Portrait of Air Vice-Marshal Simon Edwards

Air Vice-Marshal Simon Edwards

MA RAF

Director People works for the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and has the lead on making sure that our combined workforce of both military and civil servants is the best it can be, now and in the future, and that all our people have the support they need to thrive.

Director People is accountable for the overall status of the whole of our workforce including: recruitment and selection; career management; our personnel policies; and welfare support.

Director People is also the Air Secretary, managing our senior appointments process.

Details

AVM Edwards joined the Royal Air Force in 1990 through a Sixth Form Scholarship scheme. He is an Air Transport pilot, with tours on the C-130K Hercules and C-17A Globemaster, and also completed a Qualified Flying Instructor tour on the Shorts Tucano. Edwards commanded the RAF’s C-17 Squadron from 2008 until 2010, led Number 904 Expeditionary Air Wing at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in 2011, and was the Station Commander at RAF Brize Norton from 2014 until 2017, home to Air Mobility operations and military parachuting. He gained his parachutist’s wings in 2016. His staff tours have been focused in the Joint and Capability areas at both MOD and Air Command.

Graduating from the Royal College of Defence Studies in the summer of 2017, Edwards worked briefly in the Cabinet Office as a policy adviser in the National Security Secretariat. He then completed the Higher Command and Staff Course before taking on the role of Assistant Chief of Staff for Capability Delivery at Headquarters Air Command. In that role he completed the Major Projects Leadership Academy for high-risk, high value government projects and was the Senior Responsible Owner for a wide portfolio, including the A400M Tactical Airlifter and the UK Military Flying Training System.

Promoted to Air Vice-Marshal in May 2021, Edwards returned to the Ministry of Defence as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Strategy). August 2023 saw his most recent appointment as Director People.

Simon is married with two grown-up sons. He is an Assistant to the Court of the Worshipful Company of Coopers in the City of London, and occupies his spare time with DIY at home, or preventing his ageing riverboat from succumbing to the River Thames.