Radiation Therapist
Radiation therapists plan and deliver the daily doses of radiation that treat cancer, aiming the beam at the tumour while sparing the healthy tissue around it.
- Median salary*
- $98,800
3.7%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 2,200
4.8%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +33.1%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- 5 out of 10
- Average hours
- 39/wk
−1h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- In shortage
national
- Most radiation therapists work in the radiation oncology department of a public or private hospital, alongside radiation oncologists, medical physicists and nurses.
- The role sits close to radiography, but a radiographer takes diagnostic images while you use imaging to plan and deliver treatment.
- Patients usually come in daily for several weeks, which means you follow the same people from their first session to their last.
How much do radiation therapists earn?
The median full-time salary for a radiation therapist is $98,800 per annum, before tax, up $20,300 since 2018.
Public hospital pay follows the state or territory health agreement, where shift and weekend penalties, after-hours loadings and senior classifications lift the total above the base rate. Private departments work to their own agreements, and the extras you might expect for evening or weekend work can be folded into a higher salary instead. Ask an employer whether a quoted figure assumes a straight Monday-to-Friday roster or includes penalty rates.
What does a radiation therapist do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Positioning patients on the treatment couch and running the linear accelerator for each daily dose
- Marking treatment areas during CT simulation and fitting the masks and supports that keep a patient still
- Planning and reviewing the treatment with the radiation oncologist and medical physicist
- Checking daily images to confirm the beam is hitting the right spot before treatment starts
- Watching for side effects such as skin reactions and fatigue, and answering questions through the course of treatment
What skills do radiation therapists need?
Employers look for patient care and support, clinical assessment and treatment, health education and advice, backed by Varian Eclipse fluency and strong written communication.
Specialist skills
- Patient care and support
- Clinical assessment and treatment
- Health education and advice
Software and tools
- Varian Eclipse
- ARIA Oncology Information System
- MOSAIQ
- RayStation
General skills
- Written communication
- Attention to detail
- Problem solving
Is the job growing?
About 2,200 people work as radiation therapists in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 33.1% over the decade to 2035. That's very strong growth. Few roles in Australia are expanding this fast, and it points to solid demand for years to come.
How do you become a radiation therapist?
Here's the path most radiation therapists take, step by step.
- 1Take physics and maths in Years 11 and 12
Radiation therapy degrees assume both, and the anatomy and dosimetry units later on are easier with those foundations in place. English is worth keeping too, because you will often be the one explaining the treatment to someone who is worried.
- 2Complete a bachelor degree in radiation therapy
The degree takes three years at some universities and four at others, and includes supervised clinical placements in a radiation oncology department. Check the course is accredited by the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia before you enrol, because an unaccredited degree won't lead to registration.
- 3Register with the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia
Registration through AHPRA is required before you can treat patients, and keeping it means an annual renewal and continuing professional development. Graduates apply once their placements and the board's requirements are finished.
- 4Apply for a new-graduate position
Large public hospital departments often run structured graduate programs that rotate you through simulation, planning and treatment, which is a gentler start than a small private unit with fewer therapists to learn from.
- 5Add postgraduate study when you want to specialise
About 23% of the people in this job hold a postgraduate qualification, usually studied later while working, when you want to move into advanced practice, treatment planning or research.
Ready to apply as a radiation therapist?
Whether you're working toward becoming a radiation therapist or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a radiation therapist move to?
Moving into Radiographer typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $23,900 a year more on average.
- RadiographerRecorded move$122,700+$23,900
- Nuclear Medicine TechnologistSuggested move$106,600+$7,800
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Radiographer Treatment planning and patient positioning skills carry across to general radiography, with a short course.Known move | +$23,900 | 32% | reskill |
Nuclear Medicine Technologist Radiation safety and patient care carry across to the nuclear medicine technologist role, needing minimal bridging training for imaging techniques. | +$7,800 | 75% | minimal |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a radiation therapist?
The typical radiation therapist is 35 years old; 75% are women, 71% work full-time, and full-timers average 39 hours a week.
- 35
- Median age
- 75%
- Female share
- 71%
- Full-time
- −1h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a radiation therapist?
A treatment day moves quickly: you set up and treat a full list of patients, each appointment timed to the minute, with planning work fitted in around them. Machine faults or someone who needs longer than booked can push the whole list back, so you learn to watch the clock without hurrying anyone. You stand for long stretches, talking to people part-way through a frightening diagnosis, and you are the calm, organised presence in the treatment room. If precision and technology appeal to you, and you can stay steady while someone else is frightened, this is work you could settle into.
What people like
- You follow the same people through treatment. A course of radiotherapy runs daily for several weeks, so you notice when someone is coping better or getting more tired, and they see a familiar face at every visit.
- The planning work is technical. You contour scans and build dose plans in Eclipse or RayStation, working through the anatomy with the oncologist and physicist to cover the tumour and protect the organs around it.
- Techniques keep changing. Image-guided and intensity-modulated treatments have replaced older methods, and there is room to specialise later in areas such as brachytherapy or paediatric treatment.
- Teamwork is built into the day. You sit with radiation oncologists, medical physicists and nurses over the same patients, and the decisions about a treatment get made together.
What people find hard
- The set-up has to be exact, every time. Small errors in position mean the dose lands in the wrong place, so you repeat the same positioning checks morning after morning without letting your attention drift.
- Equipment faults throw out the schedule. When a linear accelerator goes down, a full day of appointments has to be rebooked, often with patients who have travelled in and are already anxious about delays.
- You treat people who are very unwell. Some patients are having palliative treatment and some deteriorate during the course, so you keep the appointment calm and professional while that sits with you.
- The jobs are where the machines are. Departments with linear accelerators are concentrated in larger hospitals, so changing cities or moving to a regional centre can mean waiting for the right vacancy.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ radiation therapists?
Health Care and Social Assistance employs the largest share of radiation therapists.
Top employing industries
- 1Health Care and Social Assistance
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 69.7% | |
|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate | 23.2% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 5.8% | |
| Year 12 or below | 0.3% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 0% |
Will AI replace radiation therapists?
Moderate exposure. Not replaced, but changed. AI is taking on some tasks and the rest of the job shifts around them.
Radiation therapy carries moderate exposure: treatment planning is where AI is changing the work, with software suggesting contours for organs at risk and optimisation tools proposing dose distributions in minutes. It does not decide whether a plan suits this patient's anatomy and history, or keep a frightened person comfortable on the couch. If you are training now, get fluent in the planning systems and auto-segmentation tools, and build the patient-facing and image-checking skills that departments find hardest to hire for.
How a typical week splits
- Contouring organs and building the dose plan with the oncologist and physicist30% of the week
Auto-segmentation offers a first pass on the CT, and your work becomes correcting the edges, checking the dose against the prescription and knowing when the suggestion is wrong.
- Matching the daily images to the planning scan before the beam goes on15% of the week
Software does the first alignment automatically, but you decide whether that match is good enough to treat.
- Setting patients up on the couch and running the linear accelerator30% of the week
Getting the position right takes a couple of minutes and a steady hand, and a set-up you can repeat exactly is what makes the treatment safe.
- Monitoring side effects and talking patients through their weeks of treatment25% of the week
Skin reactions, fatigue and worry surface in short appointments, so you are often the person who notices a change first.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Common questions about becoming a radiation therapist
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do radiation therapists earn?
$98,800 per year before tax for full-time work. That figure is a national median, so compare it against the agreement for the department you are applying to, since public and private employers pay differently and shift loadings change the total.
How do you become a radiation therapist?
You need an accredited bachelor degree in radiation therapy, then registration with the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia through AHPRA. The degree includes supervised placements in a hospital department, so you are treating patients under supervision well before you graduate. Check the accreditation status of any course before you apply, because without it you cannot register.
Are radiation therapists in demand?
Radiation therapists are currently in shortage nationally, and employment is projected to grow 33.1% over the decade to 2035. The workforce is small and concentrated in hospital departments, so a vacancy in the city you want to live in may not appear the week you start looking; set up alerts with your state health service and the main private providers.
Will AI replace radiation therapists?
Contouring and planning tools change how the work is done, but a therapist still runs the machine and looks after the patient in front of them. Planning tasks that once took an hour can now start from an automated first pass, which moves your effort toward checking that output and deciding what suits this person's anatomy. Learn the planning software properly, including where it tends to be wrong.
What jobs can radiation therapists move into?
Radiography pays about $23,900 more, and roughly 32% of your skills carry across, though you would need a short course in general imaging. Nuclear medicine technology is closer again, with pay about $7,800 more and 75% of the work overlapping, mainly through radiation safety and patient care. Working the other way, a radiographer has to requalify with a radiation therapy degree before they can register in this job.
What are the hours like?
Most departments treat patients Monday to Friday in the daytime, though some hospitals roster evening and weekend shifts, and public departments pay loadings for them. Full-time radiation therapists work about 39 hours a week, with after-hours cover usually rotating through the team.
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Career advice
- Salary sacrificeSalary sacrifice is an agreement with your employer to give up part of your future pre-tax pay in exchange for benefits of similar value, such as extra super, a car through a novated lease, or everyday expenses if you work for a charity or public hospital.
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- Skills to put on your resume (with skills finder)A resume skills section built for the job you're applying for. Search your occupation to see the specialist skills, tools and general skills it calls for, with worked examples and what to write if you have no work history yet.