Lead Wargamer

Job Title: Lead Wargamer

Location: Kingston, Ontario

Remote: No

Business Unit: Learning

Business Unit 2: Defence

Department: Learning Solutions

Job Type: Full-time

Position Overview

Calian is recruiting for a Lead Wargamer for the Canadian Army Simulation Centre in Kingston, Ontario. The Calian Serious Games Lead will work within a multi-functional team to design, develop and deliver Serious Games/Wargaming capability to the Canadian Army. This capability will support strategic, operational and tactical planning processes, through tabletop exercises and other forms of strategic, operational and tactical gaming, in the garrison and the field. And support military education, professional development, individual and collective training, and risk management. CACS Serious Games portfolio of clients includes the Canadian Army, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence, other government departments and agencies, and other entities annotated by Chief CASC/Clients.

Responsibilities

• Holistic review of the current Serious Games and Wargaming initiatives in the Canadian Army and the Canadian Armed Forces

• Define and maintain an understanding of the Canadian Army’s evolving interest and requirements in Serious Games

• Develop a sustainable, thriving Serious Games capability, including implementation strategy, policy framework, directives and orders

• Develop and implement a plan for the integration of training models, simulations, wargames, and/or games in the brigade, division training and exercises

• Identify client needs while defining a Serious game’s problem, purpose and objectives and outcomes

• Recognize and apply hobby gaming, board gaming, military wargaming and serious gaming techniques and mechanics in the novel, easily communicated ways to clients and participants

• Participate in and potentially lead wargame playtests, play-throughs, and rehearsals

• Write, deploy, and analyze simple in-wargame and post-wargame surveys

• Travel to client-designated locations to conduct wargames and other Serious games

• Produce industry-specific articles related to previous to current techniques

• Manage the relationship with the client and stakeholders

• Establish and maintain relationships with third parties/vendors to develop a suite of games and experts ready to execute

• Serve as faculty for Serious Games courses teaching in Canadian Army and Canadian Armed Forces colleges and schools

• Launching and sustaining a gaming community of practices to include a web presence, conventions, seminars, and gaming tournaments

Qualifications

• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills with experience drafting reports, developing presentations, and briefing senior leaders

• Desire to develop personally and professionally by constantly seeking new insights, skills, educational opportunities, and training

• Meticulous attention to details and the ability to work independently to generate high-quality, stand-alone work

• Outstanding interpersonal and client management skills

• Strong research skills and the ability to contextualize the information

• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance throughout the duration of employment

• The ability to communicate effectively in both official languages is highly desirable

• Practical experience using Serious Games within the Department of National Defence or a widely recognized defence contractor or think tank

• Knowledge, skills, and experience in project management is preferred

• Industry standard certification in Serious Games or gamification is beneficial

• Educational experience in operational and/or tactical planning process, critical thinking, Red Teaming, and/or wargames

• Able to identify improvements to organizational approaches to difficult strategic or operational problems

• Basic competency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint

• Effective listening and other interpersonal skills

• A history of creative problem-solving and successful collaboration

• Training and experience in training or adult education

• Experience with info knowledge management