Defense Jobs 101
In this introductory post, we provide an overview of the typical defense contracting jobs and their pay range.
Broadly, there’s four main arenas in the defense contracting space for former aircrew: simulator/flight instruction, subject matter expert (SME) roles, program management (PM), and business development (BD) opportunities.
Simulator/Flight Instruction/Contract Flying
The most straightforward job and the most visible role contractors have generally played in our military careers. Whether it was in Pueblo, Colorado at Initial Flying Training (IFT), hearing war stories while trying to focus on your UPT Instrument check ride or coordinating for your Flight Lead Upgrade (FLUG) sim ride, you’ve seen what they do, and it’s pretty much as advertised.
As an instructor, you are paid primarily to focus on sims or flights and occasionally do academic instruction depending on the contract. Depending on the ops tempo of the site, you may have limited additional duties similar to a squadron to ensure operations function smoothly (e.g., scheduling, training, Stan/Eval). However, you do your contractually obligated 40 hours per week and clock out unlike active duty and you are being paid primarily for your sim/flight instruction.
Pay is highly dependent on location and corresponding supply and demand. The most lucrative opportunities are those overseas supporting a customer that has a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) contract from a big US manufacturer like Boeing or Lockheed. We will talk about the difference between FMS and DCS in a later post along with the realities of OCONUS life, but the bottom line is you are working abroad as an expatriate and may or may not have your family with you depending on the location.
Whether CONUS or abroad, you are probably paid at a set hourly rate that is essentially a salary in-practice. Benefits and other parts of total compensation (TC) vary. This largely depends on if your paycheck comes from a subcontractor or if the original equipment manufacturer/big prime defense contractor directly employs you. Annually, a simulator job stateside is probably in the low 100s to 200k TC with the median being in the 170ish range while potentially cracking 300k TC abroad. US citizens abroad can claim a foreign income tax exclusion on their first $112k, which is huge boost to working abroad.
Flying positions command a higher salary, often between 50-100k more than their simulator counterparts depending on the platform and location.
Although this blog is focused on industry, there are some public sector flight and simulator instructor positions within the federal government that usually pay a GS (General Schedule) equivalent to a captain or major salary. While far less than industry, those that separate early can buyback part of their military retirement and apply it towards their civilian federal employment retirement.
Furthermore, there are non-instruction contract flying jobs out there. This is particularly true in the ISR or mobility world. While some can be lucrative, most of the jobs are not really in-line with instructor or airline salary expectations.
Subject Matter Expert (SME) Roles
SME roles vary but overall, you are applying your MDS knowledge, operational user experience, and expertise to help firms large and small. Furthermore, unlike instructor positions, instructor experience is not necessarily required. As a SME, you could do everything from helping test simulators before or after delivery to the customer to providing feedback on radars and weapons for the manufacturer or a subcontractor that makes the widget for the manufacturer. SME roles can be temporary and involve consulting on a project for a firm that has or is putting together a contracting bid.
Program Management (PM) Roles
PM roles vary greatly as they are basically program management jobs where fighter expertise is highly desired. They could be for a weapons system or for platform. This could be functional based or geographic. I would include senior manager jobs within this type of post-military role. Like the military has ranks, so does the private sector with certain corporate levels. In ascending order, they can include project managers, managers and senior managers, directors, and then executive leadership at the vice president level and above for a respective business unit. PM roles will have some sort of focus on planning and strategy, resource allocation, team management, monitoring and control, and documentation, among others. How independent this role is and how robust it can be will depend on corporate culture and the product itself. PMs may be back at Big Defense Contractor HQ while senior manager and managers on-site execute day to day contracting operations.
Business Development (BD) Roles
BD roles are what I think about when I think about the O-6 and GO to defense contracting pipeline. You don’t necessarily need to be one to do BD, but BD is about helping identify new opportunities and making sales. This likely means leveraging connections with the government. Broadly, BD is about focusing on winning specific contracts, putting together proposals, researching the market, and managing relationships.
Conclusion
There are other private sector jobs where fighter experience is valuable. For example, people have used their skills to do other interesting work (public speaking, consulting, defense tech). However, this post is a summary of some of the four key areas in the contracting world. More will be explored on each topic in later posts!