From the Furnace Line to Fighter Jets at Amentum Australia
Armed with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Honours from the University of Wollongong and experience leading a $50 million project on the blast furnace line at the Steelworks, engineer Sarah Drage joined Amentum to develop her skills in defence industry.
And it’s safe to say she succeeded!
Sarah recently took out the prestigious Australian Defence Magazine 30 Under 30 awards for her outstanding performance as a test and evaluation (T&E) engineer on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program.
Sarah began supporting the JSF Program in 2022 as a graduate engineer before being promoted to T&E Lead where she led the development of the annual operational T&E plan, aligning project objectives with broader priorities to enhance capability. She’s now a systems and T&E engineer supporting another Amentum client in the Joint Systems domain.
“When I first joined Amentum, I received amazing support from my operations manager which enabled me to learn and become autonomous – this confidence helped me become the engineer I am today and speaks to the calibre of Amentum team members,” Sarah says.
Despite her success as an engineer, Sarah originally wanted to be a nurse.
“I wanted to help people; however, my dad – a Navy engineer – introduced me to the world of engineering to help the nation. From the first year of high school, I knew I wanted to be an engineer.
“My advice to young people considering engineering or STEM careers is that it provides so many opportunities and is a cover-all option. Don’t let the maths scare you off – depending on your career choice it isn’t used as often as you would think!”
