Working for PAC since January 2022, Alexander (Zander) Pickering is the Project Manager in our Mission Systems team. He’s one of the Staff Officers for the CAF16 Product Schedule within the Air Warfare Centre. His role is to liaise between the customers, Air Warfare Centre and JC2SPO, to deliver Intelligence and Targeting capability, as well as Resource and Scheduling capability.
Before joining PAC, Zander served over 15 years in the RAAF, initially as a Clerk prior to commissioning as an Operations Officer. He started his career with the 75SQN at RAAF Tindal and successfully finished as an SQNLDR in the role of 11SQN Operations Flight Commander. He counts his time in the Defence Force as his most significant professional accomplishment, including many operational deployments in the Middle East and Asia.
When Zander decided to transition from uniform to the civilian workforce, he looked for an opportunity that allowed him to deliver Defence capability. “I enjoyed my RAAF career, especially finding solutions to problems. The opening to join PAC and continue working within Defence was a logical progression.” This also reflects what he likes the most about his current job:
“I enjoy seeing my work turn into a solution that delivers the capability to our customers.”
But Zander confesses that his life wasn’t always joyful. He reveals that his family worried he wouldn’t make it past 21yo: “apparently, I was a terrible child!”. If he could talk to his younger self, he would tell himself to save more money, try more food, travel more, consider the big picture, ask for advice, listen to feedback and criticism and learn from it. Finally, he would remind himself to enjoy life – “you only get one!”
Outside working hours, Zander likes to spend time with his wife (a classically trained singer) and his two young children, working on his house and drinking good coffee and wine. He also enjoys cars, especially Porsches. He owns an ex-Peter Fitzgerald 2003 Porsche 996 GT3 Cup Car, which he crashed on the track the second time he took it out – ouch!
PAC is proud to have a high-skilled veteran like Alexander Pickering on our team, who delivers exceptional work for our Mission Systems capability.
At PAC, we constantly recruit amazing people like Zander. Check our current opportunities here or send an Expression of Interest to careers@pacificaerospaceconsulting.com.au (AUS Division) or jobs@pacaerocon.com (USA Division).
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