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Australian women in defence are operating at the top of one of the country's most demanding and historically male-dominated sectors. They're leading capability acquisition programs worth billions, heading major contractors and prime integrators, advising ministers on national security, and building the workforce pipelines the sector badly needs. The names below represent the breadth of that leadership, from the Department of Defence itself to the industrial base that supports it.
Why defence leadership looks different now
The Australian defence sector is in a period of significant structural expansion. The AUKUS submarine agreement, the 2024 National Defence Strategy, and sustained investment in cyber and space capability have all created new leadership roles that didn't exist five years ago. Women are filling some of those roles, and several have built careers specifically at the intersection of technology, strategy, and defence procurement. That's not coincidence. The sector's shift toward complex systems integration, cyber resilience, and strategic advisory work has opened pathways that pure operational military careers historically didn't.
The executives and advisors listed here work across government, industry, and the consulting practices that sit between them. Some hold public-sector appointments; others lead divisions at listed or privately held defence contractors. All of them carry genuine decision-making authority in the sector.
The executives and advisors leading the sector
Simone Wilkie served as Australia's first female Defence Attaché to Washington before moving into senior advisory roles focused on the AUKUS partnership. Wilkie brings rare credibility across the military-diplomatic boundary, and her work on submarine industrial base development has made her one of the most referenced voices on AUKUS workforce planning.
Shemara Wikramanayake, as CEO of Macquarie Group, oversees infrastructure and asset management portfolios that include significant defence-adjacent energy and communications assets. Macquarie's involvement in secure infrastructure projects ties its leadership directly into sovereign capability conversations.
Gabrielle Upton has held board and advisory roles across defence industry bodies, with a background spanning law, government, and corporate governance. Upton's focus on regulatory frameworks and procurement integrity makes her relevant at a moment when the Defence Department is overhauling how it manages major contracts.
Catherine Thompson leads government relations and public affairs for one of the major prime contractors operating in Australia, navigating the relationship between industry and the Defence Capability Division. Her work covers both domestic procurement and export licensing under the Defence Export Controls regime.
Nadine Flood has built a career spanning the public sector and national security policy, with committee and advisory roles that include workforce strategy for defence agencies. Flood's focus on talent pipelines has direct relevance to the sector's well-documented shortfall in technical and cyber-qualified staff.
Lisa Ellram consults to Australian defence primes on supply chain security and sovereign industrial capability, areas that have moved to the centre of capability planning following global supply chain disruptions. Her advisory work spans both commercial supply chain design and defence-specific compliance requirements.
Jane Halton chairs or has chaired several government advisory bodies, including roles touching on pandemic preparedness with national security dimensions. Halton's influence extends into the biosecurity and health resilience aspects of defence preparedness, a fast-growing area since 2020.
Michelle Price, as CEO of AustCyber, leads the peak body for Australia's cyber security sector. Defence cyber is one of the largest growth areas in Australian capability investment, and Price's role positions AustCyber directly at the intersection of industry development and national security uplift.
Rebecca Skinner served as Secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, heading one of the most complex service-delivery agencies in government. Skinner's tenure covered major legislative reform and a sustained effort to modernise how DVA manages claims and delivers support to serving and former members.
Nicola Hinder has held senior executive roles within Defence Housing Australia and broader property and infrastructure arms of the defence estate. Managing the built environment for a force of Australia's scale is a significant infrastructure program in its own right, and Hinder has operated at its senior levels.
Industry and the prime contractors
Several women lead divisions or country-level operations at the large international primes that dominate Australian defence contracting. These roles typically cover business development, program delivery, and government engagement across platforms ranging from naval vessels to surveillance systems.
At companies like BAE Systems Australia, Thales Australia, and Leidos, women hold VP and general manager positions with direct P&L responsibility. The names change as organisations restructure around major contract awards, but the presence of women at that level is now consistent across the top tier of the contractor base, where a decade ago it was the exception.
This mirrors a pattern visible across adjacent sectors. The women leading major infrastructure asset deals in Australia often work on projects with explicit defence or dual-use dimensions, from communications infrastructure to energy resilience programs. The overlap between infrastructure investing and defence capability is growing, not shrinking.
Policy, strategy, and the advisory layer
Beyond the executives running programs and businesses, a distinct layer of women shapes defence policy from think tanks, academic institutions, and independent advisory practices. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Lowy Institute, and the National Security College at ANU all include senior women who publish, advise ministers, and shape the public debate on capability, alliance management, and strategic risk.
This advisory layer matters because Australian defence policy is unusually consultative. The 2024 Defence Strategic Review and the AUKUS implementation work both drew heavily on non-government expertise. Women contributing to those consultations carry real influence over how the Department of Defence frames capability requirements and prioritises investment.
The consulting practices that sit between government and industry tell a similar story. The partners and principals at major consulting firms in Australia include a growing number of women who specialise in defence procurement, acquisition reform, and security-cleared program management. These are not generalist consulting roles. They require sector-specific knowledge and, in many cases, active security clearances.
What the sector still needs
The AUKUS submarine program alone will require an estimated 20,000 additional skilled workers over the next two decades. Defence cyber, space systems, and autonomous platforms add further demand. The pipeline of women entering technical and engineering pathways in Australian universities remains below what the sector needs, and retention at mid-career levels is a documented problem across both the Australian Defence Force and the industrial base.
The women already in senior roles in the sector are, in most cases, actively working on those pipeline problems. That's worth noting because it means the leadership visibility matters twice: once for the decisions these women make today, and once for the signal it sends to the engineers, analysts, and program managers who are five to ten years behind them.
The Department of Defence publishes workforce data and diversity reporting that tracks female representation at different classification levels. The numbers have improved. The gap between the senior executive service and the general workforce remains real, and closing it is the sector's most consequential talent challenge over the next decade.