Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, January 2026 — Sarah O’Neill has started a new position as Chief People and Culture Officer at CIMIC Group, strengthening the organisation’s executive leadership as it continues to deliver complex infrastructure, construction, and resources projects across global markets. In this strategic role, she will focus on building a high-performance culture and engaging teams across a large, geographically diverse workforce.
Prior to this appointment, Sarah O’Neill served as Executive General Manager, People and Culture at CPB Contractors, where she led the delivery of the people and culture strategy to support business performance and employee engagement. Her role focused on aligning workforce capability with long-term business objectives, with a strong emphasis on people, clients, and sustainable delivery.
Before joining CPB Contractors, she was People and Culture Director for Spark North East Link Tunnels D&C, the design and construction contractor for Victoria’s largest road infrastructure project. In this role, she was responsible for human resources, industrial relations, training and development, social impact, and industry capability across a large joint-venture workforce delivering complex tunnel and interchange works.
Earlier in her career, Sarah O’Neill held multiple senior HR leadership roles within CPB Contractors, including Human Resources Manager positions across New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. Her experience spans major infrastructure projects such as the Sydney Metro Northwest and the Regional Rail Link, where she supported project delivery from contract award through to completion and demobilisation.
Her professional journey also includes earlier HR roles at Target, TP Human Capital, and alliance projects, building deep expertise across workforce planning, industrial relations, large-scale project environments, and people capability development within complex, safety-critical organisations.
About CIMIC Group
CIMIC Group is an engineering-led construction, mining, services, and infrastructure development leader delivering solutions across the lifecycle of assets, infrastructure, and resources projects. The group comprises businesses including CPB Contractors, Leighton Asia, Broad, Thiess, Sedgman, UGL, Pacific Partnerships, and its in-house engineering consultancy.
With a history dating back to 1899, CIMIC operates across around 20 countries and is guided by principles of Integrity, Accountability, Innovation, and Delivery, underpinned by a continual focus on safety and sustainable outcomes.
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