Mid-Level Exercise Planner

Leidos Inc; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 52,000 - 94,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos in Reston, Virginia is seeking a Mid-Level Exercise Planner to join the Homeland Sector's ABS team. You will support HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation for the National Cybersecurity Exercise Program across the country.

The role requires coordinating with stakeholders, producing CONOPS, EXPLAN, SITMAN, and MSEL materials, and supporting post‑exercise reporting. DHS suitability, FEMA HSEEP certification, and strong written communications are highly valued.

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain DHS Suitability / CISA EOD.
• 5+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.
• Experience coordinating with multiple stakeholders across technical, operational, government, and private-sector environments.
• Ability to analyze complex cyber scenarios and identify gaps.
• FEMA HSEEP Certification or ability to achieve HSEEP certification within 30 days of contract start.
• Strong writing skills to develop polished exercise materials and post-exercise products.
• Demonstrated ability to manage time, meet deadlines and milestones.

Responsibilities

• Support and lead aspects of exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation on a team working concurrently on multiple exercises across the country.
• Communicate and coordinate regularly with Senior Exercise Planners, Exercise Leads, and with stakeholders.
• Attend meetings to ensure timely production of materials and exercise execution.
• Develop supporting documentation, including agendas, presentations, and notes.
• Create and maintain exercise documentation packages and artifacts (CONOPS, EXPLAN, SITMAN, MSEL, COSIN).
• Support end-to-end exercise execution: concept, scope, and post-exercise reporting (AAR).
• Assist with participant registration, tracking, and findings collection for lessons learned.

Skills

HSEEP experience

Stakeholder coordination

Writing skills

Time management

Team collaboration

Education

FEMA HSEEP Certification

Tools

EXPLAN tools

MSEL

SITMAN

Job description

Description

Looking for an opportunity to make an impact?

At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers' success. We empower our teams, contribute to our communities, and operate sustainable. Everything we do is built on a commitment to do the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community. Our Mission, Vision, and Values guide the way we do business.

Your greatest work is ahead!

Leidos is seeking a Mid-Level Exercise Planner to be a part of an exercise support team providing HSEEP exercise planning and design, development, conduct, and evaluation support for CISA's National Cybersecurity Exercise Program (NCEP), including supporting all aspects of exercise coordination, documentation, participant support, and basic reporting activities. This role supports both day-to-day program operations and execution of exercise events by maintaining organized materials, tracking actions, and supporting tools used to register, track, and analyze participants and findings.

If this sounds like the kind of environment where you can thrive, keep reading!

Leidos' Homeland Sector's Airports, Borders, and Security (ABS) business area delivers air travel modernization, border protection, and critical infrastructure security solutions that help build a safer, more resilient homeland. Operating globally across aviation security, passenger screening, cybersecurity, and border and port security, ABS integrates next-generation technologies-including AI-driven analytics, advanced threat detection, and command-and-control platforms-to secure the movement of people and goods worldwide by improving situational awareness, accelerating decisions, and strengthening operational outcomes for customers.

Are you ready to make an impact? Begin your journey of a flourishing and meaningful career, share your resume with us today!

Mid-Level Exercise Planner

Primary Responsibilities Include:

• Support and lead aspects of exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation on a team working concurrently on multiple exercises across the country.
• Communicate and coordinate regularly across exercise support team, with Senior Exercise Planners, Exercise Leads, and with exercise stakeholders.
• Participate in meetings with Senior Exercise Planners and Regional Exercise Leads regularly to ensure timely production of materials and exercise execution.
• Support and participate in planning meetings (as appropriate), such as C&A, IP, MPM, MSEL Meeting, and FPM, and in developing all supporting documentation, including agendas, presentations, and notes/meeting minutes.
• Support the development of core exercise documentation and artifacts (e.g., CONOPS, EXPLAN, SITMAN, MSEL, COSIN, evaluation forms, invitations/sign-in sheets).
• Support end-to-end exercise execution: concept and scope, execution support, evaluation approach, and post-exercise reporting (AAR and assigned reports).
• Support creation and maintenance of exercise documentation packages (e.g., invitations, sign-in sheets, meeting notes, and other administrative documents).
• Support participant registration and tracking activities using technical tools provided/used by the program.
• Support collection and organization of findings, recommendations, and lessons learned for post-exercise products.
• Report regularly to Exercise Leads and across exercise support team according to communications plan.
• Attend and participate in each exercise within assigned region, as required.
• Support development of newCISA Tabletop Exercise Packages (CTEPs)and maintenance of the CTEP scenario library.
• Support internal training activities to improve facilitation and planning skills across NCEP staff.
• Support program operations tasks as directed (e.g., maintaining an exercise calendar, assisting with content organization onCISA.gov/otherplatforms, supporting all-hands coordination).
• Ability to work on Eastern time zone hours; ability to be on camera on Microsoft Teams for meetings where required.

Required Experience, Skills, and Education:

• Ability to obtain DHS Suitability / CISA EOD.
• 5+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.
• Experience coordinating with multiple stakeholders across technical, operational, government, and private-sector environments.
• Ability to analyze complex cyber scenarios and identify technical, operational, procedural, communications, and information-sharing gaps.
• FEMA HSEEP Certification or ability to achieve HSEEP certification within 30 days of contract start.
• Strong writing skills to develop polished exercise materials and documents (such as EXPLANs, SITMANs, MSELs, and controller/observer instructions) and post-exercise products (including AAR drafting support).
• Demonstrated ability to manage time, meet deadlines and milestones.

Preferred Experience, Skills, and Education:

• Experience with cybersecurity operations, cyber threat analysis, incident response, vulnerability management, cyber risk management, or cyber exercise planning.
• FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP)
• Experience supporting cybersecurity-focused scenarios and stakeholder engagement across government and private sector partners.
• Cybersecurity Certifications
  • CISSP
  • CEH
  • GIAC
• Experience contributing to AAR development and communicating findings to technical and non-technical audiences.

Clearance Required:

• none

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo - because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 - and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Pay Range:Pay Range $52,000.00 - $94,000.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline onlyand not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

About Leidos

Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with 47,000 global employees, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $16.7 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2025. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits are fundamental to any career decision. That's why we craft compensation packages that reflect the importance of the work we do for our customers. Employment benefits include competitive compensation, Health and Wellness programs, Income Protection, Paid Leave and Retirement. More details are available at www.leidos.com/careers/pay-benefits.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, citizenship, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, family structure, marital status, ancestry, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, or any other basis prohibited by law. Leidos will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with relevant laws.

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