Strategic Exercise Planner - Multinational Defence Programs

Work Life Group; Brunssum; On-site; EUR 104,000 - 139,000; Full time

Job summary

Wlgroup seeks an experienced defense planning professional to relocate to Norfolk, Virginia, USA, for a long-term program alignment role. This expat assignment includes NATO-5 visa support and close collaboration with multinational partners across campaigns and exercise planning.

You will lead planning conferences, develop campaign concepts, and draft after-action reports, ensuring governance, synchronization and continuous capability development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor or Master in international relations, defence or strategic studies, or related field.
• At least five years in military exercise planning or defence transformation.
• Experience drafting planning documents and campaign plans.

Responsibilities

• Carrying warfare development priorities and multi-domain objectives into the exercise enterprise.
• Supporting governance, synchronisation and strategic alignment across that enterprise.
• Taking part in planning conferences, workshops and coordination events.
• Developing, refining and documenting exercise campaign plans and concepts.
• Using exercises to identify capability gaps, refine concepts and assess emerging capabilities.
• Coordinating with multinational or interagency partners.

Skills

Strategic planning

Project management

Multinational coordination

Drafting reports

Fluent English

Exercise planning experience

Education

Bachelor/Master in international relations or related field

Job description

Relocation to the United States — Norfolk, Virginia. We provide the NATO-5 visa for you and your family.

This post is a full employment contract with our delivery partner, with the benefits that go with it — not a contractor or B2B arrangement. Agreeing to be employed is the first condition of the role.

A multinational defence organisation runs a large exercise programme, and wants it aligned with where warfare development is going. This role does the joining up: the planning conferences, the campaign documents, and the after-action work that follows.

What you would be doing

• Carrying warfare development priorities and multi-domain objectives into the exercise enterprise.
• Supporting governance, synchronisation and strategic alignment across that enterprise.
• Taking part in planning conferences, workshops and coordination events.
• Developing, refining and documenting exercise campaign plans and concepts.
• Using exercises to identify capability gaps, refine concepts and assess emerging capabilities.
• Integrating the training innovation lines of effort — realism, new technology, harder scenarios.
• Supporting after-action review and lessons-learned processes, and drafting the formal reports and recommendations.
• Contributing to the rolling programmes of work.
• Coordinating with the other commands, partners and external stakeholders.

What you would bring

• A bachelor or master degree in international relations, defence or strategic studies, political science, emergency management or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least five years in military exercise planning, collective training or defence transformation.
• Familiarity with alliance exercise planning processes and their governing documents.
• Proven ability to draft professional planning documents, reports and campaign plans.
• Strong organisational and project management skills.
• Experience coordinating with multinational or interagency partners.
• Fluent professional English, spoken and written.

This is a long engagement that renews year on year, not a short project.