A career shaped by challenges and choice 

Maria Montealegre feels immensely proud of her work with Saab Australia. Part of a team delivering a combat system upgrade to Hobart-class destroyers, she is happy to be contributing to a safer Australia. And there’s also deep personal pride in successfully managing a role that many other people could not.  

“Naval combat systems involves integrating a wide range of systems, including interfaces and subsystems,” she says. “You’re bringing together an incredibly complex system, along with the added complexity of numerous stakeholders. Being able to manage all of that is something you can really take pride in.”  

Upgrading the Hobart-class vessels 

The hard work of Maria and other members of the Combat System Integration Integrated Project Team (CSI-IPT) is aimed at ensuring the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) Hobart-class vessels have the situational awareness needed to manage modern threats. An ongoing upgrade of the three destroyers involves enhancing and integrating sensors, communications and software systems so that the ships can detect, interpret and respond to threats more effectively. Work is being carried out through a partnership involving Saab, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems across Adelaide and Melbourne. 

Maria explains her role in this important work focuses on the support systems that enable the combat system to function effectively over its lifecycle. Her daily tasks include collaborating with design teams and stakeholders to develop analysis on the shore-based facilities used for testing, integration and training. Her role requires constant coordination, as well as the ability to interpret complex technical information and align different perspectives across the project. 

“We work with a complex stakeholder network and highly integrated systems, which means bringing together different concepts and perspectives can be quite challenging,” she says. 

“Aligning everyone’s understanding is a critical part of making the project work.”

Stepping down to step up 

Maria is based in Melbourne and works from Saab’s city office and her home office. The rest of the CSI-IPT is split across Adelaide, Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne, working from company sites rather than a centralised location.  

Maria’s training as an engineer and her experience in both Australia and overseas has put her in a strong position to do the work. She earned a degree in systems engineering in Colombia and began her career working for multinational companies before moving to Australia to pursue postgraduate studies. Despite her experience, Maria wasn’t confident she would be able to make the move into Saab’s highly specialised combat systems environment. With Saab supporting employees through in‑house combat systems training, she was able to bridge that gap and transition into the role with confidence. 

“I wasn’t an expert in combat systems,” she says, “but once I got the opportunity, I realised the fundamentals were the same and I could build that knowledge.”  

The benefits of flexibility 

Alongside the challenge of working on an exciting engineering project, Maria values the flexibility Saab offers in its working arrangements. This flexibility enables her to balance demanding technical work with family commitments and responsibilities outside of work, supporting both productivity and wellbeing. 

“Flexibility was key for me,” she says. “I can organise my work around my family when I need to, but still stay connected to the team and the project.” 

That flexibility has also allowed Maria to build confidence in an industry that has traditionally been male dominated. Over the course of her career, she has seen clear progress in the way defence organisations support and promote female engineers. Saab has played an active role in that shift, including supporting Maria to step outside her comfort zone and represent the company at industry events. 

“I was invited to speak at an Australian Defence Magazine event and I was really nervous,” she says. “I was on a panel with very senior Navy leaders, but it was rewarding when some attendees told me that they were inspired by my story.”  

For Maria, experiences like that reflect how far the industry has come in creating more inclusive workplaces. She has seen significant progress in the acceptance and support of women from diverse cultural backgrounds, including greater patience and understanding for people who speak with an accent.

“It’s totally different to what I saw 10 years ago,” she says. “There are more opportunities now, and more support for women to step forward.”