Senior Exercise Planner

Leidos Holding$82K — $149K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Active TS/SCI clearance required.
  • Ability to obtain DHS EOD.
  • 10+ years of experience in HSEEP exercise design and evaluation.
  • FEMA HSEEP Certified.
  • Strong writing skills for creating exercise-related documentation and post-exercise reports.
  • Proven experience leading meetings and facilitating exercises.
  • Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and manage team accountability.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with the Regional Exercise Lead on exercise planning.
  • Lead documentation and communication for assigned exercise aspects.
  • Coordinate with exercise support team and stakeholders to meet timelines.
  • Participate in initial stakeholder meetings to set exercise schedules.
  • Facilitate planning meetings and develop supporting documentation.
  • Create core exercise documentation and artifacts.
  • Support the end-to-end execution of exercises and post-event reporting.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health and wellness programs.
  • 401(k) plan with company match.
  • Professional development opportunities.
  • Flexible work environments.
  • Paid time off and holiday leave.
Full Job Description

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.

Senior Exercise Planner — (TS/SCI)

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:

  • ActiveTS/SCIclearance.

  • Ability to obtain DHS EOD.

  • 10+ years experience in HSEEP exercise design, development, conduct, and evaluation.

  • 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:

  • ActiveTS/SCIclearance.

Original Posting:
June 4, 2026

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

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.

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