Paul Johnson served in the REME for 32 years, leaving in 2024 with the rank of Colonel. Paul advised “in my most recent role, I worked as an Engineering Officer and Project Manager, in the UK and US, across a range of land equipment and information systems, including Challenger 2, Apache, and JAMES. My final role was as Commandant of the Engineering school at Lyneham, training Engineers from all three services, and acting as Head of Establishment for the site. This latter aspect helped me gain a small understanding of DIO and its operations and gave me a very helpful user perspective of defence infrastructure challenges.
There really was no such thing as a typical day – and being able to respond quickly, calmly, and logically to the latest unexpected challenge, is one of the key strengths that Military Veterans bring to the party. Chairing meetings across diverse military, civil servant, and contractor stakeholders was a regular occurrence. Working with staff to accredit training, or seeking opportunities to modernise, personalise and speed up training, briefing international partners on our capabilities, or liaising with local authorities about the support to our military community, were all part and parcel of the job.
I was fortunate to receive lots of formal training and education during my service, giving me skills and qualifications in project, programme and portfolio management. But it was the less tangible stuff I picked up along the way, around communicating simply and effectively, problem solving, crisis response, and leading people which I am now coming to recognise and value for what it is. Every job I had, from leading a platoon on operations, to staff roles in a US headquarters, to running an engineering school added something new to my skillset and experience.
My new role is a Director of Project Management and DIO Account Lead, for Tetra Tech.
I attended a BuildForce Armed Forces Insight Day at the London Stadium, at which I met members of the Tetra Tech team. They mentioned an opportunity that was coming up, which I applied for, and four weeks later, following interview, I was offered the position.
BuildForce were invaluable helping with CV review, Insight Days, networking and mentoring, not to mention well-being support. The Insight Days and the opportunity for highly targeted networking really were invaluable during my transition.
Having spent my military career moving from one role to another every few years, I found it impossible to name the one job title I was seeking in civvy street, which seemed to confuse recruiters. I countered this by focusing on the type of organisation I wanted to work for instead and developed a clear narrative around that. Getting my head around what effective networking was, proved to be a challenge for me. Similarly, I was too slow to grasp that applying blind for roles online, without having someone on the inside to champion my application, was a waste of time and probably bad for my morale.
The support I received from BuildForce was first rate and made all the difference for me. More generally, it would have been helpful earlier in transition, before I engaged with BuildForce, to have had targeted introductions to insiders who could aid my applications, or to have been put in contact with dedicated recruiters or head-hunters. My personal experience of CTP was that its support was too generic to be useful.
My current role revolves around overseeing and coordinating Tetra Tech’s efforts across our Navy, Army, Air, UK StratCom and US Visiting Forces portfolios in the UK and oversees. Our projects operate in different stages of the RIBA cycle and are at various levels of maturity, which dictates how involved I need to be. Much of my focus is on operational delivery, but a good chunk is about business development too. A critical responsibility is to keep on top of the finances, but I also need to invest in relationships with stakeholders in the DIO and end user communities.
In my new role, my day might start with catching the train into London, checking on overnight developments and what is in the schedule for the day ahead. Participating with the Business Unit Leadership team call, considering safety, our people, Operating Unit priorities, and forthcoming bidding opportunities. Discussing our Cashflow with the finance team. Trouble shooting calls with portfolio leads, to head off emerging risks with projects, or to develop solutions for issues. Take part in online learning for my Artificial Intelligence apprenticeship. Join a Suppliers’ briefing with DIO about a forthcoming tender opportunity. Draft a note on how to improve our bid process. Head home and enjoy the evening with my family.
Transferable skills include: Project, Programme and Portfolio management. Strategy development and planning. Leadership skills, including D&I. Effective communication, both written and oral. Risk management. Problem solving. Resource management. Having a good sense of humour and being able to get along with folks: being a team player. An ability and willingness to learn and adapt. I would regard all these as having been learned or refined during my military service, and hence were transferable.
What I would say is give your transition and future career some serious thought and don’t self-censor: I had almost zero experience of working with infrastructure or construction, but Tetra Tech recognised my broader transferable skills and gave me a chance. But don’t go in blind – do your research so that you understand who the key players are, what the terminology means, such as NEC and RIBA, and how the different areas such as consultants and contractors fit together. Get some finance-focussed training, so that you at least understand the language. Find a connection who works in the sector now, take them out for a coffee, and pick their brains for advice. And when you ultimately succeed, pay your good luck forwards to a new veteran!”