Defence
Defence is a sector where context matters.
We have worked across shipbuilding, engineering, sustainment, major projects and the businesses that support Australia’s defence capability.
Our work has included individual executive appointments as well as building broader leadership and operational teams.
We search in Australia and, where the market requires it, internationally.
The Market
Australia’s defence sector is changing.
Long-term investment in sovereign capability, shipbuilding, sustainment and advanced technologies is creating demand for people with experience that is not always available locally.
At the same time, defence businesses compete for many of the same project, engineering, technical and commercial people as mining and infrastructure.
That makes the talent market broader than defence itself.
Sometimes the right person has spent a career in the sector.
Sometimes relevant experience sits elsewhere.
Knowing when experience can translate matters.
Our Approach
Technical experience matters in defence, but it is rarely enough on its own.
We also look at how people work across complex stakeholder environments, lead long programmes, make decisions under scrutiny and build trust.
For people coming from outside defence, we consider what will translate and what they will need to learn.
For international candidates, we also look carefully at motivation, relocation, security clearances, and their ability to work effectively in the Australian environment.
The objective is not simply to find someone with defence on their CV. It is to find someone whose experience fits the work ahead.
The Roles
Our defence work spans:
Board & Executive
Chair, Non-Executive Director, CEO, Managing Director and executive leadership.
Projects & Operations
General Managers, Program Directors, Project Directors, Projects Managers, operations and sustainment leadership.
Functional & Technical
Engineering, technical, commercial, supply chain, people, finance and other specialist leadership and management roles.
Leadership Advisory
Succession, talent mapping, assessment and market intelligence.
For some specialist roles, the Australian market is small. Where needed, we extend the search internationally rather than compromise the brief.
Case Studies
Selected searches led by our principals
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Australia's first sovereign submarine program, at a point when the business building it was also going through changes of ownership.
Two demands at once, and they pull against each other. Delivering a build program of that complexity takes single-minded focus. Carrying a business through a change of control takes attention in the opposite direction, toward shareholders, structure and the people wondering what it means for them. The appointment had to hold both.
The successful candidate was found domestically, which was not the assumption going in.
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A European shipbuilder establishing an Australian business needed an entire organisation built, not a role filled.
Over eight years we appointed the executive team across facilities in two states, advised on the structure itself before the roles existed, and then built the layers beneath it. Functional leadership, senior technical roles, and the operational appointments a shipbuilding program runs on.
The constraints were the hard part. Citizenship and clearance requirements narrow the market before capability is considered, and the business needed leaders who could satisfy an Australian program and a German parent at the same time.
We supported the business through a change of ownership. A number of the people appointed are still there, in roles that survived the transition.
Defence
If you are considering an appointment, building capability or want another perspective on the market, we are happy to talk.