Signaller Captain Olivia ‘Liv’ Flaherty wins Engineer Officer of the Year award
Image courtesy British Army / MoD
The Signaller was also recognised for her achievements in the New Year Honours List with the award of an MBE.
Liv was nominated for the Engineer Officer of the Year award following her outstanding contribution to Western Europe’s biggest cyber defence exercise to date, Defence Cyber Marvel 3 (DCM3) in February 2024.
She led the opposing Red Team force during DCM3, directing 120 engineering specialists drawn from across Defence, British industry and international allies and partners.
Her efforts resulted in the provision of a rigorous test for internationally experienced cyber defenders. Under her guidance the Red Team developed challenging ethical hacking scenarios to aid the cyber defenders
Liv’s work is recognised internationally, including by NATO’s Cyber Centre of Excellence which asks her to brief on best practice.
The Worshipful Company of Engineers is a fellowship of leading engineers which works to promote and develop all aspects of the science, art and practice of engineering.
The professional body’s Army Engineer Officer of the Year award goes to an officer who best applies professional engineering judgement or technical innovation to contribute to the maintenance of military capability or effectiveness.
Liv, aged 31, is currently the Adjutant at 2 Signal Regiment in York.
She grew up in East Horsley, Surrey and attended Howard of Effingham School in Leatherhead.
Before joining the Army, Liv studied Chemistry at the University of Leicester where she joined the Officer Training Corps. She enjoyed this taste of Army life as a student and decided “to give the career a go before I got too old”.
After graduating, Liv worked as a legal secretary while she waited for her application to the Army to be processed. Her application was successful, and she went on to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the Army’s training college for future officers.
Liv’s grandfather served in the military during World War Two.
As an Adjutant, Liv manages the G1 section in her Signals regiment, leading on discipline, health and personnel issues.
Liv says what has most surprised her about the Army is “the opportunities I’ve had, especially regarding the cyber domain. I’ve spent a year in the US understanding engineering methodologies, two years in exercising, and running the Red Team for Defence Cyber Marvel for three years.”
She enjoys learning coding and red teaming in her spare time and has managed to incorporate these into her wider Army activities.
Liv says the highlight of her career so far was “Running the Red Team for DCM2 and DCM3. Taking a team of enthusiasts and training them up to standard to perform as a team was an honour.”
The biggest challenge she has faced so far in the Army has been “Trying to maintain technical skills in the cyber domain whilst balancing regimental duties”.
She says, “I have developed my skills massively and see myself more as a technical leader than I ever would have done previously.”
The British Army is recruiting right now to fill 10,000 jobs across the UK with more than 200 roles to choose from, covering everything from frontline combat and cyber security to helicopter pilots, chefs and support roles. If you’re aged 16 to 50 and if you want to find out more about a career in the Army, click here: British Army
