Communication and Electronics Engineering Officer

Canadian Armed Forces; Ontario; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

As Communication and Electronics Engineering Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, you'll lead teams to deliver critical telecommunications services. Your role involves managing advanced communication systems and ensuring connectivity for military operations globally. This position offers substantial responsibility and diverse opportunities for development, including involvement in cutting-edge technologies such as cyber warfare and satellite communications.

Qualifications

• Experience in managing communication systems and technology.
• Leadership in military settings, overseeing teams of technicians.
• Involvement with strategic communication operations.

Responsibilities

• Provide telecommunications and information management support.
• Operate and maintain communication systems and networks.
• Advise military leadership on communications systems acquisition.

Skills

Telecommunications

Information management

Leadership

Cyber warfare

Teamwork

Education

University degree

Job description

Communication and Electronics Engineering Officer

OFFICER | Full Time, Part Time

As a member of the military, Communication and Electronics Engineering Officers provide telecommunications and information management services that support Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations in Canada and abroad.

As a member of the military, Communication and Electronics Engineering Officers provide telecommunications and information management services that support Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) operations in Canada and abroad.

• Provide telecommunications and information management services
• Operate and maintain tactical Air Force and strategic communications systems
• Manage air traffic control and electronics systems
• Advise on the planning and acquisition of ground based surveillance, communications and information technology systems
• Oversee surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence communications systems
• Administer data, information, and knowledge management systems
• Be involved with the full spectrum of terrestrial radio and satellite communications from HF to EHF radar and navigation systems, electronic warfare, cryptography, electronic intelligence, or communications and network security

Work environment

While working on a base, Air Wing or headquarters during peacetime, Communication and Electronics Engineering Officer work in an environment similar to civilian managers and engineers. They may be employed on exercises or deployed in combat situations. They may also work in an international headquarters, on a multinational staff or mission.

If you chose a career in theRegular Force, upon completion of all required training, you will be assigned to your first base. While there is some flexibility with regards to postings (relocations), accommodations can’t always be made, and therefore, you can likely expect to move at some point in your career. However, if you decide to join the Primary Reserve Force, you will do so through a specific Reserve unit. Outside of training, your chosen Reserve unit will be your workplace on a part time basis, and you will not be obligated to relocate to a different base. As part of the Primary Reserve Force, you typically work one night per week and some weekends as a minimum with possibilities of full-time employment.

COMMUNICATION ANDELECTRONICS ENGINEERING OFFICER

IN THE CANADIAN FORCES

CAPTAIN ANN KAMEOKA: I am Captain Ann Kameoka from Mississauga, Ontario. I’m a Communication Electronics Engineering Officer currently posted to 3 Wing Bagotville.

In a 3-D battlespace full of weapon systems and data links, reliable communications and secure digital and voice networks can mean the difference between mission success and catastrophic failure.

Communication Electronics Engineering, or CELE Officers, are responsible for providing the communications capabilities required for command and control for all military operations and exercises.

CELE Officers work in a leadership role to enable their highly skilled personnel to get the job done, both here at home and on missions anywhere in the world. They use their knowledge and resources to ensure reliable communications for mission success.

KAMEOKA: CELE Officers are in charge of a team of technicians that have a variety of fields that they’re responsible for, from the airfield systems that help the aircraft land or the computers that everybody uses day-to-day, or secret systems that the pilots use to plan their missions. The technicians are really the ones that get the jobs done, that go do the installations, that troubleshoot, all those kinds of things.

CELE Officers ensure that the right information gets to the right decision-maker at the right time. They work with leading-edge technology to find solutions that support worldwide operations, including satellite and ground-based radio communications, air navigation and radar systems, air defence and air traffic management, secure classified networking and command and control systems, surveillance and intelligence gathering, and how they all integrate and function in a military environment.

There’s always a new challenge for CELE Officers to tackle and there are many different growing areas of specialization, like cyber warfare and space operations.

Regular Force or Reserve, their role is crucial, because nothing happens without communications and connectivity.

KAMEOKA: One of my favourite parts of my trade is the fact that CELE Officers go everywhere. So I’ve had the opportunity to go different places, both in the United States and to other countries like Greenland, as well. It was one of those things where you combine technology, teamwork, all these different things that you would get in different settings, different locations, all those kinds of things that makes it more dynamic than anything that I would find normally in a regular, day-to-day job.

After their initial occupation training is complete, CELE Officers are usually assigned to an operational unit where they take on a leadership role from Day 1.

KAMEOKA: What happened for me is, I found it a lot to take on because all of a sudden, you’re responsible for all these people and all these important systems. And you have never had experience with those kinds of situations before. But as long as you understand that your Warrants and your Sergeants are there for you, your senior NCOs, they can kinda help guide you and mentor you along the way until you get used to your roles and responsibilities.

Typical postings for junior CELE Officers include: troop or flight commander, junior project manager, or life cycle material manager.

As troop or flight commanders, CELE Officers lead teams of up to 30 highly skilled technicians responsible for providing the Royal Canadian Air Force with communications capabilities, maintaining networks, or defending against cyber threats.

As junior project managers, CELE Officers can expect to be involved in advising military leadership on the design and acquisition of the next generation of computer, navigation, radar, and communications systems, shaping the way the Royal Canadian Air Force will fight in the future.

And as life cycle material managers, CELE Officers are charged with the in-service support of critical operational systems, ensuring they are operating at peak efficiency.

KAMEOKA: Some of the aspects I like about military life in general is the fact that I get to travel to all these different locations while working, and I’ve also got the opportunity to develop some of the skills I had before joining, and also discover so many new skills throughout my career and develop those as well. You can see just how much you’ve changed as a person – that transformation of someone so unsure to someone that is able to do things, that has confidence in themselves to take on any task that’s given to them.

TITLE:

COMMUNICATION AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING OFFICER

Related Civilian Occupations

• Network Operations Manager
• Telecommunications and Information Systems Manager

If you already have a university degree, the CAF will decide if your academic program matches the criteria for this job and may place you directly into the required on-the-job training program following basic training. Basic training and military officer qualification training are required before being assigned.