Engineering In The Hunter Engineering in the Hunter
The people building, powering and reshaping the Hunter.
The Hunter is being rebuilt. A grid expanding beyond coal, foundries retooling for the energy transition, and extended defence manufacturing. Engineering in the Hunter is a monthly conversation that goes inside those projects with the people actually delivering them. Hosted by Melinda Sietsma, with James MacDonald who have been involved in the local recruitment market, building teams for more than a decade.
Every episode: what's being built, what it takes, and who builds it.
New episodes monthly.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Subscribe ▾
Made in the Hunter. Engineering, not spin. The next intake matters.
From the engine room
The first conversation lands soon.
Engineering in the Hunter is just getting started. Join Melinda Sietsma & James MacDonald for the people building, powering and reshaping the Hunter — new episodes on the Day One® Network.
Get notified when it's live →Real projects, real sites, real balance sheets. We talk to the people doing the work, not the people announcing it.
We get specific — the pipe, the power, the process. If a claim doesn't survive an engineer's follow-up question, it doesn't make the episode.
Trades, apprenticeships and pathways run through every conversation. A region that can't train its workforce can't build its future.
Melinda Sietsma
Melinda is a Senior Recruiter for Engineering & Supply Chain at NTP Talent, with 16+ years in the industry. She works at the intersection of technical precision and cultural fit — placing everyone from Lead Electrical Engineers to Procurement specialists — and keeps every episode honest about the people behind the projects.
James MacDonald
James MacDonald is the founder of Building Tech Teams and the managing director of NTP Talent, an Australian tech and engineering recruitment firm. He is also the founder of the AI Jobs Index, Australia’s monthly data source on AI’s impact on tech hiring. He has spent close to a decade placing engineers, CTOs and product leaders, and hosts the Building Tech Teams podcast and newsletter.
New episodes,
from the Hunter.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and never miss a conversation with the people building, powering and reshaping the region.
Engineering in the Hunter is produced by Day One® — trusted partners in the technology space and the team that helped build Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts. Sister shows include First Cheque, Oversubscribed and In The Blink of AI, and episodes are cross-promoted across the network.