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 valuable 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

📌 Flood Engineer, modelling focus. Anywhere on the east coast. (Australia)
🏢 SWM Consulting
📍 Australia