Jennifer Mackinlay

Jennifer is General Manager, Northeast Asia for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and Minister (Commercial) based at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo. Jennifer leads a team of 60 staff across Japan, Republic of South Korea and Mongolia who are focused on delivering Australia’s ambitious trade and investment agenda in Northeast Asia.

Jennifer joined Austrade in 2015 as Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg. In 2020 Jennifer was appointed Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the UK, Ireland and Nordics. From 2022 to June 2025, Jennifer was General Manager, UK, Europe and Israel based in Paris where she led a team of 65 trade and investment professionals across 12 offices. During this time, Jennifer and her teams successfully advocated for both the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement and the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement.

Prior to joining Austrade, Jennifer worked as a lawyer for international law firm Clifford Chance in Paris for 15 years. She specialised in Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity advising French and international clients on cross border transactions. She was also head of the Paris firm's strategy, client development, marketing and communications team with responsibility for France, Turkey and Africa before joining Austrade in 2015.

Jennifer holds an Arts Law degree from the University of Sydney. She was admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of NSW in 1994 and admitted as a French 'avocat' to the Paris bar in 2003. She lived in Europe for 30 years prior to arriving in Japan. She speaks French, Italian and Spanish and is learning Japanese.