs ask us to peer review other consultants' work. We have our own Python tooling for RORB automation, TUFLOW setup and results interrogation, a model log system, and written modelling standards, and we are working toward ISO 9001 certification, so the QA around a model here is documented, not folklore. If that sounds like your kind of place, keep reading.

We also run the firm on purpose, with a written operating system (we call it the Open Playing Book) that covers how we win work, deliver it, grow people and keep getting better. You will have a hand in the modelling chapters.

THE ROLE

The title is Flood Engineer, because that is what all of us are. This one is built around the modelling. The level and pay will be set to match the person. Most of your week looks like this:

Model. Build, calibrate, run and interrogate RORB and TUFLOW models for flood studies, flood impact assessments, stormwater management plans and renewable energy approvals (BESS, solar, wind). Rain-on-grid, 1D/2D coupled, direct rainfall, ensemble events, climate change scenarios, the lot. Decide the approach, defend it, and write it up so a reviewer can follow every step. You will own the model from the first DEM clip to the final map.

Check. Review other people's models, ours and other consultants', when a council or CMA asks us to. Spot what is wrong, say so plainly, and suggest the fix. This is where our reviewer background matters most and where you will learn the most about how approvals really work.

Sharpen the tools. Help improve how we model: our Python automation, TUFLOW setup, QA checks, naming conventions, run logs, the modelling standards. If you have a faster or cleaner way, we will use it.

And a smaller slice of the week looks like this:

Quote. Help scope and price modelling work. You know better than anyone what a model will actually take, and we want that knowledge in the quote before we commit to it.

Steer. Join the quarterly planning and have a say in where the firm goes: what work we chase, what we say no to, what we build next. Your vote counts the same as everyone else's.

You will not be running the client relationship or managing the project. Alex and the project lead do that, and they will keep the meetings off your calendar where they can. There is no graduate to hand the grunt work to, yet, so you will do your own model builds. When we do hire one, you will help shape them.

WHO YOU ARE

The non-negotiables. You know RORB and TUFLOW deeply: not just how to run them, but why a model behaves the way it does and what to do when it does not. You have built, calibrated and defended your own models. You know ARR 2019 well enough to argue with it. You have an engineering or environmental science degree, or the equivalent experience. And you can write a methodology section a reviewer can follow.

You need light oversight, not none. We will check your work because we check everyone's, including Alex's. But you should be the kind of modeller who can be handed a brief and a data folder on Monday and have a sensible plan by Tuesday, who knows when a result looks wrong before anyone else does, and who asks for a second opinion early rather than late.

Experience is a guide, not a gate. Most people who fit this role will have somewhere between four and ten years of flood modelling behind them. If you are outside that and think you are the right person, apply anyway and tell us why.

The rest is about you. We are a team of three, so this matters as much as the modelling. We are looking for someone who:

• Would rather solve a hard modelling problem than attend a meeting about it
• Is fussy about getting it right, and can tell the difference between fussy and slow
• Says what they think, including when the answer is not what the client hoped for
• Runs two or three models at once without losing track of any of them
• Is curious about the tools, and happy to script the boring parts
• Enjoys passing on what they know, and will not mind when we hire a graduate to pass it to
• Wants a say in the firm without wanting to run it

Nice to have, not required: CPEng or a path to it, time on the authority side, Python or QGIS beyond the basics, HEC-RAS or other platforms, any exposure to quoting, and Victorian floodplain experience (if you are coming from NSW or Queensland, we will teach you the Victorian way).

If you are a strong modeller who is tired of being told that the next step is managing people, this is your role.

WHAT YOU GET FROM US

A modelling job that stays a modelling job. We are not hiring you to turn you into a project manager in eighteen months. Our capability framework has a technical track as well as a leadership track, and the technical one pays the same at each level. If you want to be the best modeller in Victoria rather than the best manager, that is a career here, not a dead end.

Anywhere on the east coast. Melbourne, regional Victoria, Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast or somewhere in between. We work remotely by default, with the Melbourne office there when you want it and a few trips a year so the whole team is in one room. We will sort the hardware: a modeller needs a proper machine and we know it.

Flexibility that is real. We care about the model being right and the deadline being met. When you run it is your call, within what the project needs. If your best modelling happens at 6am or 9pm, fine.

Senior people to argue with. Alex has reviewed hundreds of models from the authority side. Madie leads our hydraulic modelling and presents at the FMA national conference. Both will challenge your approach and expect you to challenge theirs. Weekly technical sessions where the team works through problems together.

Tools worth using. Our own Python suite for RORB automation, TUFLOW setup and results interrogation, a model log system, QGIS map automation, a knowledge library. Half-built, honestly, and you will help finish it.

A voice in the business. Quarterly planning with the whole team. A say in what we chase and what we build. Real professional development time and budget, and support toward CPEng if you want it.

Salary matches your experience and the level you come in at. We will tell you the range before the first conversation so nobody wastes their time.

ONE MORE THING

We do not chase the money. We choose clients whose work we are glad to put our name to, and we have turned down jobs that did not sit right with our environmental and social values. That will not change as we grow.

We are also putting those values in writing. We are developing a Reconciliation Action Plan, with Traditional Owner engagement already part of how we work, and a climate action plan that will set out how we reduce and offset the firm's own footprint. Both are early. If that matters to you, you will have a hand in both.

HOW TO APPLY

Send a CV and a short note to hr@swmconsulting.com.au. No formal cover letter. Instead, tell us about one model you built that you are proud of and why, one modelling problem that beat you for a while and how you got past it, and the one thing you would change about how most consultancies model. Add a line or two about you outside work if you like. A page is plenty.

Every application gets a reply from a person. If we think there is a fit, the first step is a relaxed conversation with Alex, then a technical session with Madie and the team where we look at a model together, then a final chat about whether we want to work with each other. We aim to run the whole thing inside three weeks.

Applications close 11th December 2026, or earlier if we find the right person. Know a modeller who should read this? Send it their way.