Planning and Operations Specialist J7
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 5, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 16, 2026.
Overview
LMI seeks a Planning and Operations Specialist to support a Department of War J7 mission partner with experimentation campaigns that validate and field autonomous capabilities. The specialist connects experimentation venues, ranges, operational units, government stakeholders, and vendors; integrates autonomy into Joint exercises and wargames; and converts lessons learned into training, capability, and fielding actions. The ideal candidate is a highly organized planner who coordinates complex events and maintains disciplined follow-through from initial concept through after-action implementation.
LMI is a new breed of digital solutions provider dedicated to accelerating government impact with innovation and speed. Investing in technology and prototypes ahead of need, LMI brings commercial-grade platforms and mission-ready AI to federal agencies at commercial speed.
Leveraging our mission-ready technology and solutions, proven expertise in federal deployment, and strategic relationships, we enhance outcomes for the government efficiently and effectively. With a focus on agility and collaboration, LMI serves the defense, space, healthcare, and energy sectors, helping agencies navigate complexity and outpace change. Headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, LMI is committed to delivering impactful results that strengthen missions and drive lasting value.
This position requires on-site support in the National Capital Region and an active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance. The position requires periodic travel to supported commands, operational units, exercises, test events, and industry locations.
Responsibilities
- Plan and coordinate autonomous-system experiments, demonstrations, test events, exercises, wargames, workshops, and operational assessments.
- Translate operational problem statements into event objectives, scenarios, mission threads, measures, data requirements, participant roles, and execution plans.
- Coordinate venues, ranges, airspace, safety, security, communications, equipment, logistics, travel, access, and other event support requirements.
- Synchronize operational units, combatant commands, Military Services, program offices, test organizations, vendors, laboratories, and industry partners.
- Develop integrated master schedules, event plans, execution checklists, risk registers, decision logs, action trackers, and readiness reviews.
- Support capability selection, technical integration, rehearsal, staging, and troubleshooting before and during events.
- Coordinate collection of quantitative and qualitative data, operator observations, test results, and mission outcomes.
- Facilitate after-action reviews and develop lessons learned, findings, recommendations, and corrective-action plans.
- Translate validated results into proposed changes to training, tactics, concepts, requirements, acquisition, fielding, and capability portfolios.
- Maintain continuity across experimentation cycles and keep open actions assigned, tracked, and closed.
- Prepare event briefs, read-ahead materials, status reports, executive summaries, and senior leader decision products.
- Identify opportunities to integrate autonomous capabilities into existing Joint exercises, wargames, and training events.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in operations, program management, engineering, military studies, test and evaluation, logistics, or a related field, or equivalent education and experience.
- Four or more years of experience in operational planning, experimentation, exercise planning, test and evaluation, capability integration, or a closely related field.
- Active TS/SCI clearance.
- Experience planning and executing complex Department of Defense exercises, demonstrations, tests, ranges, wargames, or operational events.
- Ability to coordinate schedules, participants, equipment, access, safety, logistics, communications, and data collection across multiple organizations.
- Working knowledge of autonomous systems, uncrewed systems, emerging technology, or technical capability development.
- Experience developing event plans, objectives, measures, risk assessments, after-action reports, and action trackers.
- Strong facilitation, organization, written communication, briefing, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to operate effectively during high-tempo field events and resolve issues without losing accountability.
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and work management or event planning tools.
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience supporting a Joint or Service J7, a combatant command, a test organization, or a Special Operations Forces unit.
- Experience integrating autonomous systems into live exercises, operational assessments, or wargames.
- Knowledge of range operations, airspace coordination, flight safety, spectrum, test instrumentation, or operational data collection.
- Project Management Professional, test and evaluation, Agile, systems engineering, or Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 certification.
The target salary range for this position is $148,301 - $255,653.
The salary range displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is not a guarantee of compensation. Individual salaries are determined by various factors including, but not limited to location, internal equity, business considerations, client contract requirements, and candidate qualifications, such as education, experience, skills, and security clearances.