‘Paying it back’ an honour

A King’s Birthday honour as a senior officer and cyber security leader is a stratospheric leap from WGCDR Mark Jobson’s enlistment in the Air Force as a 16-year-old AC in 1983.

He credits his initial service and radio technician apprenticeship under the mentorship of RAAF NCOs with setting him up for a successful civilian career at some of Australia and the globe’s largest companies.

“I wanted to be able to take the experience gained over that period and bring it back into Defence,” WGCDR Jobson said.

He received a Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM) in the 2026 King’s Birthday honours for meritorious achievement as Director Cyber Security Operations in the Cyber Operations Division (COD) of JCG.

WGCDR Jobson said the CSM is a recognition of the achievements of everyone in the COD working to address increasingly active and advanced threats to Defence.

“Cyber is a team sport,” he said.

“It has taken a lot of work by many people to drive the changes in how Defence carries out cyber security operations that led to the nomination.”

WGCDR Jobson wished to acknowledge his current chain of command, from COL Timothy Pike to AIRCDRE Paul Pettigrew and MAJGEN Warren Gould, Head of COD.

“They have given me the freedom of manoeuvre to push the boundaries and their trust emboldened me to take well-considered risks to enable cyber security operations,” he said.

No node can operate in isolation and WGCDR Jobson sees the CSM as a special recognition of his family’s support for him to be in Canberra for the past four years.

“This feels like it also recognises the sacrifice that my family has made to enable me to do something where I felt I could have a significant impact,” he said.