Explore rewarding Exercise Planner, Subject Matter Expert (SME) jobs, a critical niche within defense, government, and emergency management sectors. Professionals in this role are the master architects behind complex operational exercises, designing, coordinating, and evaluating simulated scenarios to test plans, train personnel, and validate capabilities for real-world missions. These SMEs serve as the vital link between strategic objectives and tactical execution, ensuring that exercises are realistic, rigorous, and provide actionable insights for organizational improvement. Typically, an Exercise Planner, SME is responsible for the entire exercise lifecycle. This begins with deep analysis of operational plans (OPLANs) and mission requirements to design relevant scenarios. They develop comprehensive exercise documentation, including concepts of operation (CONOPs), signal annexes, and base orders. A core part of the role involves extensive collaboration, leading planning conferences and working groups with diverse stakeholders, including military units, government agencies, and coalition partners, to synchronize efforts and integrate systems. During exercise execution, they often provide onsite support, overseeing the implementation of plans, troubleshooting integration issues, and facilitating after-action reviews to capture lessons learned. Common responsibilities across these jobs include conducting site surveys, briefing senior leadership on architectures and risks, and developing detailed communication and network plans to support simulated or real-world operations. They are tasked with ensuring all exercise elements—from IT and communications networks to personnel and logistics—are meticulously coordinated to create a cohesive training environment that stresses systems and processes under controlled conditions. The typical skill set for this profession is both broad and deep. It requires strong technical acumen, often in areas like network engineering, cybersecurity (including Risk Management Framework), and information systems integration, particularly with tactical communications. Equally important are exceptional project management, analytical, and critical thinking skills. Exercise Planners must be detail-oriented organizers and superb communicators, capable of writing clear technical documents and briefing complex concepts to executive audiences. Standard requirements for these jobs usually include a relevant bachelor’s degree, extensive experience (often 8-10+ years) in operations planning or IT management within a government/military context, and active professional certifications such as Security+ or CISSP. Due to the sensitive nature of the work, U.S. citizenship and an active Department of Defense security clearance are almost universally mandatory. For those with a blend of technical expertise, strategic vision, and a passion for ensuring mission readiness, Exercise Planner, SME jobs offer a challenging and impactful career path at the intersection of planning, technology, and national security.
