Senior Exercise Planner - Regional Exercise Lead

Leidos; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 82,550 - 149,225; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and Wellness programs

Income Protection

Paid Leave

Retirement

Job summary

Leidos is looking for a Senior Exercise Planner to act as a Regional Exercise Lead for the CISA National Cyber Exercise Program. The position involves designing and executing multiple concurrent exercises for CISA stakeholders, leading a team of exercise specialists throughout the exercise lifecycle.

Required qualifications include a TS/SCI clearance, 10+ years in exercise design and management, and strong communication skills. The role offers competitive compensation and a variety of employment benefits.

Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.
• 8+ years experience in exercise management or leadership.
• Demonstrated experience planning and delivering structured documentation for exercises.

Responsibilities

• Lead all exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation for assigned region.
• Communicate and coordinate with stakeholders to ensure appropriate resource allocation.
• Maintain regular communications with exercise stakeholders and report to management.

Skills

HSEEP exercise design

Exercise management

Strong writing skills

Meeting facilitation

Time management

Education

Active TS/SCI clearance

FEMA HSEEP Certified

Cybersecurity Certifications (CISSP, CEH, GIAC)

Job description

Senior Exercise Planner / Regional Exercise Lead (TS/SCI)

Leidos is seeking a Senior Exercise Planner to serve as a Regional Exercise Lead for the CISA National Cyber Exercise Program (NCEP), including leading all exercise design, development, planning, conduct, and evaluation as required for their assigned region. This role leads exercise support teams – comprised of Junior to Senior Exercise Specialists – across their assigned region that develop and execute multiple, concurrent exercises for CISA stakeholders across the country.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead all exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation as required for the exercises in their assigned region.
• Participate in initial meetings with leadership, CISA, and exercise stakeholders to determine scope, team requirements, resources, schedule, etc., for each exercise in their assigned region.
• Support PM and DPM/IM in identifying and allocating appropriate personnel and resources to each exercise support team for each exercise in their region, based on type, size, complexity.
• Identify roles in each exercise support team and staff to assume those roles for the lifetime of the exercise cycle, including a lead for meetings, documentation, content development, etc.
• Lead coordination of planning meetings (as appropriate), such as C&O, IPM, MPM, MSEL Meeting, and FPM, and all supporting documentation, including agendas, presentations, and notes. Work with identified team lead for this role.
• Lead coordination for the development of core exercise documentation and artifacts (e.g., CONOPS, EXPLAN, SITMAN, MSEL, COSIN, evaluation forms, invitations/sign-in sheets). Work with identified team lead for this role.
• Focus on managing multiple concurrent exercises across their assigned region.
• Communicate and coordinate with other Regional Exercise Leads and PM/DPM to ensure appropriate resource allocation and deconflict schedules.
• Maintain communications with regular meetings with exercise stakeholders in their region.
• Report regularly to management based on communications plan.
• Establish own battle rhythm for meetings and coordination/communications with regional exercise teams.
• Fill in as a SME and Exercise Facilitator if necessary.
• Support development of new CISA 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

• Active TS/SCI clearance.
• Ability to obtain DHS EOD.
• 10+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.
• 8+ years experience in exercise management or leadership, including managing multiple exercises, exercise teams, schedules, and concurrent execution.
• FEMA HSEEP Certified.
• 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 DHS 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

• 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

Clearance Required

• Active TS/SCI clearance.

Compensation

Pay Range: $82,550.00 - $149,225.00

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.

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.