Strategic Planner (TS/SCI #26-174) in Arlington, Virginia at Strategic Analysis, Inc.

Join our team in this new role. Candidates will combine executive-level national-security program leadership, Intelligence Community (IC) experience, strategic engagement, and change-management expertise with demonstrated success introducing new mission capabilities, programs, analytic products, or technology-enabled initiatives. This individual will translate strategic priorities and user needs into executable New Product Introduction (NPI) and transition plans; align Government, industry, academic, and other mission stakeholders; and prepare decision-ready products for senior leaders.
This role requires a strategic leader who can guide capabilities from concept and stakeholder discovery through demonstration, adoption, transition, and sustained use across the IC, Department of War (DoW), inter-agency, and private-sector environments.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead NPI, capability-transition, mission-adoption, and strategic-engagement initiatives for national-security customers.
• Guide the NPI lifecycle, including stakeholder discovery, requirements shaping, value proposition development, pilot or demonstration planning, transition-partner identification, implementation, and sustainment planning.
• Develop roadmaps, transition plans, integrated schedules, risk registers, stakeholder maps, engagement strategies, performance metrics, decision papers, and executive briefings.
• Assess transition readiness, including mission need, user demand, resource requirements, policy considerations, operational constraints, dependencies, and adoption risks.
• Coordinate Government, IC, DoW, industry, academic, and other mission partners to build alignment and establish pathways for operational adoption.
• Advise senior leaders on strategic opportunities, execution risk, stakeholder dynamics, organizational change, technology and supply-chain implications, and recommended courses of action.
• Plan and facilitate senior-level engagements, working groups, demonstrations, technical exchanges, and executive reviews.
• Lead cross-functional teams and translate complex intelligence, policy, technical, and programmatic material into concise, actionable products.
• Support portfolio planning, investment prioritization, performance assessment, and identification of partnership opportunities.
• Establish feedback mechanisms with end users and transition partners to inform product, process, and program improvements.

Required Experience:

• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience supporting the IC, DoW, federal Government, diplomatic, national-security, technology-policy, or related strategic programs.
• Demonstrated experience launching, leading, restructuring, or advancing complex programs, mission initiatives, enterprise capabilities, or strategic-engagement portfolios.
• Demonstrated experience applying NPI, capability-transition, mission-adoption, or comparable lifecycle-management practices to move a product, capability, service, or mission construct from concept to operational use.
• Experience in NPI core skillsets, including:
• Stakeholder and end-user discovery;
• Requirements definition;
• Roadmap and implementation planning;
• Pilot or demonstration planning;
• Transition and adoption strategy;
• Change management;
• Performance assessment; and
• Sustainment or scale-up planning.
• Experience in one or more NPI sub-skillsets, such as transition-partner engagement, partnership development, governance design, risk and opportunity analysis, technology or supply-chain initiatives, mission realignment, implementation metrics, or transition documentation.
• Demonstrated ability to lead interdisciplinary teams and coordinate across intelligence, defense, policy, operational, technical, diplomatic, and private-sector stakeholders.
• Experience developing strategic plans, schedules, milestones, risk registers, engagement plans, and performance measures.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience producing executive briefings, decision memoranda, strategic assessments, read-aheads, and reports.
• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, exercise sound judgment, and build consensus among stakeholders with differing objectives.
• Active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) eligibility.

Preferred Experience:
• Experience supporting Government agencies, federal R&D organizations, Combatant Commands, or other national-security customers.
• Experience in technology or economic security, strategic competition, supply chains, emerging technology, or related mission areas.
• Experience standing up a new mission, office, program, portfolio, or enterprise initiative.
• Experience managing multi-million-dollar programs, budgets, portfolios, or strategic-engagement activities.
• Experience with R&D transition, capability commercialization, technology transfer, demonstration planning, or operational adoption.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in international relations, national security studies, public policy, business, political science, economics, intelligence studies, systems engineering, technology management, or a related field required.
• Master's degree in national security, public policy, business administration, international affairs, intelligence studies, technology management, systems engineering, or a related discipline preferred.
• Additional qualifying senior-level Government, IC, DoW, diplomatic, program-management, or capability-transition experience may be considered in lieu of a degree, consistent with applicable contract and customer requirements.