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Seven engineers from Australia’s automotive industry have joined the firm to support its defence projects.
Nova Systems has onboarded seven local engineers, who have transitioned from the automotive sector to the defence industry.
Lee Kormany, Nova Systems’ general manager, maritime, land and future systems, said the new recruits have experience working on vehicles with complex systems.
“With opportunities in the automotive sector in Australia dwindling, some of these highly technically skilled engineers found themselves out of work during the height of COVID-19,” Kormany said.
“It was important to us to ensure that their skills and experience were retained for Defence’s industrial capability.
“Nova Systems developed a course to ease the transition of these highly skilled and experienced individuals into the Defence environment, and clients have been impressed with their skills and ability to pick up the Defence process.”
Among the new additions is mechanical engineer Andrew Wade, who holds 26 years’ experience in the automotive industry, working on both national and international vehicle programs and platforms.
“Everybody said it’s so different, but the transition to defence has been relatively smooth,” Wade said.
“It’s different in some ways and similar in others. Ultimately though a project is a project, with timelines and deliverables.
“In my role in automotive, when we were looking to design a new part or system, I would look at the old part and consider what works well, what doesn’t and what the end user wants. A lot of what I’m doing is fundamentally the same.”
Wade is now based in Melbourne, working with a team tasked with upgrading protected military vehicles.
Lea Walton, also among the new recruits, previously worked in engine testing and calibration before her employer closed operations in Australia.
Walton, who has a background in the Navy, has now been tasked with supporting Nova Systems’ explosive ordinance team.
[Related: Nova Systems welcomes new wave of graduates]
