The 25E job is a small, technical MOS. Most civilians have never heard of it. Most recruiters will not know what to do with your bullets. But the work you did is frequency assignment, spectrum deconfliction, and electromagnetic battle management. Telecom companies, defense contractors, and federal agencies pay a real premium for that work.

The problem is not your skill. The problem is the language. I sent federal applications for a year and a half with zero callbacks before I learned what the system actually wanted. The work was strong. The words were wrong. That same gap is what most 25E veterans hit on the civilian side. You did high-value work in a niche field. You just described it in JCEOI-speak instead of civilian-speak.

This article walks the four civilian paths a 25E can step into. It covers the certifications that translate the work for a civilian recruiter. And it shows how to write the resume bullets without breaking OPSEC. The cleared plus RF combination is one of the most valuable pairs you can bring to the job market.

What does a 25E actually do?

A 25E is an Electromagnetic Spectrum Manager. The Army calls it Spectrum Operations. In plain terms, you keep radios, radars, jammers, drones, and satellite links from stepping on each other.

The core tasks include frequency assignment, spectrum deconfliction, JCEOI production, and host-nation coordination. You build the Joint Communications-Electronics Operating Instructions. You run electromagnetic battle management for the brigade or higher. You coordinate with the host country so US gear does not interfere with civilian comms.

Those tasks map directly to four civilian jobs. RF engineer. Federal spectrum policy analyst. Electronic warfare contractor. DoD civilian spectrum manager. The pay range across those four is wide. The cleared plus RF skill mix pushes you toward the top of it.

Why is 25E one of the smallest MOSs?

25E is tiny by Army standards. The whole MOS sits in the low thousands across active and reserve. Compare that to 25B or 11B, which are populated in the tens of thousands. That math matters on the civilian side.

Small MOS means small supply. Telecom carriers, the FCC, the NTIA, and defense primes all need people who can run spectrum work. They can hire from a small pool of college-trained RF engineers. Or they can hire a 25E with a clearance and five to ten years of hands-on spectrum reps. Many of them take the second pick. The security clearance alone shaves nine to eighteen months off the onboarding clock.

You should treat your scarcity as a pay lever, not a problem. Infantry vets get told to lean on leadership. 25E vets need to lean on niche. Write the resume like a niche technical specialist who can hold TS/SCI. Because that is what you are.

Dominic Landed a Six-Figure Role
With a Top Defense Firm.

"The most effective resource I used in my transition."
— Dominic, E-7, Marines

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What is the civilian path to RF engineer at a telecom carrier?

This is the most common landing spot. RF Engineer, Spectrum Engineer, or Wireless Engineer at Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Dish, or one of the tower companies like American Tower, Crown Castle, or SBA.

The day-to-day work overlaps with what you did in uniform. You plan cell sector coverage. You handle frequency planning and interference resolution. You read spectrum analyzer output. You coordinate with the FCC for license modifications. You sit in war rooms during major outages and do the same thing you did during a brigade exercise, just on a longer timeline.

5G operations is the part of the industry that is hungry right now. C-band, CBRS, and mmWave deployments need people who understand spectrum sharing, interference mitigation, and how to coordinate across federal incumbents. CBRS in particular has a DoD spectrum-sharing arrangement built into it. A 25E who actually understands how the DoD side of CBRS works has an edge no MBA spectrum analyst can fake.

Pay range on the private side starts in the high five figures for entry RF roles. It climbs into the low and mid six figures for senior RF engineers in major metros. New York, Bay Area, DC, and Dallas pay the most. Tower co work pays less but lets you stay in lower cost-of-living markets.

Can a 25E work at the FCC or NTIA?

Yes. The FCC and the NTIA are the two federal agencies that run civilian and federal spectrum policy. They both hire spectrum people from the military side, and they both pay GS scale plus DC locality.

The FCC is an independent federal regulatory agency and handles non-federal spectrum. Commercial wireless, broadcast, public safety, satellite. The Office of Engineering and Technology is the technical heart of the agency. Look at GS-0855 Electronics Engineering for the engineering track. Look at GS-0391 Telecommunications for the spectrum policy and spectrum management track. That is the primary series for roles titled Telecommunications Specialist (Spectrum Management) at NTIA and DoD commands. Look at GS-0301 Miscellaneous Administration and Program if the role is policy-heavy with no established technical series. Look at GS-1550 Computer Science if your spectrum work crossed into spectrum-management software, though this is uncommon for most 25E backgrounds.

The NTIA sits inside the Department of Commerce and handles federal spectrum. They run the IRAC, the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, which is where every federal agency horse-trades frequency assignments. If you ran JRFL management or frequency requests through DoD channels in uniform, you were already talking to NTIA processes. The Office of Spectrum Management is the team you want.

Both agencies value the clearance. Both agencies will treat your 25E federal frequency application history as directly relevant. That means SFAF submissions at the unit level, or DD Form 1494 work if you supported equipment acquisition programs. If you are still in, get your federal frequency proposal work documented in your evals. Save copies of the templates you used. Those are the artifacts that prove you can do the job.

What about defense contractor electronic warfare work?

The third path is the EW side of the house. This is where the cleared plus RF combination really hits. Defense primes need cleared RF and EW people. They will not look at anyone without an active clearance. The work is classified at the start of every program phase.

The companies with the deepest documented EW programs include Raytheon Technologies, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics Mission Systems. Smaller firms like Elbit America, Mercury Systems, and Leonardo DRS also run EW work. Look for job titles like EW Analyst, EW Operations Engineer, RF Systems Engineer, Spectrum Operations Analyst, and Cyber EW Integrator.

The work bends two ways. Some roles are program engineering, which means you sit on a team building the next EW system. Some roles are mission analyst, which means you support a customer that is operating the system. A 25E with field reps fits better on the mission analyst track at first. The program engineering track usually wants a BSEE or equivalent.

No four-year engineering degree but you have a clearance and operational EW exposure? Target the analyst, operator, and integrator roles. Use the GI Bill on a part-time BSEE while you work. That moves you toward the program engineering side over five to seven years. No pay cut from a full-time degree.

What DoD civilian spectrum roles exist?

This is the fourth lane. Federal civilian DoD positions in spectrum management. These roles sit inside the service spectrum management activities, the DoD CIO spectrum office, and adjacent commands. They use the same GS series the FCC and NTIA use.

Concrete spots to look at on USAJOBS. Defense Spectrum Organization. Army Spectrum Management Office. Navy Marine Corps Spectrum Center. Air Force Spectrum Management Office. USCG Spectrum Management Branch. These offices hire former 25E, 25Q, Navy 1310 / 6XX-cluster, and Air Force 3D1X4 type talent.

The benefit of the DoD civilian path is that the work is almost identical to what you did in uniform. The downsides are that the GS ceiling is what it is, and locality pay caps how much regional flexibility you have. The benefit is high stability, the clearance maintenance is built in, and you keep your spectrum reps sharp.

Many 25E vets use a DoD civilian spectrum role as the first stop after separation. They jump to a contractor or carrier role two to four years later for the pay bump. That is a clean playbook if pay growth is the priority.

Which certifications translate 25E work to civilians?

The military gave you the reps. Civilian certifications are how you put them on paper in a language a recruiter understands. The right cert depends on which lane you target.

For telecom and tower work, the FCC GROL (General Radiotelephone Operator License) is the entry-level credential that proves you can legally operate and maintain transmitters. It is cheap and you can earn it without a degree. The iNARTE telecommunications and EMC certifications go deeper. iNARTE is the International Association for Radio, Telecommunications and Electromagnetics. Their telecom and EMC engineer certs are respected on the engineering side of carriers and tower cos.

For broadcast or media-adjacent work, SBE (Society of Broadcast Engineers) runs a ladder of broadcast technologist and engineer certifications. Less relevant for cellular, more relevant for AM, FM, TV, and satellite.

For the federal civilian and contractor path, the Wireless Communications Engineering certification from IEEE-USA carries weight. So does an FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) exam pass, especially if you have an engineering degree, which moves you toward the PE (Professional Engineer) license. The PE is the long game. It opens consulting and senior contractor roles.

One more, if you have or expect a security clearance, the cert side of the house tightens up. CompTIA Security+ and Network+ are common requirements for cleared contract roles under DoD 8140. If you are crossing into the cyber EW lane, that DoD 8140 certification framework is the rulebook you will need to know.

How do you write resume bullets without breaking OPSEC?

This is the part where most 25E resumes blow up. The work is sensitive. The actual frequencies, units, locations, and missions are classified. So you cannot write what you really did. But you also cannot write a vague resume.

The fix is to lead with scale, scope, and outcome, not specifics. You can say you managed frequency assignments for a 4,500-person organization across 30-plus radio systems. You cannot say you did it for 1st BCT, 82nd Airborne in the 225-400 MHz band over Operation X. The first version is true and unclassified. The second version is a clearance violation.

You can name the document types in generic civilian terms. JCEOI becomes a "spectrum operations document." Frequency assignment proposal becomes a "federal frequency assignment application." Spectrum deconfliction becomes "interference mitigation across multi-system RF environments." Each one is accurate. Each one drops the classified label.

If you are not sure whether a specific bullet crosses the line, run it past your unit security manager before you separate. They will tell you yes or no in two minutes. Do not guess. Once it is on a posted resume, it is published.

Why is cleared plus RF such a strong combination?

Clearances cost time and money. A new TS investigation can run nine to eighteen months and tens of thousands of dollars when an employer sponsors it. An RF engineer with no clearance is useful in maybe forty percent of the defense-adjacent RF market. An RF engineer with an active TS or TS/SCI can walk into all of it.

That mix is rare. Most clearance holders are not RF. Most RF engineers are not cleared. A 25E sits in the small overlap where both apply. That is the edge. You are not competing against every wireless engineer in the country. You are competing against the small pool of cleared wireless engineers. That is a much shorter line.

If you are getting out and your clearance is active, keep it active. If you let it lapse, you can still get it back, but it takes time and a sponsor. See the secret clearance active after military separation guide for the timing math. If your clearance has already gone inactive, the inactive security clearance resume guide shows how to write it on a resume without misleading.

For the larger clearance picture on a resume, the TS/SCI and Secret clearance resume placement guide walks the format. For the timeline question if you are starting the process, the security clearance investigation timeline article has the numbers.

How does this compare to the broader intel and cyber paths?

25E is adjacent to the intel and cyber lanes but distinct from them. Worth knowing the neighbors because cross-pollination is common.

The Army 35-series intelligence MOSs cover SIGINT (35N, 35P), all-source (35F), and geospatial (35G). The military intelligence 35-series civilian careers guide walks those translations. 25E sits next to that world because spectrum management supports SIGINT collection and EW operations. Some 25E vets pivot to SIGINT analyst or all-source analyst roles at NSA, FBI, or contractor support firms.

The cyber lane is the other neighbor. Cyber EW, electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO), and 17 series cyber roles all touch RF work. The federal IT pay side runs through the GS-2210 series. If you want the federal cyber-adjacent option, the OPM 2210 series guide covers what those roles need.

For the larger picture on federal pay, the DoD cyber excepted service pay bands article shows how some federal cyber roles pay outside the GS scale. Spectrum work is starting to see similar pay-band carveouts in some commands. Worth watching if you target the federal civilian lane.

What if you are still in and want to start positioning now?

If you have more than six months until separation, the clock is your friend. Use it on three concrete actions.

First, get your TAP timing locked in. The SFL-TAP timeline and requirements guide walks the windows. Start TAP at the earliest allowable point. Spectrum vets benefit from extra runway because the civilian translation work is heavier than for an admin or supply MOS.

Second, knock out one civilian certification before separation. FCC GROL or CompTIA Security+ are the two easiest entry points and both have GI Bill and credentialing assistance funding paths. Having one civilian cert on a resume the day you separate is worth more than any amount of generic resume polish.

Third, get your job titles searchable. Civilians do not search "25E" on Indeed. They search "RF engineer," "spectrum engineer," "EW analyst," and "wireless engineer." Use the civilian job search term translation guide to set up alerts on the right keywords. You will get a feel for the market three to six months early. That is when most people start. That is also why most people panic.

What to do next

The 25E civilian playbook comes down to four moves. Pick the lane that fits you. Translate the bullets without breaking OPSEC. Keep the clearance active. Bolt on one civilian cert that speaks to the lane.

BMR's free Military Resume Builder handles the civilian translation for you. Paste in your job posting. Your 25E experience goes in once. You get back a tailored resume that speaks the recruiter's language without losing the technical weight. Two tailored resumes and two cover letters are on the free tier. If you are a military spouse helping a 25E vet, BMR is free for you too.

The work you did is real. The translation is the only thing standing between you and the offer.