V8s to army tanks: Nova System’s call for recruits to continue rapid growth

Already growing at an exponential rate, Nova Systems has plans to shine even brighter in the coming years.

Nova Systems chief executive Jim McDowell. Picture: Mike Burton

Like the celestial body with which it shares its name, Nova Systems’ star is shining bright.

As one of the country’s leaders in the defence supply sector, offering engineering services and technology solutions, the company is growing at an exponential rate, employing more than 700 staff across Australia as well as more than 100 in Europe and Asia.

But there is a desire to shine even brighter, with the company – which has experienced growth of 30 per cent year-on-year – setting its sights on an annual revenue of $1 billion within the next five years. With 85 per cent of its business located in the defence sector, and with robust government investment in the sector, the company is embracing all opportunities for growth.

There’s only one thing holding it back: a lack of people.

“To achieve our business plan over the next four years, we’ll need another 500 people,” says Jim McDowell, Nova Systems chief executive. “So we need to recruit people as fast as we can. We’re looking to hopefully grow the company to a few thousand employees over the next few years.”

And it’s not just those with a university degree behind them who are in demand. “We employ mostly engineering graduates and engineers who have been in the military, but we have also retrained and translated people from the automotive industry who have transferable skills to support the land systems division of the Department of Defence in Victoria,” McDowell says. “These people have gone from V8s to army tanks.”

Nova Systems chief executive Jim McDowell. Picture: Mike Burton

In addition to its Defence work, Nova Systems runs two geospatial businesses, Geoplex and two10degrees. “The geospatial sector for us is that nexus between the cloud and geospatial devices,” McDowell says. “When the bad weather hit in New South Wales, for example, it was our geospatial technology that was tracking the rise of the tides and the behaviour of the waters around the coast.

“We also do situational awareness so, with lone workers, you always know where they are, who they’re close to and when they can be found. This is very useful technology in things like bushfire applications where you want to know where all your vehicles and people are. two10degrees provides that situational awareness.”

With its business spanning a range of sectors including defence, transport, resources, water and emergency services, Nova Systems is firmly embedded in Industry 4.0. “We’re seeing a lot of human-centred design, software development, digital toolsets, data analytics, geospatial – these are all the industries of the future,” McDowell says.

While many of its services and customers are situated outside South Australia, Nova Systems remains loyal to its home state.

“Even though we are an Australian-wide business, this is where our HQ is – we’re a South Australian businesses that happens to do business in other states and territories,” McDowell says. “And now we are increasingly exporting that test and evaluation capability: we have nearly 100 people in the UK; we’re doing the certification of search and rescue helicopters in Norway; and we’re doing aircraft modifications in Singapore.

“This is a great Australian story – these are two South Australian ex-Defence employees who have set up what is now the biggest locally owned defence profession services in the country.”