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.
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Made in the Hunter. Engineering, not spin. The next intake matters.
From the engine room
Latest Patrick Buchan: Australia's first new steel mill in 30 years
Australia hasn't built a new steel mill in more than 30 years. Patrick Buchan on the $500 million all-electric plant going up on the old BHP site at Mayfield, why Newcastle won the site, and the 200 jobs that come with it.
John Fry: building Australia's first missile factory in the Hunter
Australia is about to build guided missiles for the first time, and Kongsberg is doing it at Williamtown. John Fry explains why the Hunter beat 40 other sites and what the project means for local jobs and skills.
Lex Forsyth: Founder & COO at Janus Electric
Janus Electric founder and COO Lex Forsyth on converting diesel trucks to zero-emission vehicles with swappable batteries — and the hard economics of scaling a hardware startup in Australia.
Bret Barton: HunterNet Senior Business Advisor
HunterNet Senior Business Advisor Bret Barton on Newcastle’s booming defence and aerospace landscape — AUKUS, hypersonics, and what it takes to break into defence contracting.
Neil Hunt: Managing Director Mineral Systems at McLanahan
Neil Hunt, MD of McLanahan Group, on personal resilience, engineering leadership and steering one of the world’s oldest family-owned engineering businesses through modern mining.
Steve Heaton: Founder at Xetla Consulting
Steve Heaton, founder of Xetla Consulting and co-inventor at STAR Scientific, demystifies the messy reality of R&D — from muon-catalysed fusion to knowing when to stop the science and start engineering.
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.
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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.