Senior Associate - Security and Risk

Senior Associate - Security and Risk | Practice Build-Out
Location: Sydney, Melbourne or other major Australian city for the right person
Employer: Leading consultancy
Level: Senior Associate
Salary: $170,000 to $190,000

Help Build a New Australian Security and Risk Capability
My client is growing its Australian Security and Risk capability and is looking to appoint four senior protective security, physical security and security risk professionals to help shape the next stage of the practice.
This is not a standard delivery-only consulting role. It is an opportunity to join a developing national capability inside a leading engineering and advisory consultancy with established client relationships across defence, infrastructure, energy, water, renewables and other complex built-environment sectors.
Although the formal title is Senior Associate, the scope is senior and commercially focused. The successful hires will be expected to lead client conversations, help win work, deliver high-quality advice and play a visible role in building the capability.
For the right person, this is a chance to combine hands-on security advisory work with client development, practice building and future leadership.

The Opportunity
You will work closely with my client's senior leadership team to help build and deliver a Security and Risk offering in Australia. These four senior hires will play an important role in shaping the market proposition, building trusted client relationships and delivering high-quality protective security advice on major projects.
The role is likely to suit someone who enjoys consulting, can work with ambiguity, and wants to be part of a growth-stage team rather than stepping into a mature, fully defined function.

What You Will Be Doing
• Delivering protective security, physical security, security risk and advisory work for clients across critical infrastructure, defence, government-adjacent and complex engineering environments.
• Supporting security input across major projects in sectors such as power and energy, water, renewables, infrastructure and defence.
• Building relationships with internal stakeholders and helping identify opportunities across existing client accounts.
• Contributing to proposals, client development, work winning and account growth.
• Advising senior technical, operational and executive stakeholders in a clear, commercially credible way.
• Helping shape the Australian Security and Risk capability as the team scales.
• Taking a visible role in future team leadership and practice development.

What We Are Looking For
We are interested in people with a strong background in one or more of the following areas:
• Protective security
• Physical security
• Security risk consulting
• Security advisory
• SCEC, PSPF or security zone environments
• Threat and risk assessment
• Defence, national security or critical infrastructure security
• Security design or security construction advisory
You may currently be working in a consulting firm, engineering consultancy, defence prime, specialist security advisory firm, infrastructure business, government environment or a related commercial setting.

Who This Role Suits
The Senior Associate role is suited to someone with around 10 or more years of relevant experience who can both sell and deliver.
You will need to show:
• Strong protective security or security risk breadth.
• Existing market relationships or credible client networks.
• Confidence contributing to business development, proposals and account growth.
• Credibility to lead senior client conversations and represent a growing national capability.
• Consulting maturity and the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Leadership potential as the Australian practice grows.
• The ability to work commercially without sounding like a pure salesperson.
This level may suit someone who has already led client work, helped win work, managed senior stakeholders, or operated as a trusted adviser in complex security environments.

What Will Make You Stand Out
• Australian Government security clearance, or previous clearance history.
• SCEC status, or experience working with SCEC requirements.
• PSPF, defence, critical infrastructure or government security experience.
• Experience in infrastructure, engineering, water, power, energy or renewables environments.
• A track record of building trusted client relationships.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Australian citizenship and eligibility for defence or government-related work.

Why This Role
• Join early in the build-out of my client's Australian Security and Risk capability.
• Work inside a leading engineering and advisory consultancy.
• Access existing routes to market across major infrastructure, defence, energy, water and engineering clients.
• Combine advisory delivery with client development and future leadership.
• Help shape a practice rather than simply joining an already mature team.

About You
You are likely to be a practical, commercially minded security professional who can move between technical detail and executive-level conversation. You can advise clients, understand risk, write clearly, build trust and spot opportunities to add value.
You do not need to be a traditional salesperson, but you do need to be comfortable building relationships and contributing to growth. You should enjoy working in a setting where the opportunity is real, but the playbook is still being built.
Confidential Enquiries

For a confidential discussion, contact Luke Gough on luke.gough@ssr-personnel.com
Before progressing, candidates should be comfortable discussing Australian citizenship, clearance eligibility, SCEC or PSPF exposure, location preferences, package expectations and appetite for a role that blends delivery with client development.