Search and Rescue Officer

Salary: $107,665 + 36% shift working allowance + 15.4% super

Location: Canberra, ACT – on location

Employment Type: Ongoing, shift work

Why Join AMSA?

• Work in a fast-paced, high-impact role that directly contributes to saving lives.
• Enjoy 5 weeks of annual leave to support your work-life balance.
• Benefit from flexible work arrangements and a collaborative team environment.
• Access health and wellbeing programs, including flu vaccinations and healthy lifestyle reimbursements.
• Be part of an organisation dedicated to maritime safety, search and rescue, and environmental protection.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As a Search and Rescue Officer within the AMSA Response Centre, you will play a critical role in coordinating emergency responses to maritime and aviation distress incidents across Australia. You will assess, prioritise, and develop operational responses, ensuring effective resource deployment in life-threatening situations.

Your role is pivotal in ensuring the safety of those in distress while working within a dynamic and high-tempo environment. This position involves shift work as part of a dedicated response team.

Key Responsibilities

You will be responsible for:

• Triaging and assessing distress alerts to determine the urgency, location, and response required.
• Coordinating search and rescue (SAR) operations, working with aviation, maritime, and land-based response assets.
• Managing operational priorities in time-sensitive situations while maintaining situational awareness.
• Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders such as the Department of Defence, State/Territory emergency services, CASA, ATSB, BoM, Airservices Australia, and Border Force.
• Documenting key decisions and operational responses to support continuous improvement and post-incident analysis.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

To be successful in this position, you will need:

• Experience (5+ years) in emergency management, incident coordination, or high-pressure operational roles.
• Strong decision-making skills under pressure with the ability to analyse complex situations quickly.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to coordinate response efforts effectively.
• Proficiency in operational or incident management systems, digital tools, and situational awareness technologies.
• A background in maritime, aviation, or emergency management disciplines is highly desirable.

For more information about this role, please refer to the position description.

Note: Information about our terms and conditions of employment are contained in the AMSA Enterprise Agreement 2024 - 2027

ABOUT AMSA

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is responsible for the safety of international shipping and domestic commercial vessels, protection of the environment from ship sourced pollution and search and rescue nationally.

AMSA offers unique and interesting career opportunities, and we employ around 450 people across Australia. To learn more about our organisation please visit our website.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Diversity and inclusion are a priority at AMSA.

Our role means that we impact and influence communities right across Australia, this is why it is essential that we draw on the diversity of our people to successfully deliver our mission of “ensuring safe vessel operations, combatting marine pollution and rescuing people in distress”.

We are proud to have been recognised as an Inclusive Employer 2022-2023 by the Diversity Council of Australia, and continue to focus on embedding inclusive values within our organisation.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At AMSA we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway – you might just be the person we’re looking for!

We encourage applications from people of all diverse backgrounds and are committed to supporting you to reach your full potential.  You can find more information about our diversity and inclusion commitments in our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

HOW TO APPLY

Please complete your application on our website via the Careers at AMSA page by 11.55pm AEDT 24 March 2025. You will need to provide:

• Your resume (max. 3 pages)
• A brief cover letter (max. 800 words) outlining what you bring to this role

For any questions regarding the role, please contact Senior Manager Joseph Zeller at 02 6279 5795 or via email at joseph.zeller@amsa.gov.au.

If you have any questions about the recruitment process please contact Human Resources on recruitment@amsa.gov.au

AMSA does not engage staff under the APS Act. AMSA engages employees under the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990 and our remuneration arrangements are specific to AMSA.