Want to contribute to something that really matters? At Hanwha Defence Australia (HDA), you’ll work on vital projects that directly support Australia's defence future. What’s more, you’ll work alongside a team that’s invested in this mission as much as you are. Hear from three of our people about the pride and meaning they’ve found in their roles with HDA.
Gabe, Systems Engineer (Protection), knows he’s using his skills at HDA to help protect Australia’s service men and women. He loves celebrating the tangible outcomes, like when we delivered our very first shipment of Huntsman Howitzers to the Australian Defence Force.
“For us to come from such a small startup company with just a vehicle blueprint, to deliver complete vehicles to the customer just a few years later was an amazing thing to see. You’re standing in front of this big piece of machinery, and you can say, ‘I’m actually contributing to building it.’”
Gabe values that HDA plays such an important role in Australia’s defence future. He recounts the moment the Australian Government announced that HDA had been awarded the contract to build 129 Redback infantry fighting vehicles.
“I remember them saying, ‘We’re happy to announce it’s HDA,’ and everyone in the room just erupted with cheering and hugging — it was very surreal! One of our managers said, ‘This is one of the biggest land defence contracts ever. We’re going to be a part of history.’ It was really awesome to be part of that.”
Gabe also takes pride in knowing the work he’s doing will have benefits beyond HDA and Australia.
“Because we’re developing technologies that can handle Australian conditions, we’ve been able to feed this back to Hanwha in Korea. They are using a lot of the lessons we’ve learned working on the armour we’re using on the Huntsman (the Australian variant of the K9). The tech is transferable and can be applied to other Hanwha vehicles.”
Having served with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for most of his career, Matthew, Capability Analyst, has firsthand understanding of the profound importance of our work. Matthew is deeply passionate about how our Huntsman and Redback vehicles will protect service personnel and defend our national interest.
“When I joined the ADF back in 2005, I constantly heard that there was this thing called a self-propelled artillery that was coming into service. But that initial project was cancelled,” Matthew says.
So, when he learnt HDA had been contracted to supply the self-propelled artillery in 2023, his interest was piqued.
“One of the biggest things that drew me to Hanwha was the project I'm currently involved in now — to supply the Huntsman (a redeveloped version of the self-propelled gun) to the ADF. I reasoned that while I couldn’t be in the service operating the artillery, I could use the skills I learned within defence to benefit not only the people I know who’re still there, but the future of my corps, which I feel an obligation to support.
“It's a really exciting project to be a part of, to be able to help deliver these vehicles to people who were in my cohort and people I trained with whilst I was in defence. It’s very personal for me.”
Michelle, Senior WHS Advisor, plays a critical role in ensuring everyone at HDA works safely and returns home healthy. She feels a personal responsibility to protect those who help protect Australia.
“We want to facilitate a good culture around mental, personal, and physical wellbeing. While HDA supports hybrid work, we want to ensure our workplace is one where people want to be, because getting to be face-to-face with your team mates encourages stronger relationships, a more personable approach to undertaking tasks and trouble shooting together, as well as the chance to have a breather and a laugh with some mates. It also supports your overall wellbeing, as does our gym and yoga room facilities and access to our onsite physiotherapist,” Michelle says.
HDA’s commitment to excellence is something Michelle feels strongly about, too.
“My team is focused on a safety management system that’s so close to perfect that our role is really just maintaining it,” she says. “I love that we speak about H-ACE being a centre for excellence. I want us to be the leading organisation in our field for safety. We’ve got great support from our executive leadership team to ensure we procure the highest standard of safety equipment, and we can definitely achieve this.”
