The Role
The Assistant Director, Exercises and Plans, is a pivotal position within the ACMC's civil-military-police preparedness activities. The position is responsible for managing, developing and delivering ACMC input into Australian Defence Force and other-government agency exercises and activities in accordance with the ACMC Exercise Support Strategy. The successful candidate will be expected to bring their experience in, and knowledge of, civil-military police coordination and engagement, to the following activities:
* Identification, assessment and prioritisation of exercises
* attendance at exercise planning activities as part of the Joint Exercise Life Cycle (JELC)
* Advocacy for / facilitation of other-government agency and external/non-government organisation involvement (as appropriate) and inclusion of interagency and whole-of-government themes and objectives into the exercise design
* Coordination and/or input to the development of exercise documents and artefacts
* Support to preparatory training for exercise participants, including Interagency Seminars
* Coordination of external subject matter expert support and/or provision of briefings, presentations and panel discussions in support of an exercise or activity.
* Support to Exercise Control (EXCON), Higher Control (HICON) and/or the training audience during conduct of the exercise
* Participation in exercise or activity related After Action Reviews and input to / development of associated Post Activity Reports
Additionally, this position is responsible for managing, developing and delivering ACMC input to High Risk Weather Season (HRWS) preparedness, in coordination with portfolio leads, and contributing to operational and contingency planning, with a particular focus on domestic and regional plans likely to involve civil-military interaction. The position also supports other ACMC training and engagement activities, and broader defence and whole-of-government training and exercising programs within the civil-military-police domain.
The position works in a team alongside one other Assistant Director, and reports to the Director of Partnerships and Preparedness.
About our Team
The Australian Civil-Military Centre's (ACMC) mission is to strengthen Australian and regional civil-military-police capacity and capability to respond more effectively to crises and contingencies. In implementing its mission, the ACMC promotes better practice civil-military-police coordination and interactions to achieve operational objectives.
ACMC is a small dynamic organisation with approximately 25 staff drawn from permanent staff from the Department of Defence augmented by secondees from Australian Government departments and agencies, the New Zealand Government, and the Australian Council for International Development (Australia's peak non-government sector body).
The Partnership and Preparedness Directorate (P&P) mobilises and delivers ACMC's civil-military-police (CMP) knowledge and content. By developing and maintaining networks throughout relevant government, non-government and regional channels, P&P enables ACMC to design and deliver CMP knowledge and content in line with its overarching ambition to strengthen Australian and regional civil-military-police capacity and capability to respond more effectively to crises and contingencies.
Our Ideal Candidate
To be successful in this role, the applicant will be able to demonstrate familiarity with training and exercise design and delivery of practically focused planning and preparedness outcomes. The Assistant Director, Exercises and Plans will require high level critical thinking and analysis skills and excellent communication skills (both oral and written). They will have well-developed partnership brokering, team building and stakeholder engagement skills. Finally, they will be able show considerable initiative, be self-motivated, resilient and able to work with limited direction. The role requires regular travel, both domestic and international.
Application Closing Date: Monday 03 November 2025
For further information please review the job information pack, reference
JOC/08232/25
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