Senior Exercise Planner

Leidos; United States; On-site; USD 83,000 - 149,000; Full time

Job summary

Leidos seeks a Senior Exercise Planner to lead HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation for CISA’s National Cyber Exercise Program. You will support the Regional Exercise Lead and oversee planning meetings, scenario development, and documentation.

The role requires extensive experience, FEMA HSEEP certification, and the ability to coordinate with exercise stakeholders, produce polished materials, and guide teams through end-to-end exercise execution.

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain CISA EOD.
• 10+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.
• FEMA HSEEP certification required or ability to complete HSEEP certification within 30 days of contract start.
• Demonstrated experience planning and delivering exercises or exercise‑like events that require structured documentation, coordination, and post‑event reporting.
• Strong writing skills to develop polished exercise materials and documents (EXPLANs, SITMANs, MSELs, and controller/observer instructions) and post‑exercise products (AAR drafting support).
• Demonstrated ability to lead high‑level meetings, exercise facilitation, and give customer‑facing presentations.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning meetings and coordinate exercise activities across the support team.
• Develop and maintain core exercise documentation and artifacts (CONOPS, EXPLAN, SITMAN, MSEL, COSIN, evaluation forms).
• Support end‑to‑end exercise execution: concept/scope, execution, evaluation, and post‑exercise reporting.

Skills

HSEEP design

FEMA HSEEP

Project coordination

Stakeholder engagement

Technical writing

Clearance eligibility

Meeting facilitation

Job 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.

Leidos is seeking a Senior Exercise Planner to lead aspects of HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation for CISA’s National Cyber Exercise Program (NCEP). This role supports the Regional Exercise Lead for their assigned regional exercises and leads aspects such as planning meetings, scenario development, exercise documentation, facilitation, exercise conduct, and exercise evaluation, for multiple concurrent exercises across their region.

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.

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.

Please be advised that during the interview, you will be required to keep your camera on, and your interviewer will be taking your picture for identification purposes if an offer letter is extended to you.

Senior Exercise Planner

Primary Responsibilities Include

• Work with the Regional Exercise Lead to determine specific exercise aspects to lead.
• Lead all activities, documentation, communication, and coordination among the exercise support team for assigned aspect (e.g., scenario, evaluation, exercise documentation, planning meetings, etc.)
• Communicate and coordinate regularly across exercise support team, with Regional Exercise Lead, and with exercise stakeholders to ensure planning timelines, resources, and staffing are maintained.
• Participate in initial meetings with Regional Exercise Lead and exercise stakeholders to establish familiarity with the exercise support team, with the stakeholder leads, and to confirm exercise schedules.
• Lead or support and participate in all planning meetings (as appropriate), such as C&O, IPM, MPM, MSEL Meeting, and FPM, and in developing all supporting documentation, including agendas, presentations, and notes.
• Lead or 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).
• Report regularly to Regional Exercise Lead and across exercise support team according to communications plan.
• Attend and participate in each exercise within assigned region as a designated exercise support role to be determined by Regional Exercise Lead and exercise support team requirements.
• Fill in as Exercise Facilitator if necessary.
• Support development of newCISA Tabletop Exercise Packages (CTEPs)and maintenance of the CTEP scenario library.
• Provide SME input to internal training activities to improve facilitation and planning skills across NCEP staff.

Required Experience, Skills, And Education

• Ability to obtain CISA EOD.
• 10+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.
• FEMA HSEEP certification required or ability to complete HSEEP certification within 30 days of contract start.
• Demonstrated experience planning and delivering exercises or exercise‑like events that require structured documentation, coordination, and post‑event reporting.
• 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 lead high‑level meetings, exercise facilitation, and give customer‑facing presentations.
• Demonstrated ability to manage time, meet deadlines and milestones, and hold team members accountable to requirements.
• Ability to meet CISA suitability and the clearance requirement applicable to the assigned role (TS/SCI for designated personnel; otherwise Public Trust fitness type), as described in the SOW.

Preferred Experience, Skills, And Education

• TS/SCI security clearance
• FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP)
• Experience supporting cybersecurity‑focused scenarios and stakeholder engagement across government and private sector partners.
• Experience contributing to strategic plan maintenance and innovation projects in support of leadership requests.
• Cybersecurity Certifications
• CISSP
• CEH
• GIAC

Pay Range

$82,550.00 - $149,225.00

Original Posting

October 7, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

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

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.

Securing Your Data

Beware of fake employment opportunities using Leidos’ name. Leidos will never ask you to provide payment‑related information during any part of the employment application process (i.e., ask you for money), nor will Leidos ever advance money as part of the hiring process (i.e., send you a check or money order before doing any work). Further, Leidos will only communicate with you through emails that are generated by the Leidos.com automated system – never from free commercial services (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) or via WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. If you received an email purporting to be from Leidos that asks for payment‑related information or any other personal information (e.g., about you or your previous employer), and you are concerned about its legitimacy, please make us aware immediately by emailing us at [e-mail].

If you believe you are the victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and report the incident to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

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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