COOP Coordinator

The COOP Coordinator oversees development and maintenance of continuity of operations plans that ensure essential functions can continue during disruptions affecting mission-critical systems and facilities in a federal IT environment. This role coordinates risk assessments, business impact analyses, and planning workshops with stakeholders across the organization. The coordinator guides activation and execution of continuity plans during incidents, supporting leadership on decision-making, communications, and transition to alternate work arrangements while keeping documentation, training, and exercises current and effective.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead continuity planning activities, including identifying essential functions, critical dependencies, acceptable downtime, and recovery priorities for government operations.
• Organize and maintain contact lists, resource inventories, and continuity plan artifacts to support rapid activation and sustained continuity operations.
• Facilitate training, tabletop exercises, and functional exercises that validate continuity strategies, capture lessons learned, and drive updates to plans and procedures.
• Coordinate communications, accountability procedures, and status reporting for continuity personnel during events, including telework and devolution scenarios.
• Support disaster recovery and continuity preparedness by aligning COOP plans with IT recovery capabilities, devolution concepts, and alternate worksite arrangements.
• Maintain repositories and version control for continuity documentation to ensure accessibility, traceability, and compliance with applicable guidance.
• Collaborate with program, IT, and security stakeholders to integrate continuity requirements into operational processes and technical architectures.
• Provide after-action input and metrics on continuity drills and real-world events to inform leadership decisions and improve organizational resilience.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Information Technology, Emergency Management, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 4–7 years of experience in COOP, business continuity, emergency management, disaster recovery, or related risk and resilience roles.
• Strong understanding of continuity principles, risk assessments, business impact analysis, and phased continuity concepts (activation, alternate operations, reconstitution).
• Demonstrated organizational, project management, and communication skills, with the ability to coordinate across multiple stakeholder groups.
• Active Secret clearance Required!
• U.S. citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with federal or state continuity guidance and how it shapes agency-level continuity planning and reporting.
• Experience using planning tools or document repositories to manage and version continuity plans across multiple organizational units.
• Experience supporting emergency response or contingency operations in federal environments, including coordination with IT and infrastructure teams.
• Willingness and ability to support rapid activation scenarios and work extended hours during exercises or real incidents.

• Lead continuity of operations (COOP) planning efforts, identifying essential functions, critical systems, and recovery priorities to ensure mission continuity during disruptions.
• Conduct risk assessments and business impact analyses (BIA) to determine operational risks, dependencies, and acceptable downtime.
• Maintain and manage COOP documentation, including contact lists, resource inventories, and continuity plans for rapid activation and compliance.
• Coordinate training and exercises (tabletop and functional) to test continuity plans, capture lessons learned, and improve readiness.
• Support incident response and plan activation, guiding leadership on continuity decisions, communications, and transition to alternate operations or worksites.
• Facilitate communication and accountability processes during disruptions, including status reporting and personnel coordination.
• Align COOP plans with IT disaster recovery and infrastructure capabilities, ensuring integration across technical and operational teams.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders (IT, security, program teams) to embed continuity planning into daily operations.
• Track performance metrics and provide after-action reporting to improve resilience and inform leadership decisions.