Project Operational Planning & Posture Subject Matter Expert (SME)

About the Role

The Operational Planning & Posture SME serves as the branch's technical and functional authority for deliberate planning support and posture-related planning integration. This role defines and sustains planning-support rigor, standards, quality gates, and expert advisory to ensure high-visibility products remain coherent, defensible, and aligned with guidance across the JPEC. The SME intervenes where complexity, risk, or ambiguity threatens outcomes, without owning daily suspense tracking or battle rhythm execution.

Responsibilities

• Define planning-support standards (templates, quality gates, staffing checklists, traceability expectations, version-control conventions) for branch-wide use.
• Advise government leads on complex planning-support approaches (staffing strategy, integration paths, decision points, adjudication methods).
• Perform senior technical review of high-visibility briefs, information papers, and final planning documents to ensure clarity, consistency, and decision-readiness.
• Resolve the hardest integration problems (conflicting guidance, misaligned assumptions, incomplete inputs) and recommend defensible tradeoffs and mitigation paths.
• Translate policy and guidance into actionable planning inputs and posture initiative implications (as directed by government leads).
• Strengthen OPT/working group outcomes by shaping narratives, analytical framing, and decision-quality criteria (without meeting administration).
• Coach Senior and junior staff on advanced staff writing, editorial judgment, and staffing discipline through targeted reviews and exemplars.
• Assess systemic bottlenecks and recommend repeatable improvements to reduce rework and improve first-pass acceptance (without taking over daily execution).

Skills

• Ability to work independently and collaborate as part of a team.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Meticulous attention to detail and quality of work product.
• Ability to build and sustain professional relationships.
• Ability to lead projects or workstreams.
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
• Strong interpersonal skills and professional demeanor.
• Ability to meet deadlines.
• Ability to provide clear guidance to others.

About the Team

Deloitte's Government & Public Services (GPS) practice is designed for impact, serving federal, state, and local government clients as well as public higher education institutions. The team brings fresh perspectives to help clients anticipate disruption, reimagine the possible, and fulfill their mission promise. Industry Solutions clients seek verticalized solutions that transform how they sell products, deliver services, generate growth, and fulfill mission-critical operations. The offering delivers integrated business expertise with repeatable, scaled technology solutions engineered for each sector's IndustryAdvantage™.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future.
• Active TS/SCI security clearance required.
• 10+ years of experience supporting joint/service planning and senior-leader decision support, including production and critical review of staff products.
• 5+ years of experience with JPEC planning forums and staffing dynamics (e.g., OPTs, joint planning groups).
• 5+ years of experience drafting/editing planning products and enforcing consistency, traceability, and formatting discipline.
• Ability to comply with government workplace requirements and obtain/maintain any required access/eligibility.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced operational planning education (e.g., JAWS/SAMS/MAWS/JCWS/JPME).
• Senior PME (e.g., CGSC/ILE, USMC CSC, Naval/War College equivalents).
• Prior experience with USINDOPACOM, MARFORPAC, HQMC, a combatant command, Service component, or MEF HQ.
• Advanced Doctoral degree in a relevant field.

Pay

For individuals assigned and/or hired to work in Hawaii, the estimated compensation range for this role is $144,600 to $241,000. You may also be eligible to participate in a discretionary annual incentive program, subject to program rules, where awards depend on individual and organizational performance.