James Milnes

A staff-trained senior leader with thirty years of commissioned service who governs how high-consequence organisations adopt AI — and, augmented by his own sovereign AI capability, delivers across the full functional spectrum from board-level strategy to hands-on execution. The staff officer is one mind trained to run every function of an enterprise — personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, plans, resources — to a single command intent. That discipline, force-multiplied by the MissionOpsAI platform, is what allows one operator to carry a portfolio that would ordinarily need a team.

Founder of MissionOpsAI.

Former

Chief of Staff, UK Defence CBRN Wing and Deputy Commander, NATO Combined Joint CBRN Task Force. Commercial track record scaling a business to £9M turnover. Trusted adviser to No.10, the White House and NATO. Available for permanent, fractional, interim, consulting and advisory engagements. One operator across the full functional span. SC cleared.

Founder & AI Systems Architect at MissionOpsAI Ltd (2023 – Present)

Designed and led the build of a sovereign, agentic AI HQ aligned to MOD J-functions; secure multi-agent workflows, governance-grade assurance and cloud-to-edge deployment.

Commercial Optimisation Programme Manager (Lt Col, Reserve) at Army Strategic Command (2025 – 2025)

Programme leadership of commercial optimisation across the command.

General Manager at Southwold Harbour — Maritime & Commercial Operations (2023 – 2025)

Multi-site maritime and commercial operations; income and infrastructure strategy; governance to the Port Marine Safety Code.

Business Development Director at Byotrol PLC (2021 – 2022)

Group growth strategy across regulated biotechnology, government and defence markets.

Managing Director, UK & Europe at Zoono Holdings Limited (2017 – 2020)

Scaled UK/European operations to ~£9M revenue (FY 2019–20); secured TfL, Compass, Bunzl, CBRE; led manufacturing, supply chain and logistics.

Specialist C-CBRN Advisor at Trojan Group (2018 – Present)

Advice to government, law enforcement and security partners; nuclear reconnaissance training for the Ukrainian nuclear sector (with the University of Bristol).

Honorary Commander at US 752d Special Operations Group (2018 – 2023)

Strengthened UK–US operational and institutional relations.

Founder at Free Rock UK (2014 – 2017)

Counter-bio training (BBC, ITN, Interpol) and pioneering counter-drone solutions; advised DFID and Northrop Grumman.

Deputy Component Commander at NATO Combined Joint C-CBRN Task Force (2011 – 2014)

Commanded and NRF-certified a NATO Combined Joint CBRN Task Force of 850 personnel across 7 nations.

Chief of Staff at UK Defence CBRN Wing (2011 – 2014)

Restructured UK Defence CBRN capability, delivering £129M of savings while preserving operational output.

OC Training Squadron at RAF Force Protection Centre (2008 – 2009)

Earlier commissioned service (1992 — 2021, Regular & Reserve, to Lt Col, RAF Regiment / Army Air Corps). Directed the RAF's pre-deployment force-protection training pipeline for 1,200+ personnel annually, including national nuclear-response (NERO) training.

Operations Officer at 27 Squadron RAF Regiment (2006 – 2008)

Earlier commissioned service (1992 — 2021, Regular & Reserve, to Lt Col, RAF Regiment / Army Air Corps); deployed Iraq & Afghanistan.

L7 Award in Leadership & Management; Advanced Command & Staff College – UK Defence Academy