Senior Military Advisers (Expression of Interest)
About the Position
Adam Smith International (ASI) seeks highly experienced military advisers to support security and defence sector reform programmes across the Middle East. Potential roles would involve providing strategic guidance, mentoring, and operational support to national institutions, with the aim of enhancing capacity, accountability, and resilience in fragile and conflict-affected environments.
Please note, this is a general call for CVs to build our pool of qualified experts.
Potential areas of responsibility
1) Strategic advisory & mentoring
Provide advice to defence and security institutions (e.g., ministries, staff colleges, specialised units).
Mentor senior counterparts on strategy, campaign/operational planning, force development, and civil-military coordination.
Support development or refresh of national/sector strategies, concepts of operations, and institutional mandates.
2) Capacity development
Design and deliver training and mentoring on priority themes, after assessing existing capacities.
Build ‘train-the-trainer’ pathways and institutionalise SOPs, curricula, and evaluation tools.
3) Policy, governance & integrity
Advise on policy/legislative frameworks, professional standards, accountability and internal oversight.
Strengthen procurement and asset-management processes, transparency and anti-corruption safeguards.
Support parliamentary/independent oversight interfaces and strategic communications to improve public trust.
4) Programme management & operational planning
Lead/participate in threat, risk and vulnerability assessments; integrate conflict sensitivity and do-no-harm.
Contribute to business continuity and emergency response planning for field teams.
Produce deliverables: diagnostics, terms of reference, workplans, training packages, lessons learned notes, and policy briefs.
Work with monitoring and evaluation teams to define indicators, track progress, and adapt delivery for results and value for money.
Co-design agile, locally owned interventions (including draw-down/surge activities) aligned to client outcomes.
5) Stakeholder engagement & coordination
Coordinate with partner institutions, diplomatic missions, and other international actors to ensure coherence.
Facilitate inter-agency cooperation (e.g., police–military roles during public-order events; joint planning processes).
Uphold neutrality, political economy awareness and high cultural competence.
Qualifications & experience
20+ years in the defence/security sector, including 10+ years in advisory, mentoring or capacity-building roles.
Demonstrable senior leadership (e.g., formation/brigade level, national HQ, or equivalent civilian leadership).
Proven track record in strengthening institutions (strategy, structures, training systems, governance, delivery).
Prior work in the Middle East (e.g., Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan) with strong understanding of regional security dynamics.
Arabic and Kurdish language skills are an advantage (working proficiency or higher).
High cultural competence and political economy awareness.
Familiarity with UK or allied doctrine and planning frameworks.
Experience operating alongside HMG or similar donors, and delivering donor-funded programmes to rigorous compliance standards.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to brief senior decision-makers and produce concise products in English.
Willingness and fitness to travel and be deployed to fragile or complex environments.