Senior Operational Readiness, Activation & Transition (ORAT) Specialist - Contingent Opportunity

Jacobs; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 144,000 - 226,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) plan

Stock purchase program

Paid time off (PPTO)

Job summary

Jacobs is seeking an Operational Readiness, Activation & Transition (ORAT) Specialist to plan and deliver readiness programs for aviation and infrastructure projects. The role may lead a defined workstream, such as trials or organizational readiness, coordinating with senior ORAT professionals and project teams.

Location will be tailored to portfolio needs. The position requires a Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) with experience in ORAT, activation, or complex capital projects, and a

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in related field.
• Experience contributing to ORAT or complex capital projects.
• Ability to independently lead defined workstreams as required.
• Experience coordinating stakeholders and producing client-ready docs.
• Willingness to travel frequently.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to planning, mobilization, and execution of ORAT programs across the project lifecycle.
• Develop and maintain work plans, schedules, trackers, and inputs for ORAT activities.
• Support stakeholder engagement and build relationships with clients and partners.
• Document operational requirements and contribute to transition plans and opening strategies.
• Coordinate training activities, logistics, and tracking.
• Lead or support tabletop exercises, trials, simulations, and readiness evaluations.
• Track ORAT dependencies with design, construction, testing, turnover, and milestones.
• Maintain readiness tools, dashboards, risks, issues, and SharePoint content.
• Prepare status reports, dashboards, and client-facing materials.
• Facilitate meetings; document decisions, owners, and due dates.
• Manage tasks to scope, schedule, quality, and documentation standards.
• Contribute to lessons learned and transition-to-service activities.
• Provide mentoring to junior staff during assignments.

Skills

Communication

Organization

Stakeholder mgmt

Travel frequently

MS 365

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in aviation management

Engineering

Construction Management

Operations Management

Planning

Tools

SharePoint

Scheduling

Dashboards

Job description

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good.

Your impact

We are seeking an Operational Readiness, Activation & Transition (ORAT) Specialist to contribute to the planning and delivery of operational readiness programs for complex aviation and infrastructure projects. This role may lead a defined workstream - such as operational trials or organizational readiness, including familiarization, induction and training activities while working collaboratively with senior ORAT professionals and project teams. Location will be tailored to portfolio needs.

In this role, you will

• Contribute to the planning, mobilization, and execution of ORAT programs across the project lifecycle, supporting or leading assigned workstreams as appropriate.
• Develop and maintain work plans, schedules, trackers, deliverable inputs, and coordination materials for assigned ORAT activities.
• Support stakeholder engagement and operational interface planning and build effective working relationships with clients, operators, airlines and tenants, designers, contractors, vendors, regulators, and other project partners.
• Gather, validate, and document operational requirements and contribute to Concepts of Operations, procedures, transition plans, responsibility matrices, and opening strategies.
• Support or coordinate Familiarization, Induction and Training activities, including needs assessments, content development, logistics, delivery, and completion tracking.
• Support or lead, as appropriate to grade and assignment, tabletop exercises, operational trials, simulations, and readiness evaluations, including scripts, logistics, observations, findings, and follow-up actions.
• Track ORAT dependencies and interfaces with design, construction, testing and commissioning, systems integration, turnover, permitting, and operational milestones.
• Maintain readiness controls and collaboration tools, including risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, actions, decisions, dashboards, evidence, and SharePoint content.
• Prepare clear status reports, dashboards, presentations, meeting materials, and recommendations for project teams and client review.
• Facilitate or support working sessions and project meetings; document decisions, owners, due dates, constraints, and required escalations.
• Manage assigned tasks and workflows to agreed scope, schedule, quality, and documentation standards and promptly communicate risks or blockers.
• Contribute to quality reviews, lessons learned, project closeout, and transition-to-service activities.
• Provide coordination, mentoring, or guidance to junior staff and project team members when assigned.

Here's what you'll need

• Bachelor’s degree in aviation management, Engineering, Construction Management, Operations Management, Planning, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience consistent with the applicable job grade.
• Experience contributing to ORAT, activation, airport or facility operations, construction, commissioning, training, trials, stakeholder engagement, project controls, or other complex capital-program delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate assigned ORAT activities and contribute to workstream delivery, with the capability to independently lead defined workstreams such as operational trials, organizational readiness, or Familiarization, Induction and Training activities as experience and assignment require.
• Experience coordinating stakeholders, facilitating or supporting meetings, and producing accurate, client-ready documentation.
• Working knowledge of facility or airport operations and the relationships among design, construction, testing and commissioning, turnover, and operational readiness.
• Ability to read project schedules, identify operational dependencies, monitor milestones, and elevate emerging conflicts.
• Experience contributing to operational plans, procedures, Concepts of Operations, training materials, trial documentation, or transition plans.
• Ability to support or coordinate training, tabletop exercises, operational trials, simulations, and follow-up action closure.
• Familiarity with risk, issue, action, decision, change, and quality-management practices.
• Availability to travel to project sites frequently.

Core skills

• Clear written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication appropriate to project-team and client environments.
• Strong organization, attention to detail, follow-through, and ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Collaborative approach and ability to work effectively with clients, operators, designers, contractors, vendors, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and SharePoint; experience with scheduling, dashboard, risk, or project-management platforms is preferred.
• Ability to travel frequently and work on-site or variable hours when required for trials, transitions, or facility openings.

Ideally, you'll also have

• Exposure to aviation operations or a major facility opening, and progress toward a relevant aviation, project management, or ORAT credential.

Benefits

Employees have access to medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance, a 401(k) plan, and the ability to purchase company stock at a discount. Eligible employees may also enroll in a deferred compensation plan or the Executive Deferral Plan. Jacobs has an unlimited U.S. Personalized Paid Time Off (PPTO) policy for full-time salaried/exempt employees, seven paid holidays, and caregiver leave. And certain roles may be eligible for additional rewards, including merit increases, performance discretionary bonus, and stock.

The base salary range for this position is $144,400.00 to $225,550.00. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Job posted on September 22, 2026. This position will be open for at least 3 days.

We value collaboration and believe that in-person interactions are crucial for both our culture and client delivery. We empower employees with our hybrid working policy, allowing them to split their work week between Jacobs offices/projects and remote locations enabling them to deliver their best work.

Your application experience is important to us, and we’re keen to adapt to make every interaction even better. If you require further support or reasonable adjustments with regards to the recruitment process (for example, you require the application form in a different format), please contact the team via Careers Support.