Principal Engineer - Autonomy

About Us

Fortescue is both a proud West Australian company and a global green solutions business. We are recognised for our culture, innovation and industry-leading development of infrastructure, mining assets and green energy initiatives.

Our Opportunity

Location: Perth office, Fortescue's Perth office is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk people. Ad hoc site travel as required. 
Relocation and visa support available for the successful candidate. Must relocate to Perth, Australia

Roster: Monday to Friday


Reports to: Engineering & Development Manager

Summary
Fortescue is developing a proprietary autonomous haulage solution that brings together fleet management, onboard autonomy, vehicle systems and equipment from multiple OEMs.

As Principal Engineer – Autonomy, you’ll lead a team of engineers and be accountable for integrating these capabilities into a working solution. You’ll stay close to the engineering, guiding interface decisions, resolving issues across software and hardware, and leading the transition from development into formal verification and deployment.

This role combines technical depth with direct people leadership. You’ll set direction for your team, develop engineering capability and influence decisions across internal teams, OEMs and technology partners. Working with the Engineering Manager, you’ll help shape how the autonomy solution and its engineering capability develop.

You may have built your experience in mining, heavy vehicles, automotive, autonomous systems, defence, aerospace, rail, robotics or another complex product environment. You don’t need to know every technology in our solution. You do need experience integrating software and hardware in a physical product and the judgement to lead engineers through complex technical challenges.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of technical engineers, setting priorities and supporting their performance and growth.
• Take accountability for integration of the autonomous haulage solution across software, onboard systems, vehicle hardware and external technologies.
• Provide hands-on technical direction, challenge engineering decisions and help resolve system-level integration issues.
• Lead integration readiness, including interface risks, system bring-up and test campaigns.
• Work across development and formal verification and validation to ensure capabilities are ready for testing and deployment.
• Bring internal engineering teams, OEMs and technology partners together to agree and deliver integrated solutions.
• Ensure engineering decisions support the solution’s architecture, safety, reliability and operational needs.
• Use appropriate approaches such as simulation, SIL, HIL, prototype testing or field testing to reduce integration risk.
• Work with the Engineering Manager and other leaders to set technical priorities and build the autonomy engineering function.

Qualifications and Experience

• A degree in engineering, computer science or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Significant experience delivering or integrating complex physical products or systems.
• Demonstrated leadership of engineers, with examples of building capability and delivering outcomes through a team.
• Strong technical experience in at least one relevant area, such as autonomy, embedded or onboard systems, vehicle electronics, controls, robotics or systems integration.
• Experience working across software and hardware interfaces in vehicles, machines, robotics, aircraft, rail or comparable systems.
• Evidence of owning or leading integration readiness, system bring-up, interface risk or integration test activity.
• The technical judgement to work hands-on with engineers and influence decisions across disciplines.
• Experience working with OEMs, suppliers or technology partners.
• An understanding of engineering safety and assurance. Experience with SIL, HIL, simulation, verification or field testing is valuable; expertise in every method is not expected.

Our Commitment

Fortescue is deeply committed to providing a safe culture that builds respect, fosters inclusiveness, and values diversity. We celebrate individual strengths and team members from all backgrounds are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work. Our global workforce drives and promotes an inclusive culture, both within our organisation and throughout the communities we interact with across the world. Diverse backgrounds include First Nations Peoples, people with differing abilities, LGBTIQ+ community, gender, neurodiverse, cultural diversity, all age groups, and those with an intersectional or multiple diverse characteristics. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

https://fortescue.com/careers 

Internal Candidates / Current Contractors please apply via Success Factors Careers Portal. For further information on how to apply please visit the Fortescue Hub. 

Fortescue reserves the right to close applications early should a suitable pool of candidates be identified. Fortescue will never contact you to ask for payment of any kind, whether directly or through a third party.