Senior Operations Planner (Principal Military Trainer – Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) / Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Subject Matter Expert (SME)

About the role

Valiant is seeking a Senior Operations Planner (Principal Military Trainer - Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) / Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support the Joint Staff J-7 Deputy Directorate for Joint Training and Exercises (DDJTE) in Suffolk, Virginia. This high-impact position places you at the center of Joint Force readiness, where you will help design, plan, execute, and assess strategic-level training events that prepare Combatant Commands, Joint Task Forces, and senior military leaders to address evolving global threats. As a senior operational expert, you will integrate IAMD and BMD capabilities, command and control systems, sensor-to-shooter architectures, and multi-domain operational concepts into some of the Department of Defense’s most complex Joint exercises and experimentation efforts. Working directly with Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, Service components, coalition partners, and senior decision-makers, you will help shape the future of missile defense, integrated deterrence, and Joint warfighting readiness while contributing to mission-critical solutions that strengthen homeland defense and global security.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead IAMD/BMD advisor supporting Joint exercise planning, operational assessments, and capability development initiatives.
• Integrate IAMD and BMD considerations throughout all phases of the Joint Event Life Cycle (JELC) to support Combatant Command training objectives and operational outcomes.
• Develop and assess missile defense scenarios, threat presentations, operational injects, and training objectives for Joint and combined exercises.
• Provide subject matter expertise on Integrated Air and Missile Defense architectures, Ballistic Missile Defense operations, command-and-control systems, sensor integration, and interceptor employment.
• Analyze adversary missile threats, integrated air defense systems, and advanced strike capabilities to enhance operational realism and training effectiveness.
• Support development of operational concepts related to homeland defense, theater missile defense, cruise missile defense, hypersonic threat response, and integrated deterrence.
• Evaluate the integration of Joint, allied, and coalition missile defense capabilities across land, maritime, air, space, and cyber domains.
• Coordinate with Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, Service Components, Missile Defense Agency stakeholders, coalition partners, and functional planners to synchronize IAMD/BMD activities.
• Participate in planning conferences, In-Progress Reviews (IPRs), operational working groups, and senior leader engagements.
• Support exercise execution as an IAMD/BMD representative within Exercise Control (EXCON), operational cells, or functional planning teams.
• Assess command-and-control processes, sensor-to-shooter timelines, information-sharing architectures, and operational decision-making frameworks.
• Develop operational assessments, lessons learned, capability analyses, and recommendations to improve Joint Force missile defense readiness.
• Other duties as assigned.