Mr Wilson is a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was most recently Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner in Suva. He has previously served overseas as Australia's Consul-General in Nouméa, as well as in Geneva and Paris and with the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville.

Mr Wilson has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Bachelor of Mathematics (Honours) from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Arts from the University of Victoria, Canada. He speaks French.