Exercise Lead

CONTINGENT UPON CONTRACT AWARD

Exercise Lead

Transportation Security Administration's Intermodal Security Training and Exercise Program (TSA I-STEP) Support Services

Location: Remote

Position Type: Full-Time

Security Requirement: Public Trust

Work Location / Travel: Remote environment with required availability for TSA Headquarters (Springfield, VA) meetings and CONUS exercise deployments.

Summary:

The Exercise Lead serves as the senior exercise planning, design, development, facilitation, execution, and evaluation professional supporting the Transportation Security Administration's Intermodal Security Training and Exercise Program (I-STEP). The Exercise Lead is responsible for leading Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)-aligned transportation security exercises designed to assess and improve the preparedness, security, and resilience of transportation operators and their Federal, State, local, tribal, law enforcement, emergency response, and other security partners.

The Exercise Lead translates stakeholder requirements, threats, risks, plans, policies, procedures, and senior-leader guidance into realistic, objective-driven exercises. The position leads multidisciplinary exercise planning teams, oversees development of exercise products, facilitates discussion- and operations-based exercises, coordinates evaluation activities, and ensures exercise findings are transformed into meaningful after-action products and improvement recommendations.

The Exercise Lead must be available to attend in-person meetings, planning sessions, briefings, program reviews, and other engagements held at TSA Headquarters, as required, and must be available to travel to exercise locations throughout the Continental United States (CONUS) to provide onsite exercise planning, facilitation, execution, evaluation, and related support.

Duties:

Exercise Leadership and Program Support

• Lead the planning, design, development, execution, evaluation, and closeout of HSEEP-aligned transportation security exercises.
• Serve as the senior exercise subject-matter lead for assigned projects.
• Lead and manage multidisciplinary exercise planning teams.
• Coordinate exercise activities across design and development, scenario development, facilitation, control, evaluation, logistics, administration, and resource-support functions.
• Ensure exercises remain aligned with TSA priorities, senior-leader intent, stakeholder requirements, identified threats and risks, security goals, and applicable plans and procedures.
• Apply risk-informed, capability-based, objective-driven exercise-design principles.
• Use proven project-management practices, schedules, milestones, status reporting, and communications to keep exercise projects on scope and schedule.

Stakeholder Engagement and Needs Assessment

• Conduct and support risk-based needs assessments to identify exercise requirements, capability gaps, preparedness priorities, and desired outcomes.
• Coordinate with transportation operators and Federal, State, local, tribal, law enforcement, emergency-management, emergency-response, emergency medical, and other participating organizations.
• Convene and facilitate collaborative planning teams.
• Review previous exercises, After-Action Reports/Improvement Plans, real-world events, threat and risk assessments, plans, policies, procedures, and other relevant information to inform exercise design.
• Establish stakeholder consensus regarding exercise purpose, scope, objectives, scenario, participation, extent of play, evaluation requirements, and desired outcomes.

Exercise Design and Development

• Develop exercise purpose, scope, objectives, scenarios, timelines, evaluation parameters, participation requirements, resource requirements, and expected outcomes.
• Develop realistic, plausible, and challenging exercise scenarios reflecting applicable transportation security threats, hazards, vulnerabilities, risks, and operational conditions.
• Ensure objectives appropriately measure participant capabilities and expected performance.
• Develop or oversee HSEEP exercise documentation, including, as applicable:
  
  
  
  • Situation Manuals (SitMan)
  • Exercise Plans (ExPlan)
  • Facilitator Guides
  • Controller/Evaluator Handbooks
  • Master Scenario Events Lists (MSEL)
  • Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs)
  • Evaluation Plans
  • participant handouts
  • presentations and briefing materials
  • logistics documentation
  • media/public-information materials
  
  
  
  
• Coordinate with subject-matter experts to validate scenarios, technical information, exercise injects, assumptions, and expected player actions.

Exercise Planning Meetings

Plan, organize, lead, and/or facilitate appropriate HSEEP planning activities, including:

• Concept and Objectives (C&O) Meetings
• Initial Planning Meetings (IPM)
• Midterm Planning Meetings (MPM)
• Master Scenario Events List (MSEL) Meetings
• Final Planning Meetings (FPM)
• rehearsal and synchronization meetings
• Controller/Evaluator briefings
• facilitator walkthroughs
• Hot Washes
• After-Action Meetings
• In-Progress Reviews and other program meetings

Exercise Facilitation and Execution

• Serve in senior exercise roles such as Exercise Lead, Lead Facilitator, Exercise Director, Lead Controller, or other role appropriate to the exercise.
• Facilitate workshops, tabletop exercises, seminars, and other discussion-based exercises.
• Lead or support drills, functional exercises, and full-scale exercises.
• Maintain exercise flow, pace, realism, participant engagement, and alignment with exercise objectives.
• Direct or coordinate facilitators, controllers, simulators, evaluators, note-takers, and resource-support staff.
• Conduct pre-exercise walkthroughs, rehearsals, facilitator briefings, Controller/Evaluator briefings, and synchronization activities.
• Ensure exercises are conducted safely and effectively.
• Incorporate emerging threats and evolving transportation-security risks into exercise scenarios as appropriate.

Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning

• Develop or oversee exercise evaluation strategies, methodologies, criteria, and performance measures.
• Ensure evaluation requirements are integrated early in the exercise-design process.
• Develop or oversee Exercise Evaluation Guides and other evaluation products.
• Coordinate evaluator assignments, training, and briefings.
• Review observations, participant feedback, evaluator data, and exercise outcomes.
• Analyze strengths, areas for improvement, lessons learned, best practices, and potential corrective actions.
• Lead development and quality review of After-Action Reports and associated improvement-planning products.
• Facilitate or participate in Hot Washes and After-Action Meetings.
• Support tracking of improvement opportunities and corrective actions.
• Ensure appropriate planning, evaluation, and exercise information is documented in TSA's Exercise Information System (EXIS).

TSA Headquarters and CONUS Support

• Attend and actively participate in meetings, planning sessions, briefings, program reviews, and other engagements conducted at TSA Headquarters, as required.
• Travel to exercise locations throughout CONUS to provide onsite exercise leadership and support.
• Conduct or support site visits, planning meetings, rehearsals, exercise setup, exercise conduct, Hot Washes, After-Action Meetings, and other field activities.
• Maintain flexibility to support activities outside normal business hours when required by exercise schedules, operational requirements, travel, or U.S. time-zone differences.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree with five or more years of experience designing, planning, and developing transportation-industry-based training products; or Graduate degree with at least four years of prior related experience.
• Minimum of five years of experience facilitating Joint Integrated Process/Product Teams (IPTs), workshops, and simulation-driven product development incorporating HSEEP principles.
• Experience facilitating and collaborating among transportation operators, security personnel, emergency responders, and law enforcement.
• Extensive knowledge of programming, deploying, and optimizing training programs.
• Ability to meet TSA Public Trust and applicable personnel-security requirements.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Advanced knowledge of HSEEP doctrine and the complete HSEEP lifecycle.
• Experience with workshops, tabletop exercises, drills, functional exercises, and full-scale exercises.
• Strong group facilitation and executive communication skills.
• Ability to translate complex operational issues, threats, and risks into realistic exercise scenarios.
• Strong project leadership, critical-thinking, analytical, writing, editing, and briefing skills.
• Experience producing HSEEP exercise documentation and AAR/Improvement Plan products.
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders, exercise products, deadlines, and concurrent projects.
• Knowledge of homeland security, emergency management, critical infrastructure, transportation security, preparedness, or related disciplines.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams in a collaborative environment.

US Citizenship required for this Position: Yes

Performance Location: Various

Relocation Assistance: No

Clearance Type: Public Trust

Travel Required: Yes - dependent upon event location

Applied Training Solutions, LLC is a leading simulations company providing innovative systems, products, and solutions to government and commercial customers.

Applied Training Solutions, LLC is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class. U.S. Citizenship is required for most positions.