Graduate program
As a part of Saab Australia's Graduate Program, you will have the opportunity to contribute to your own personalised development initiatives, and kick-start your career.
Explore your potential
At Saab Australia, we’re pioneering Australia’s defence capability with ongoing development of advanced defence and security technologies. Saab develops everything from combat, communications and security systems, to mixed reality and cyber security solutions.
What does our program involve?
Saab’s Graduate Program is a two-year program, which offers you the opportunity to undertake either a program aimed at developing technical depth within one area, or a program with structured rotations across two teams in the business. These options are individually tailored to your current skills and developmental needs, business requirements and individual preferences.
Following the successful completion of the program, you will be placed into a permanent position within the business so that you can continue the growth of your exciting new career.
Australian Association of Graduate Employers – Top 75
Saab Australia ranks third in Industry in the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE) for 2024.
These rankings serve as the ultimate guide for new graduates searching for leading workplaces to embark on their careers. Rankings are formulated based on survey responses collected from graduates who have spent up to 12 months working within these organisations.
Saab is committed to cultivating rising talent within our Graduate cohorts, fostering a culture of continuous learning, sparking innovation, and offering a rewarding work environment, filled with growth opportunities for our employees.
Our 2025 Graduate Program will be comprised of the following graduate roles, predominantly located at our Adelaide office, with select roles also available from our Melbourne or Perth offices.
- Cyber Security: consulting and cyber engineering supporting Saab’s business areas, products and external clients, including governance/risk/compliance, technical testing, product assurance and cyber security strategies. This role would suit those studying Information Technology, specialising in Cyber Security and Networking or related technical disciplines.
- Systems Engineering: design of Combat Systems for the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet, including requirements analysis, interface definition and platform & systems integration. This role would suit those studying electrical/electronics, mechanical/mechatronic or related engineering degrees.
- Systems Safety Engineering: systems safety design of Combat Systems for the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet, including hazard analysis, risk assessment and developing safety cases for acceptance. This role would suit those studying electrical/electronics or related engineering degrees.
- Support Systems Engineering: support systems design of Combat Systems for the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet, including analysis tasks, specification development and documenting support system designs involving people, process and products. This role would suit those studying electrical/electronics, mechanical/mechatronic or related engineering degrees.
- Systems Security Engineering: systems security design of Combat Systems for the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet, including risk analysis, vulnerability analysis, software assurance and vulnerability testing. This role would suit those studying software, computer science or electrical/electronic/mechatronic degrees with cyber elements.
- Modelling & Analysis Engineering: undertaking software development of combat system performance models characterising the combat performance of Navy Surface Combatants. This role would suit those studying software engineering, computer science or related engineering/technical degrees.
- Software Engineering: within our surface ship Combat Management System and Submarine Automation System product teams, including requirements, design, coding, bug fixes and testing of software components. This role would suit those studying software engineering, computer science or related engineering/technical degrees.
- Hardware Engineering: focusing on the design of electrical/electronic and mechanical/mechatronic solutions for our surface ship Combat Management System and Autonomous/Submarine Systems within the Defence domain, including requirements, design, build and test of hardware solutions. This role would suit those studying electrical/electronics, mechanical/mechatronic or related engineering degrees.
Graduates are also provided the opportunity to participate in professional development and mentoring activities including; the Re-Engineering Foundation Subs in Schools Program, Australia-wide Careers Fairs and Events, as well as the mentoring of future Saab graduates.
What support will you receive?
In addition to the day-to-day support you will receive from your supervisors and team, you will also be provided with trained and experienced mentors from within the business and access to the Saab Australia Graduate School.
The Saab Australia Graduate School comprises regular lessons that cover the overarching topics such as knowing your personal brand, developing your business acumen and advancing your technical skills. Our graduates are also provided with the opportunity to participate in professional development and mentoring activities including; the Re-Engineering Foundation Subs in Schools Program, Australia-wide Careers Fairs and Events, as well as the mentoring of future Saab graduates.
Who do we look for?
We are searching for talented and inquisitive problem-solvers, who are interested in designing and developing products that will help to keep people and society safe. We seek well-rounded engineering graduates in the following disciplines:
- Software Engineering/Computer Science
- Computer Systems/Networking/IT
- Electrical/Electronics Engineering
- Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineering
- Physics/Mathematics/Science
- Or a related discipline
To work at Saab you must comply with defence industry security requirements (i.e. you will be an Australian citizen and able to meet eligibility requirements).
Applications open in March each year, apply below
Human Resources
Just some of benefits you'll receive as a Saab Australia employee are:
- Flexible work arrangements
- Support for professional and personal development
- Extra 2 weeks Saab leave p.a. (6 weeks total p.a.)
- Generous parental leave
- Recruitment referral bonus
- MySAAB corporate discount program
- 13% Superannuation
- Salary sacrifice
- Free Income protection
- Saab shares matching scheme
- Childcare subsidy
- 1 paid volunteer day p.a
- Active social club
- Peer-run weekly sports club
- Military and Reservist leave
- Veteran Rehabilitation leave
- Employee assistance program
- No formal dress code - just dress for your day
- Subsidised canteen
- Free coffee/tea
How to apply
1. Online Application
The first step will be to submit your online application. Here you should upload a tailored Resume, cover letter and academic transcript so our recruitment team may efficiently assess your suitability for our program. We’re keen to hear about the whole you, from relevant intern and work experience you have, through to part-time work, your hobbies and extracurricular activities and why it is that you’re seeking a place on the Saab graduate program.
2. Shortlisting
During and after the application opening period, our recruitment team will be busily reviewing applicants and determining a shortlist to progress to the next step. If you are shortlisted after the review process, our team will make contact via email to inform you about the next stage of the process, which includes online assessments.
3. Online assessments
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to complete a range of online assessments to further refine the most suitable applicants for the role. These assessments will include a number of role-specific skill-based assessments, personality and culture assessments.
4. Telephone screen and face to face interviews
After the online assessment process, our shortlist will be further refined and those who are progressed will be contacted for a discussion about face to face interviews, which will be conducted in person for those based in Adelaide, whilst those based in other cities will be invited to conduct the interview via WebEx. Our interview panels generally consist of two to three people and are made up of a mix of technical SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) and Talent Acquisition.
5. Pre-employment checks
As we round out to our preferred candidate list, candidate's progressing to the final stages in the recruitment process will be asked to provide proof of Australian Citizenship, evidence of qualifications / academic transcript and two referee contacts for us to conduct reference checks. Suggested referees could include a supervisor you reported into as part of an internship or part-time job or an academic supervisor whom you worked closely with during your studies.
6. Offers
Successful candidates will then be verbally offered a position within the graduate program and will be advised of the relevant terms and conditions by a member of our recruitment team. Once the verbal agreement is reached, a letter of offer will be sent to outline the T&Cs further and seek a formal acceptance back in writing.
7. On-boarding into Saab
After the Letter of offer is signed, we keep in regular contact with our incoming graduate cohort prior to commencement into the organisation. This on-boarding occurs through networking events, instructions for upcoming events and general updates about the Graduate Program.
Hear from our graduates
Meet Jeremy - from graduate to software engineer
After finishing university, Jeremy Lai found it hard to narrow down a career direction. After applying for Saab Australia’s Graduate Program and completing the two year rotation, he landed a spot in Saab’s coveted Swedish exchange program and became the youngest ever Local Network Chair of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
A day in the life
Caitlin Kramer studied Robotic Engineering (Honours) at Flinders University and is now a Graduate Engineer at Saab Australia.