Meet Darci Walsh, Mission Systems Intern

From Career Fair to Cutting-Edge Engineering

Darci Walsh

When Darci Walsh walked into a career fair at Sydney University in early 2024, she wasn’t expecting to walk out with a future. A final-year Mechatronics Engineering student at UNSW, Darci had a clear goal: find an internship that was practical, challenging, and meaningful.

She wasn’t a USYD student herself—but she’d heard from a friend that the career fair was open to others and worth checking out. “If they let me in, I’ll go,” she said. They did. And that one decision led her straight to Mission Systems.

A Hands-On Internship, Grounded in Real-World Innovation

At the Mission Systems booth, Darci met engineers working on autonomous systems across land, sea, and air. She was instantly intrigued. “I hadn’t heard of them before,” she says, “but once I realised they were doing high-tech, real-world innovation—and manufacturing in Australia—I was hooked.”

She put her name down, stayed in touch with the team, and by August, she had landed an internship that would take her far beyond what most students experience in a summer placement.

Darci joined the team just as they were preparing to manufacture 100 precision drone gimbals—mechanical devices that keep a drone’s camera steady in motion. It wasn’t a job for the sidelines. She jumped straight in.

Solving Problems at Scale

“When I started, the gimbal design was still being finalised,” Darci explains. “We were still working out which screws to use, what materials were best, and how to optimise the design for assembly.”

Darci worked closely with the lead mechanical engineer, Lachy, to test assembly methods and reduce damage rates. A flexible PCB inside the gimbal was particularly fragile, and in the first ten prototypes, six had to be discarded due to damage. Darci was determined to fix that.

“I rebuilt the gimbal multiple times using different methods to figure out what worked best. Then I wrote detailed assembly instructions, trained other interns, and helped coordinate the build process.”

Thanks to her improvements, when the full run of 100 gimbals was assembled, only one PCB was damaged.

“That result really surprised me,” she says, “but it also proved what good documentation, communication and preparation can do.”

Darci wasn’t just assembling hardware—she was applying systems thinking, logistics planning, and collaborative leadership.

Thriving as a Woman in a Male-Dominated Field

As a woman in mechatronics, Darci is aware of the gender imbalance in certain engineering fields—but she doesn’t let it hold her back.

“In biomedical engineering, there are a lot of women. But in mechanical, electrical, and mechatronics, not so much,” she says. “When I joined Mission Systems, I did notice I was one of the only women, but the environment here has been incredibly positive. Everyone is aware of the need for broader representation, and the support has been genuine.”

She believes the industry is heading in the right direction. “Compared to even five or ten years ago, there are so many more opportunities now for women in high-tech engineering. And companies like this, who really walk the talk, make a huge difference.”

Looking to the Horizon

With graduation around the corner, Darci is already planning her next move—and it involves staying close to the world she’s discovered at Mission Systems.

“I want to keep working in the kinds of environments where innovation is grounded in real outcomes,” she says. “Something like aerospace or robotics—areas where you get to design, prototype, test, and deliver.”

Her experience has reinforced her passion for engineering that isn’t just conceptual, but tactile and operational. “This internship gave me the kind of hands-on responsibility that students dream about. It’s been amazing.”

At Mission Systems, we’re proud to support emerging engineers like Darci Walsh as they develop real-world skills, push boundaries, and help shape the future of autonomy and advanced manufacturing.