Air Commodore (AIRCDRE) Tony Hindmarsh joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as an Administration Officer in 1980. He has extensive postings within the Air Force, including an exchange posting with the United States Air Force; serving in the Air Force Personnel Operations Agency on the Air Staff in the Pentagon from mid-1994 to mid-1996.

AIRCDRE Hindmarsh transferred to the RAAF General Reserve in June 2004 and started a career in the Australian Public Service (APS) as an Executive Level (EL) 2 in the Defence Chief Finance Officer Group. Promoted to Senior Executive Service (SES) Band 1 in 2007, he performed a range of SES Band 1 roles including Director General Governance and Assurance and the inaugural Defence Materiel Organisation Chief Audit Executive. In August 2011, he assumed the role of Head Reform Division Defence Materiel Organisation and was subsequently promoted to SES Band 2 in 2014. He retired from the APS in February 2016.

AIRCDRE Hindmarsh assumed the role of Director General Reserve–Air Force on promotion to Air Commodore in December 2019 and subsequently assumed the additional role of Director General Workforce Design as a means to design and deliver the Air Force Total Workforce System.