Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of two climates for innovation constructs, namely, leadership and organisational culture, on workplace innovation and career satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach: This study used structural equation modelling to test the data from 3,125 engineering professionals in the Australian Public Service (APS).

Findings: The structural model indicated that leadership for innovation and ambidextrous culture for innovation influenced workplace innovation which, in turn, improved career satisfaction. Moreover, modelling revealed a significant relationship between ambidextrous culture for innovation and career satisfaction. This study also investigated mediation effects and revealed both simple and sequential mediation paths in the model. It was found that improving workplace innovation and career satisfaction through recognition of an engineer’s contribution to their agency would assist in retaining and advancing in-house engineering expertise.

Practical implications: The structural model could be used to address current shortages of engineering professionals in the Commonwealth of Australia departments. The findings emphasise the importance of Commonwealth departments providing opportunities for their engineers to engage in creative and innovative projects which enhance their professional career.

Originality/value: This study fills the gap in the innovation literature by exploring the relationships through which socio-psychological factors affect workplace innovation and career satisfaction on the innovation process for engineering professionals in the APS.