The US market opportunity Australian engineering firms need right now

Australia’s infrastructure pipeline is filled with important megaprojects. Worth $242 billion, the pipeline spans critical climate projects, energy transition upgrades, and major developments like those required for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. However, this national ambition is being hindered by a deepening skills gap.

The numbers are stark. Australia is projected to be short of approximately 200,000 engineers by 2040. This dramatic shortfall is already impacting project delivery. Infrastructure Australia sounded the alarm in November, highlighting the industry is currently short of 141,000 workers needed to deliver the five-year Major Public Infrastructure Pipeline.

The required scale of investment and construction simply cannot be met by the domestic workforce alone. This is where the US market presents a solution.

The US graduate surplus

In the US, 141,000 students graduate with a bachelor’s degree in engineering every year. With only about 5500 of the 765,000 engineering roles advertised in the US targeting new graduates (as of 21 January 2026), the country is struggling to absorb its influx of young talent. By actively targeting and recruiting this pool of skilled, yet underemployed, talent, Australian firms can secure the staffing levels needed to keep major projects — including essential energy, transport and housing work — on track and on budget.

Although a few recent visa changes have tightened pathways for fresh graduates, firms with established global mobility programs can still leverage targeted recruitment to bring US talent across borders. A coordinated approach to hiring, utilising employer sponsored pathways, could drive these US graduates to join Australian firms. This partnership wouldn’t just fill a gap; it would inject fresh ideas and perspectives into Australia’s engineering culture, ensuring the nation’s most critical infrastructure projects are completed at the highest possible quality.

A proposal for Australian firms

To capitalise on this recruitment opportunity, firms need to extend their standard hiring practices and incorporate a US talent acquisition strategy. Here are two tactics firms can rely on:

• Targeted university recruitment: Firms should look to recruit directly from US universities. By establishing a presence or partnerships with colleges known for their engineering departments, Australian firms can create a structured system that adds promising graduates to their talent pipeline.
• Digital headhunting: We live in a digital world, so targeting online US job boards and utilising LinkedIn targeting is essential. When contacting graduates online, there is a massive opportunity to lean on the warm-weather Australian lifestyle and the opportunity to work on critical mega projects to attract US engineers who are struggling to find relevant experience at home. Rather than framing the move as a job opportunity, it should be positioned as a chance to build unique life and work experience.

Building for the future

We need to ensure that ambitious infrastructure plans are delivered on time and on budget using the right skills. This means the time for Australian engineering firms to act as global operators is now.

This partnership wouldn’t just fill a gap; it would inject fresh ideas and perspectives into Australia’s engineering culture, ensuring the nation’s most critical infrastructure projects are completed at the highest possible quality. This isn’t just a future ambition: looking at our own Projectworks data, we see our customers growing their global footprint every day, proving the industry is ready to rise to this challenge and take the steps necessary to turn megaproject plans into reality.

*Mark Orttung is CEO of project management platform Projectworks and was formerly CEO of US consultancy Nexient and COO of Bill.com. He is based in the US and works directly with Australian engineering firms like MBB, Oculus and BDO.

Image credit: iStock.com/serts