FIFO Engineering Jobs

Can you get a FIFO engineering job as a graduate, with no site experience?

One October ad wanted a "Graduate or Experienced Civil Engineer" for mine rehabilitation, drainage and concrete works on 2:2, two weeks on and two weeks off, with the degree the only qualification asked for. Monadelphous advertised a graduate program for a February 2027 start, with rotations across disciplines. Mining engineer ads were the exception: two years' experience and mine planning software by name.

Point of hire, and living away from it

The October ads named their point of hire, the city they fly you from, a hub such as Perth or Brisbane, and getting there is your own cost. If you live elsewhere, look for jobs that fly from your nearest hub, or plan the move; the Perth and Brisbane pages have how people from elsewhere make it work.

Overseas engineers

Civil, mechanical, electrical and mining engineers are all on the government's Core Skills Occupation List ↗ (opens in a new tab), which means an employer can apply to sponsor them on the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482). No October ad offered sponsorship, though, and one asked for Australian work rights. The foreigners page has the visa path.

How do you get a FIFO engineering job, step by step?

With an engineering degree, in WA

1. Check your discipline against the four jobs the ads want: project, site, mining and plant engineer (which engineer the ads want).
2. In your final year, apply to the contractors' graduate programs, which recruit months before the start date (as a graduate).
3. Keep your driver's licence current and get a White Card, the two tickets most engineering ads ask for (what the ads ask for). Every course asks for your USI (Unique Student Identifier), a free number you make online.
4. For mining engineering, learn Surpac or another mine planning package before you apply (the software).
5. Base yourself in Perth, or plan to move, since the WA ads fly engineers out of a hub and getting to it is up to you (point of hire).
6. Send applications to the contractors, the recruiters and the mine owners' own job pages in the same week (who hires).
7. Once you're offered the job, the employer books your flights, the site induction and the medical and drug test.
8. On your first swing, expect a 3.30 start, the production numbers before ten, and the rest of a long day out on site (a typical day).

In Queensland

In Queensland, the same steps work from Brisbane, and a coal mine also wants Standard 11, the coal mine induction, and a coal board medical, which the employer pays for.

How do FIFO engineering jobs work, and who hires?

Which engineer the ads want

The October ads sorted into four jobs. The project engineer, the most advertised, runs a package of work for a contractor: a concrete package, a rail division, a wind farm, a solar build, a wharf. The site engineer checks the same work on the ground: drawings, quality, surveys, the tailings dam.

The mining engineer plans the pit or the underground, drill and blast and the schedule, for the mine owner or a mining consultancy. The plant engineer, mechanical or electrical, keeps the processing plant running, for the owner or a maintenance contractor.

FIFO civil engineering jobs and site engineers

Civil was the discipline most of the contractors' ads named, because the work is earthworks, concrete, drainage, dams and roads. A FIFO site engineer ad from a consultancy wanted civil or geotechnical engineers to oversee tailings dam construction, travelling to site from home. A FIFO structural engineer appeared in one ad, for design work in concrete, steel and timber. A wind farm build ran its own civil site engineers on 19:9, nineteen days on and nine off.

FIFO mechanical engineering jobs and FIFO electrical engineering jobs

The mechanical ads were split between project engineers on structural, mechanical and piping packages, called SMP on the ads, and fixed plant engineers at a processing facility, as Fortescue advertised. The electrical ads were project engineers for packages at mine sites, some with contractors such as Linkforce and some on contract through recruiters. Both want the discipline's degree.

FIFO project engineer jobs: who hires

Contractors put up most of the project engineer ads: Civmec, Linkforce and a long tail of civil and mechanical firms with a FIFO 2:1 roster in the title. Recruiters such as Programmed and Aston Advantage place contract project engineers on hourly rates, for six to twelve months on Programmed's October ad. The agencies page has how the contract roles work.

Mine owners advertise the mining, geotechnical and plant engineers direct, as Fortescue, Gold Fields, Ramelius and Catalyst Metals did in October. Ramelius's and Catalyst's were on 8:6, eight days on and six off, and Ramelius and Gold Fields put a bonus in the package.

What fly in fly out engineering ads ask for

Most ads ask for:

• An engineering degree in the discipline, or construction management for some project roles
• Two to seven years on construction or mining projects for the project engineer roles; none for the graduate ones
• A driver's licence and a White Card

After the offer, the employer arranges:

• A medical and a drug and alcohol screen, the site induction, the flights

Nice to have, and what each one gets you:

• Mine planning software such as Surpac: the mining engineer jobs, which ask for it by name
• Mine site experience: the recruiters' contract roles, which want it

FIFO offshore engineering jobs

The offshore ads for engineers in October 2026 were mostly for ships' engineers, not platform roles; the oil and gas jobs sit under their own searches and the offshore page. One consultancy flew engineers from Perth to a tailings project in Indonesia on 3:3, three weeks on and three off. A contractor's engineer filmed a swing on a harbour build in Tuvalu, so FIFO engineering doesn't stop at the coast.

How much do FIFO engineering jobs pay?

Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.

Hourly rates are paid for every hour of the swing, with no paid leave between contracts, so over a year on a 2:1 roster they land in the same range as the salaries, or above it. Mine owners pay a salary with allowances: a site and health allowance and a bonus on one gold miner's ad. The pay calculator does the sum for any rate and roster, and the salary page has the trades for comparison.

FIFO mechanical engineer salary

A FIFO mechanical engineer salary wasn't in the October ads. The mechanical project ads that gave a figure paid by the hour, $90 to $100 on a WA wind project, and the fixed plant ads gave none.

What is FIFO engineering work, day to day?

A typical day for a FIFO site engineer

A civil engineer filmed his day on a WA mine, and it started at half past three. Breakfast in the dry mess was at four, a lift with colleagues at five, the gate for the ID check and a breath test, and prestart at half past five. A client meeting followed at a quarter to seven, with the day's works marked on a map. Then came production tracking from seven to ten, calculations on the previous day's numbers, done slowly because "the entire project depends on you".

After that he went out on site, driving the works, watching the excavators and their operators against the design, and giving instructions over the radio or to the supervisors. The flies, he said, were everywhere, and it was 45 degrees. He finished twelve hours after the prestart with a last drive around to account for every job, which was the start of the next morning's tracking.

What is a FIFO engineering job really like?

The travel is part of the job. At the end of his swing, a project engineer building a harbour in Tuvalu handed over to the next one, then took a twelve-hour crew boat to the capital, Funafuti, and the first of the flights home, to Fiji. If a swing gets dark, Lifeline is 13 11 14.

Where does a FIFO engineering job lead?

The October ads showed the ladder: a lead project engineer running mining projects from study to commissioning, a senior project engineer on a wharf package and a senior geotechnical role on a gold miner's technical services team. Monadelphous's graduate program rotates graduates through different parts of the business.

Is a FIFO engineering job right for you?

Three honest questions

1. Can you carry the numbers? The production tracking, the quality records and the schedule are yours, and everyone on site works to them. If being the one who is wrong keeps you up, the office is easier.
2. Which roster can your life take? 8:6 on an owner's payroll and 2:1 on a contractor's are different lives. Pick the roster first and the employer second.
3. How many years, and what for? Write down the number of years and what the money is for before the first swing, so the job doesn't decide for you.