Overview

This isn't a staff action tracker role. This is the expert seat — the one that defines how the branch plans, catches what others miss, and keeps high-visibility products from falling apart under scrutiny. You'll serve as the Operational Planning & Posture SME at MARFORPAC G-5 Plans, where the Indo-Pacific competitive environment demands deliberate planning support that's coherent, defensible, and aligned across the entire Joint Planning and Execution Community. If you've spent a career mastering the craft of joint planning and you're ready to set the standard — this is your post.

THE MISSION

MARFORPAC G-5 Plans needs a technical authority who can define planning standards, resolve the hardest integration problems, and ensure every high-visibility product is decision-ready before it hits senior leaders. As the Operational Planning & Posture SME, you don't own the battle rhythm — you own the quality. You intervene where complexity, risk, or ambiguity threatens outcomes. You set the bar. You enforce it. You make the branch better.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Define planning-support standards including templates, quality gates, staffing checklists, traceability expectations, and version-control conventions for branch-wide use
• Advise government leads on complex planning-support approaches covering staffing strategy, integration paths, decision points, and 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 and working group outcomes by shaping narratives, analytical framing, and decision-quality criteria
• 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 rates

WHAT YOU BRING

• Master's degree or equivalent practical experience in a relevant field
• Career-level and intermediate-level military education — Expeditionary Warfare School, Marine Corps Command and Staff College, or other service equivalents
• 10+ years of deep experience supporting joint and service planning and senior-leader decision support, including production and critical review of staff products
• Demonstrated mastery of JPEC planning forums and staffing dynamics including OPTs and joint planning groups
• Knowledge and application experience in the Marine Corps Planning Process (MCPP) and Joint Planning Process (JPP)
• Expert capability drafting and editing planning products with rigorous consistency, traceability, and formatting discipline
• TS/SCI eligibility
• Ability to comply with government workplace requirements and obtain and maintain required access and eligibility

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Intermediate or top-level operational planning education — JAWS, SAMS, MAWS, SAASS, Service and Joint War Colleges, or equivalent fellowships
• Senior PME completion — CGSC/ILE, USMC CSC, Naval War College, or equivalent
• Prior experience with USINDOPACOM, MARFORPAC, HQMC, a combatant command, Service component, or MEF HQ
• Doctoral degree in a relevant field

WHY K2

K2 is an SBA 8(a) Native Hawaiian Organization built to compete and win on the missions that matter most. We don't build benches — we build legacies. When you join K2, you're joining a team that's been given a mandate to bring world-class talent to DoD's hardest problems. You'll have the support of a company that moves fast, respects your expertise, and invests in your growth. This is where high-performers come to do their best work.

K2 is proud to be a Native Hawaiian Organization. Every contract we win, every mission we support, and every person we hire contributes to a lasting legacy for the Hawaiian community and the nation we serve.

Pay: $130,000.00 - $153,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• What is your security clearance?
• What are your salary expectations?
• What is your earliest available start date?

Work Location: In person