Training and Exercise Specialist

Type of Requisition:

Regular

Clearance Level Must Currently Possess:

Top Secret

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain:

Top Secret/SCI

Public Trust/Other Required:

None

Job Family:

Functional Experts

Job Qualifications:

Skills:

Training and Development, Training Coordination, Training Delivery, Training Needs Assessment, Training People Certifications:

None Experience:

7 + years of related experience US Citizenship Required:

Yes

Job Description:

Position Summary

The Training and Exercise Specialist develops and delivers training and exercises that ensure a DHS national cyber operations center workforce remains qualified and mission-ready for 24/7 operations, surge support, and crisis response. This role manages training programs, conducts hands-on instruction and exercises, tracks qualifications and certifications, and supports readiness, modernization, and operational effectiveness across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Training Program Development

• •Conduct training needs assessments for operations center roles.
• •Develop qualification standards, curricula, training materials, job aids, and onboarding programs.
• •Ensure training products comply with Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• •Assess current operations, systems, workflows, readiness gaps, and dependencies to identify training needs.
• •Translate approved operational concepts, governance structures, reporting processes, escalation procedures, and mission requirements into measurable learning objectives and qualification criteria.

Training Delivery

• •Deliver instructor-led, hands-on, virtual, and on-the-job training.
• •Provide instruction on procedures, playbooks, cybersecurity tools, analytics platforms, and AI-assisted workflows.
• •Conduct train-the-trainer sessions to enable shift leaders to sustain workforce readiness.
• •Train personnel on information validation, escalation procedures, data integrity practices, and operation of new capabilities.
• •Coordinate training schedules for geographically distributed teams and 24/7 operations.
• •Track corrective actions, validate completion, and incorporate lessons learned into training materials.

Exercise Design and Execution

• •Design, conduct, and evaluate tabletop and functional exercises using HSEEP methodology.
• •Develop realistic cyber and critical infrastructure scenarios involving federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private-sector partners.
• •Produce after-action reports and improvement plans and track corrective actions to closure.
• •Exercise continuity operations, surge response, governance changes, and incident-response processes.
• •Integrate threat, vulnerability, dependency, and consequence assessment methodologies into exercises and evaluation criteria.

Readiness and Certification Management

• •Maintain training, qualification, and certification records.
• •Provide readiness data and identify qualification gaps or certification expirations.
• •Assess learner proficiency against established standards.
• •Collect feedback and evaluate training effectiveness in partnership with performance analysts.
• •Support readiness reporting with validated training and exercise metrics.

Knowledge and Procedure Management

• •Support refinement of procedures, playbooks, and escalation processes through training and exercises.
• •Maintain repositories for curricula, scenarios, evaluation guides, qualification records, lessons learned, and after-action reports.
• •Ensure training content remains aligned with approved procedures, system changes, and operational requirements.

Quality, Compliance, and Accessibility

• •Apply quality-control standards to training and exercise products.
• •Verify technical accuracy, accessibility, review processes, and required approvals.
• •Ensure compliance with agency security, governance, and information-handling requirements.

Surge Training and Rapid Enablement

• •Deliver just-in-time training and updated job aids during incidents, emergencies, or major operational changes.
• •Prepare surge and continuity personnel through cross-training, drills, and readiness assessments.
• •Support activation and recovery activities under continuity and staffing plans.

Documentation and Knowledge Transfer

• •Develop final training and exercise deliverables, including curricula, user guides, job aids, exercise packages, after-action reports, and effectiveness assessments.
• •Provide knowledge transfer and maintenance guidance to government personnel.
• •For large-scale initiatives, support development of training demonstrations, videos, and communication materials in coordination with project teams.

Required Qualifications

• •Bachelor's degree in Education, Instructional Design, Emergency Management, Cybersecurity, or a related field.
• •8+ years of experience developing and delivering training programs.
• •3+ years of experience designing or conducting exercises.
• •Experience with instructional design methodologies (such as ADDIE).
• •Experience designing and conducting HSEEP-based exercises.
• •Experience training technical or operational audiences.
• •Experience with learning management systems and training record management.
• •Active Top Secret (TS) clearance.
• •Eligibility for TS/SCI access.
• •Ability to work onsite at DHS Headquarters and other National Capital Region locations.

Preferred Qualifications

• •FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEPP) certification or HSEEP training.
• •Experience supporting a security operations center, watch floor, or emergency operations center.
• •Experience conducting cyber exercises involving critical infrastructure partners.
• •CPTD, CTT+, or similar training certifications.
• •Experience developing Section 508-compliant training materials.
• •Experience supporting DHS, CISA, FEMA, or DoD programs.
• •Experience evaluating training effectiveness using the Kirkpatrick model.
• •Familiarity with CISA cybersecurity training resources and current HSEEP doctrine.
• •Ability to support after-hours, weekend, holiday, on-call, and continuity operations.
• •Current DHS Entry on Duty (EOD) suitability determination.
• •Experience handling Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

The likely salary range for this position is $114,750 - $155,250. This is not, however, a guarantee of compensation or salary. Rather, salary will be set based on experience, geographic location and possibly contractual requirements and could fall outside of this range.

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

40

Travel Required:

10-25%

T elecommuting Options:

Onsite

Work Location:

USA DC Washington

Additional Work Locations:

Total Rewards at GDIT:

Our benefits package for all US-based employees includes a variety of medical plan options, some with Health Savings Accounts, dental plan options, a vision plan, and a 401(k) plan offering the ability to contribute both pre and post-tax dollars up to the IRS annual limits and receive a company match. To encourage work/life balance, GDIT offers employees full flex work weeks where possible and a variety of paid time off plans, including vacation, sick and personal time, holidays, paid parental, military, bereavement and jury duty leave. To ensure our employees are able to protect their income, other offerings such as short and long-term disability benefits, life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness and business travel and accident insurance are provided or available. We regularly review our Total Rewards package to ensure our offerings are competitive and reflect what our employees have told us they value most.

Our Identity Verification Process:

As part of the hiring process, we will ask you to complete an identity verification process that leverages advanced biometrics and artificial intelligence to ensure authenticity and protect against identity fraud. You are expected to be on camera during virtual interviews. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identit