Balancing Defence Service Experience and Technical Skills to Deliver Simulation Workforce Capability: A Case Study

Delivering the external workforce to assist in providing simulation capability within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is a complex task. In particular, securing, training, and retaining personnel with requisite technical skills to deliver distributed simulation environments, paired with detailed understanding of Defence systems and processes, is a growing problem. These issues are further complicated in the provision of contract simulation workforce, where career progression opportunities and long-term workforce security impose additional constraints. In this work, we examine the technical and service experience, as well as the qualifications and training, of the workforce within Cubic Defence Australia, a key simulation workforce provider to the ADF. This analysis serves to highlight some of the unique issues facing the provision of the Defence simulation workforce. Further, we identify the experience sets of this workforce, and consider the relationships between prior service, training, and education, and employment success within Cubic. From our analysis, we also provide a discussion of the transferability of similar or aligned skillsets from other roles areas to these simulation roles, providing direction on the potential future sustainability and growth of the workforce.