Serco is celebrating International Women’s Day by shining a light on the women working in Defence, who are making a valuable difference. After joining the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the age of 17 as an electronics technician, specialising in combat systems maintenance, Tanya Alempijevic has built an impressive career that now sees her making a notable impact in Defence Industry.
“While in the Navy I gained some really valuable experience as a technician and was able to acquire a range of different licences such as mobile crane, forklift, and dogging that have helped me advance my career,” Alempijevic said.
After eight years in the Navy, Alempijevic continued to develop her expertise through a variety of interesting roles, including time as a crane driver for a steel fabrication company, which at the time was a male dominated workforce. “It was at times quite challenging working in this industry as a female. For example, most of the sites I had worked at only had a single porta-loo for everyone to share, so things have come a long way since then,” she said.
Alempijevic joined Serco in 2008, working on Garden Island as a technician for the Fleet Marine Services Contract (FMSC) before moving into a maintenance planning role for Serco’s Mini Typhoon, Typhoon and Toplite (MTTT) contract. Serco have supported the RAN MTTT capability since 2006, signing a new contract with the Australian Defence Force in 2018 to provide In-Service support to the MTTT systems deployed on 23 ships of the RAN.
“We have four dedicated Serco workshops at strategic ports around Australia with full support nationwide delivered by a team of specialist technicians and engineers, making our capability for testing, compliance and assurance unique in Australia,” Alempijevic said. “Our scope of work includes full support and maintenance for the defence platforms including engineering management, strategic procurement and inventory management, and one of the highlights from my maintenance planning role was project managing the setup of our Sydney-based workshop at Moorebank.”
More recently, Alempijevic has taken another important step forward in her career taking on the role of Lead Planner for the MTTT contract, which now sees her implementing new innovations to support Navy. “I was always looking to move into an asset management role, and I love collaborating with other Navy Project Officers and crews. I also enjoy working with our new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which allows us to deliver much more efficient and effective services to Navy. I have taken the lead on ensuring that our ERP system is completely tailored to suit the needs of our contract and that it appropriately supports our Technicians to deliver their work at the highest standard. We’re now seeing improved workflows across the contract, which ultimately means better outcomes for Navy,” Alempijevic said.
While working full time and raising a family, Alempijevic has still found time to complete a Graduate Certificate in Asset Management and is now working towards her Graduate Diploma. “Throughout my journey at Serco over the past 13 years, I have been supported with career development opportunities as well as through some significant personal events, such as becoming a parent and a battle with cancer. I have worked with some incredibility talented and inspiring people and I am looking forward to making a valuable contribution at Serco into the future,” she said.
Serco Defence Managing Director Clint Thomas said Alempijevic’s story provides a great example of just how talented and capable the company’s people are. “We’re proud of the fact that 62 percent of our Serco Defence workforce are female and we have more and more women participating in STEM roles.” Thomas said. “As an all-round hard worker and a survivor of cancer, Tanya’s can-do attitude and commitment to continuous improvement across our MTTT contract makes her a real inspiration to her colleagues.”
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