Leader of heathen sect paid out for military recruit’s position (9)
I believe the answer is:
cadetship
'military recruit's position' is the definition.
'cadetship' can be an answer for 'position' (cadetship is a kind of position). I'm not sure about the 'military recruit's' bit.
'leader of heathen sect paid out' is the wordplay.
'leader of' says to take the initial letters.
'out' indicates an anagram (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
The initial letter of 'heathen' is 'h'.
'h'+'sect'+'paid'='hsectpaid'
'hsectpaid' is an anagram of 'CADETSHIP'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cadetship that I've seen before include "Officer training" , "probationary role" , "In position of one being trained" , "Training position" , "Position of trainee" .)