As threats to our nation’s digital security grow, government must attract and retain its next generation of cybersecurity leaders.
CTI is broadening agency support: The new cycle of the Cybersecurity Talent Initiative will continue to provide federal agencies with outstanding early career cyber talent, but for the first time will open program leadership development and federal onboarding programming to existing agency cyber talent, in the first year of federal cyber service. Through the Cybersecurity Talent Initiative, federal agencies have the ability to:
- Receive entry-level cybersecurity talent for two years.
- Develop existing entry-level cybersecurity employees in their first year of work through their participation in the CTI program’s leadership and onboarding programming.
- Help new employees build a supportive network of like-minded professionals and develop leadership skills to make an impact in government, whether sourced through the program or otherwise.
Existing federal employees may apply using this link through fall 2024, when programming begins.
Eligibility requires a GS 7-11 or equivalent, 2210 federal role and start date ranging from November 2023 – November 2024. Additional information can be found through the downloadable PDF featured on this page.
During their time in the program, participants benefit from roughly 30 hours of programming beginning in November 2024 designed to strengthen their leadership skills and highlight innovations across government and in the private sector. Fellows placed through our recruitment pipeline may participate in additional programming.
For agencies interested in receiving talent through the CTI program, some examples of past agencies and select roles can be viewed below.
The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. The department’s headquarters is at the Pentagon.
Example Cyber Positions
- Army Cyber Command Fellow (Army)
Detects threats and defends against those who aim to harm the nation through cyberspace by conducting risk and vulnerability assessments, configuring and installing systems, analyzing network traffic, evaluating and fixing the network as needed. - IT Strategic Planner (Marines)
Supports analytical and technical efforts to define and execute IT program goals and strategies, authors relevant documents and provides continuing program analysis and oversight to monitor and evaluate IT program execution and identify the need to refine strategies. - IT Governance Analyst (Marines)
Continuously assesses Marine Corps IT portfolio operations and resource expenditures to evaluate how policy objectives are being achieved and communicates and justifies the costs and benefits of current processes and proposes revisions to established policies.
The mission of the Department of Energy is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.
Example Cyber Positions
- Cyber Analyst
Works with data from a wide variety of sources to advance new analytic capabilities to keep Energy at the forefront of cybersecurity.
The mission of the Department of Health and Human Services is to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans by providing effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services.
Example Cyber Positions
- Cybersecurity Analyst
Detects, monitors and conducts forensic analysis of cyber threats, then translates that technical threat information into language to convey the risk and how to address it in a manner that is easily understood by healthcare professionals. - Cybersecurity Operations Engineer (Food and Drug Administration)
Provides direct support to the chief information security officer for cybersecurity analysis, operations and monitoring of the FDA IT infrastructure and proactively addresses imminent threats to prevent risk exposure and disruption to FDA’s public health mission.
The mission of the Department of Homeland Security is to secure the nation from the many threats we face by safeguarding the American people, homeland and values.
Example Cyber Positions
- IT Specialist (CISA)
Monitors all phases of IT systems security to determine potential impact of specific vulnerabilities, assesses the needs of cybersecurity stakeholders and advocates for developments related to emerging technologies and cybersecurity technical issues. - IT Cybersecurity Specialist (U.S. Coast Guard)
Installs and maintains network infrastructure software as well as diagnoses and resolves reported system incidents, problems, and events. - IT Specialist (U.S. Secret Service)
Provides technical expertise to the deployment, integration, scalability, security and effective utilization or organizational information technology systems and networks.
The mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs is to fulfill President Lincoln’s promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans.
Example Cyber Positions
- Data Analyst
Examines data from multiple disparate sources to provide security and privacy insight. Designs and implements custom algorithms, workflow processes and layouts for complex, enterprise-scale data sets used for modeling, data mining and research. - Network Operations Specialist
Plans, implements and operates network services/systems in hardware and virtual environments. - Systems Security Analyst
Analyzes and develops the integration, testing, operations and maintenance of systems security. - Cyber Defense Analyst
Uses data collected from a variety of cyber defense tools (e.g., IDS alerts, firewalls, network traffic logs) to analyze events that occur within their environments to mitigate threats. - Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support Specialist
Tests, implements, deploys, maintains and administers the infrastructure hardware and software. - Cyber Defense Incident Responder
Investigates, analyzes and responds to cyber incidents within the network environment or enclave. - Vulnerability Assessment Analyst
Performs assessments of systems and networks within the network environment or enclave and identifies where those systems/networks deviate from acceptable configurations, enclave policy, or local policy. Measures effectiveness of defense-in-depth architecture against known vulnerabilities.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment.
Example Cyber Positions
- Information Systems Security Specialist
Advises on the design and implementation of programs, policies and procedures and coordinates and disseminates security incident and risk management information to protect the integrity of a variety of operating system environments. - Network Security Specialist
Participates in monitoring performance and functionality of systems and applying information security policies, principles and practices to correct vulnerabilities and mitigate security risks.
The mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal and international agencies and partners.
Example Cyber Position
- Big Data Technologist
Designs and builds solutions for special agents and intelligence analysts that bring together data from disparate sources, extract mission-critical intelligence and provide advanced analytics to the FBI’s investigative teams. - Cloud Engineer
Brings a systematic approach to conceive, develop, operate and maintain cloud computing systems and solutions for the FBI’s investigative, intelligence and enterprise applications and data. - Database Administrator
Manages database servers to advise, assist and provide support on all FBI enterprise applications in development and production. - Program Analyst
Manages and builds the best technology solutions to stay ahead of threats and support the FBI’s mission. - Site Reliability Engineer
Drives best practices, patterns and architectures to maximize the availability, reliability and stability of platforms, processing and delivery of systems to discover and solve problems before they threaten mission-critical applications. - Software Engineer
Focuses on all processes of the software development lifecycle, including collecting and analyzing system requirements, evaluating viable options, designing and developing solutions, testing and quality assurance and configuration and change management. - Information Security Engineer
Works on application system designs and architecture plans to embed security into development, testing and deployments across the development lifecycle.
The FEC is the independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law over campaigns for the House of Representatives, Senate, presidency and vice presidency.
Example Cyber Position
- Cybersecurity Policy Analyst
Develops FEC security policy and procedures, researches best practices, identifies gaps and develops a target state for IT security oversight processes. The position will also be responsible for analyzing and continuously monitoring cybersecurity policies, programs, compliance artifacts or standards to support government security compliance and management.
The mission of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts; share that knowledge and information with others; and conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.
Example Cyber Positions
- Internal Risk Mitigation Program Support
Applies knowledge of cybersecurity operations, compliance and digital capabilities to assist with the evaluation and analysis of information necessary to identify insider threat indicators across NOAA’s IT infrastructure, data landscape and workforce.
The Office of Naval Intelligence is America’s premier maritime intelligence service dedicated to delivering penetrating understanding of threats to America’s security to national decision makers.
Example Cyber Positions
- Data Scientist
Works with intelligence analysts, data stewards, project managers and other IT teams to turn data into critical information and knowledge that will be used to make sound intelligence assessments. - Risk Management Framework Support Officer
Assists with the oversight, compliance and execution of the Navy’s risk management and executes processes that enhance efficiency of Navy communications within and outside the department.
The mission of the Small Business Administration is to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.
Example Cyber Positions
- Cybersecurity Analyst
Assesses and addresses cyber risks and threats to small businesses across America and improves real-time information sharing between the federal government and the small business community.