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Policy Analyst

SAIC

Arlington, VAJob$60–100K/yrSeen 2w agoSeen in employer's feed 6 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$60–100K/yr
Location
Arlington, VA
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Top Secret clearance

Job overview

SAIC seeks an Emerging Issues Policy Analyst to support the Air Force’s AF/A10 Policy and Strategy Division. The analyst will research emerging strategic deterrence issues and provide timely analysis to senior Air Force and Department of War decision makers. Work will be performed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and the Pentagon, supporting short-notice taskings, exercises, studies, and analytic products for senior audiences.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

ResearchAnalytical SkillsOral CommunicationWritten CommunicationResearch SynthesisMicrosoft OfficeAir Force Staff ProcessesDeterrenceArms ControlMilitary OperationsMilitary PlanningAir Force Nuclear OperationsWargame AnalysisTabletop ExercisesCBRN WeaponsAir Force CWMD

Qualifications

U.S. CitizenshipActive Secret ClearanceTop Secret Clearance EligibilityBachelor's + 3 Yrs or Master's + 1 YrTop Secret ClearanceOSW, Joint Staff, Air Staff, or Intelligence Community Experience

Full job description

Description

Job Description:

SAIC has an immediate opening for an Emerging Issues Policy Analyst supporting the Headquarters Department of the Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration (AF/A10), Policy and Strategy Division. The successful candidate will support AF/A10’s emerging issues research portfolio, providing timely, high‑quality analysis to senior Air Force and DoW decision makers. Work will be performed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, and also at the Pentagon.

Responsibilities:

The Emerging Issues Policy Analyst will:

  • Provide analysis, research, and scholarly material on emerging issues related to strategic deterrence, including, but not limited to:

  • Deterrence policy, strategy, planning, and doctrine.

  • Arms control and nonproliferation.

  • Nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3).

  • Countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD) and proliferation prevention.

  • Active and passive defense, counterforce, and consequence management.

  • Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) defense and nuclear mission capabilities.

  • (Candidates may have experience with some of the above or other relevant topics; candidates do not need to have experience with all topics).

  • Conduct research to discover, assess, and synthesize new or expanded knowledge from multiple disciplines that contribute to understanding 21st‑century deterrence.

  • Respond to short‑notice taskings, providing focused, concise analysis of emerging issues of interest to Air Force leadership.

  • Provide ad hoc support to exercises, workshops, and studies that inform new Air Force deterrence concepts, operating concepts (CONOPs), and policy recommendations.

  • Develop and deliver clear, compelling analytic products (briefings, reports, papers, and talking points) tailored for general officer and senior civilian audiences.

Qualifications

Required Experience/Skills

  • U.S. Citizenship and an active Secret clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance.

  • Bachelor’s degree and 3 years of relevant experience, or Master’s degree and one year of relevant experience.

  • Demonstrated superior research and analytic skills, including the ability to frame questions, identify sources, and rigorously assess evidence.

  • Excellent oral and written communication skills, with experience presenting complex issues to senior audiences.

  • Proven ability to organize and distill extensive qualitative and quantitative research into concise, well‑structured narrative products.

  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook).

Desired Experience/Skills

  • Top Secret clearance.

  • Demonstrated knowledge of Headquarters Air Force and/or Major Command (MAJCOM) staff processes (e.g., staffing, task management, coordination).

  • Familiarity with deterrence and arms control literature and current debates in strategic studies.

  • Understanding of military operations and planning, particularly Air Force nuclear operations, nuclear mission forces, and related concepts.

  • Experience designing, executing, or analyzing wargames, tabletop exercises, or related analytical events.

  • Knowledge of CBRN weapons and Air Force CWMD capabilities, operations, and policies.

  • Prior experience supporting OSW, Joint Staff, Air Staff, or the intelligence community.

Target salary range: $60,001 - $100,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.

REQNUMBER: 2618170

SAIC is a premier technology integrator, solving our nation's most complex modernization and systems engineering challenges across the defense, space, federal civilian, and intelligence markets. Our robust portfolio of offerings includes high-end solutions in systems engineering and integration; enterprise IT, including cloud services; cyber; software; advanced analytics and simulation; and training. We are a team of 23,000 strong driven by mission, united purpose, and inspired by opportunity. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $6.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For information on the benefits SAIC offers, see Working at SAIC. EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability

How this job compares

Set against the 454 open Policy Analyst jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 4, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$60–100K/yr
  • Virginia median$104–158K/yr40 salary ranges
  • US median$88–134K/yr290 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $80K, is 39% below the Virginia median midpoint ($132K) — in the lowest quarter of Policy Analyst salary ranges in Virginia.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 101 open Policy Analyst jobs in Virginia and 454 across the US. 4% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Virginia
Experience
This posting asks for at least 1 year of experience — less than three in four Policy Analyst postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 366 postings).
Education
230 of the 454 open Policy Analyst jobs (51%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 4, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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