Powell served as a Royal Naval officer for 27 years, specialising as an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aviator and warfare instructor.  During his service he conducted ASW operations and exercises in the Arctic, North and South Atlantic and in the Indo-Pacific regions, including a tour as the Royal Navy’s airborne ASW tactical lead carrying out Test and Evaluation (T&E) trials at the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (BUTEC) and the Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (AUUTEC) in the Bahamas, developing helicopter ASW tactics and procedures, and carrying out T&E of ASW systems, including sonars and torpedoes.

Following roles with L3 Ocean Systems, AgustaWestland and AIM Norway, Powell joined QinetiQ in 2018, where he is the lead for future Maritime, Space and Threat Representation Test and Evaluation. In his current role he is responsible for scoping, leading and developing strategies to offer deployable, responsive Maritime T&E capabilities around the globe, including under and above water signature and tracking ranges, and scoping and developing cross domain realistic Threat Representation strategies for T&E and Training, including underwater threat representation.