Navy Operations Specialists spend their careers in Combat Information Centers tracking contacts, coordinating tactical operations, managing radar and communication systems, and maintaining the real-time situational awareness that keeps ships, aircraft, and people safe. Whether you stood watch on a DDG, a CG, an LHD, or a carrier, your days involved monitoring multiple radar and communication systems simultaneously, coordinating with aircraft and surface contacts, managing watch teams, and making time-critical decisions in an environment where mistakes have real consequences. That combination of technical systems expertise, real-time data analysis, multi-tasking under pressure, and communication coordination translates to more civilian careers than most OS veterans realize — including some of the highest-paying roles in operations, logistics, and air traffic management.

The challenge is that "Operations Specialist" as a job title sounds completely generic to civilian employers — it could mean anything from a call center manager to an administrative assistant. And the CIC environment you worked in does not have a direct civilian equivalent that most hiring managers can picture. When you say "I tracked surface and air contacts on an SPS-48 radar and coordinated tactical intercepts," a civilian recruiter has absolutely no framework for evaluating that experience. The acronyms mean nothing, the tactical context is unfamiliar, and the recruiter moves on to the next resume. But when you reframe the same experience and say "I monitored and analyzed real-time data feeds in a 24/7 operations center, coordinating multi-asset responses and maintaining situational awareness across a 200-mile operational area," suddenly hiring managers in logistics, air traffic control, emergency management, and operations centers see a candidate with exactly the skills they need.

What Civilian Jobs Match the Navy OS Rating?

The OS rating maps to several distinct career paths, and the best choice depends on which aspects of CIC operations you enjoyed most and where you want your salary ceiling to be:

Air Traffic Control. This is one of the highest-paying transitions available to OS veterans, and it is the path that gets the most attention in OS transition discussions for good reason. Your experience tracking aircraft, maintaining separation awareness, and communicating with pilots under high-pressure conditions maps directly to FAA air traffic control work. The FAA actively recruits veterans and has specific hiring pathways for former military controllers and operations specialists. Air traffic controllers earn $80K-$130K+ depending on facility rating, with tower controllers at busy airports like Atlanta, Chicago, or New York earning even more. The application process is competitive — FAA hiring announcements are periodic and attract thousands of applicants — but your CIC experience gives you a meaningful advantage in the aptitude testing and training pipeline because you have already demonstrated the core skills the FAA is testing for.

Operations center coordinator / watch officer. Civilian operations centers — utility companies, transportation authorities, emergency management agencies, and large corporations — need people who can monitor multiple data feeds, coordinate responses, and maintain situational awareness around the clock. Your CIC watch-standing experience is a direct match. These positions pay $50K-$85K and often include shift differential pay for overnight or weekend watches, which feels familiar after years of shipboard watch rotations. Many OS veterans find this career path the easiest to land because the job duties are nearly identical to what you already did in CIC — the main difference is the domain you are monitoring.

Logistics and supply chain coordination. Your experience coordinating movements, tracking assets, and managing complex operational timelines translates to logistics coordinator and supply chain analyst roles. Companies like Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and major retailers need people who can manage real-time operations at scale. Logistics coordinators earn $50K-$75K, with supply chain analysts and managers reaching $80K-$110K+. If you enjoyed the planning and coordination aspects of CIC more than the tactical watchstanding, this path leverages those skills in a high-growth industry with strong advancement potential.

Emergency management and dispatch. 911 dispatch centers, emergency operations centers, and disaster response organizations value your experience coordinating multi-asset responses under pressure. Your familiarity with communication protocols, prioritization under high stress, and the ability to track multiple simultaneous events while maintaining clear communication translates directly to emergency management coordinator roles paying $45K-$70K, with senior emergency managers earning $75K-$100K. State and county emergency management agencies, FEMA, and large hospital systems all hire for these positions, and your military background is a strong differentiator in the applicant pool.

Defense contractor operations. Companies supporting Navy combat systems, radar maintenance, and tactical operations hire OS veterans for training, simulation, and operational support roles. Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and BAE Systems value your familiarity with the combat systems they build and maintain. These roles pay $60K-$90K and offer the most straightforward resume translation since the hiring managers at these companies are often former military themselves and already understand what CIC operations entail. You can use more of your technical Navy terminology in these applications because the audience gets it — just make sure you still quantify your experience with specific numbers and operational outcomes.

How Should Navy OS Veterans Translate Their Resume?

The OS resume translation requires converting Navy tactical terminology into civilian operations and technology language. This is where most OS veterans struggle — the terminology gap between CIC and civilian operations centers is wider than many other ratings. Here are the critical translations you need to make:

"CIC watch supervisor" becomes "operations center shift supervisor managing X-person team and monitoring real-time data across multiple information systems." "Surface plot" becomes "real-time asset tracking and coordination." "Air intercept controller" becomes "air traffic coordination and management." "GCCS-M" becomes "enterprise command and control information system for real-time operational tracking." "LINK-16" becomes "tactical data link networking protocol" — or more broadly, "real-time data sharing across networked systems." "TAO" becomes "senior watch officer and tactical decision maker." Each of these translations preserves the actual skill and responsibility while removing the military-specific wrapper that civilian employers cannot parse.

For your resume bullets, focus on the operational outcomes rather than the tactical context. Instead of "maintained surface picture during FONOP," write "maintained real-time tracking of 200+ assets across a 50,000 square mile operational area, providing senior leadership with continuous situational awareness and decision-support information." That framing communicates scale, responsibility, and analytical capability in language any civilian operations manager can evaluate.

Quantify everything you can: contacts tracked simultaneously, operational area size in square miles, watch team members supervised, communication nets managed, hours of continuous watch operations, training exercises participated in, and any efficiency improvements or incident response outcomes you contributed to. A hiring manager at a logistics company or operations center needs concrete numbers to compare your experience against their requirements — and the numbers from CIC operations are genuinely impressive when translated properly. Most OS veterans are surprised at how competitive their experience looks on paper once the military jargon is stripped away and replaced with civilian equivalents that hiring managers recognize.

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

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

Read their story →

Federal (USAJOBS) & private sector formats Translates military jargon into civilian language Tailored to each job — not a generic template

Get My Free Resume

2 free tailored resumes, cover letters & LinkedIn optimization

What About the FAA Air Traffic Control Path?

The FAA air traffic control path deserves its own section because it offers the highest salary potential for OS veterans and the FAA specifically recruits from the military. This is a career path where your CIC experience gives you a genuine competitive advantage — not just a talking point for your resume, but an actual edge in the training pipeline. Here is what you need to know about pursuing this path:

The FAA hires through USAJOBS under the "Air Traffic Control Specialist" job series (2152). They have a dedicated hiring pathway for military controllers and veterans with relevant experience. While OS is not officially classified as a military ATC rating, your daily experience tracking aircraft on radar, maintaining separation awareness between contacts, communicating with aircrews on tactical frequencies, and making time-critical coordination decisions gives you directly applicable skills that many civilian applicants simply do not have. You will still need to pass the FAA AT-SA (Air Traffic Selection and Training) assessment, but your CIC background provides a strong foundation for the spatial awareness, multi-tasking, and communication skills the assessment measures.

FAA academy training at Oklahoma City takes 2-5 months depending on the facility type you are assigned to. After academy, you complete on-the-job training at your assigned facility. The total training pipeline to full certification takes 1-3 years depending on facility complexity, but you earn full salary throughout the entire process — including during academy training. Tower controllers at busy airports earn $100K-$150K+, and the federal benefits, retirement, and job stability make this one of the most attractive career paths available to military veterans in any rating.

Apply early — FAA hiring announcements are periodic and competitive. Set up alerts on USAJOBS for the 2152 job series and start your applications 6-12 months before separation. Your veterans preference gives you an edge, and a properly formatted federal resume that highlights your CIC operations experience is critical for making it through the initial screening. Use BMR''s federal resume builder to ensure your application hits all the required elements.

→ Joshua got referred at GS-12 and GS-13. Build yours free

What Certifications Help Navy OS Veterans Get Hired?

Your CIC experience gives you a strong foundation, but targeted certifications can accelerate your transition and increase your starting salary. The right certifications depend on which career path you are pursuing.

For operations center and logistics roles: CompTIA Security+ demonstrates IT security fundamentals that many operations centers require. PMP (Project Management Professional) or CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) helps if you are targeting program coordination or operations management positions. APICS CSCP (Certified Supply Chain Professional) is valuable for supply chain and logistics career paths and signals to employers that you understand civilian supply chain frameworks, not just military logistics processes.

For air traffic control: No civilian certifications are required before applying — the FAA provides all necessary training and certification through their academy and on-the-job training program. Focus your preparation on the AT-SA assessment instead. Practice spatial reasoning, multi-tasking tests, and communication exercises that mirror what the assessment evaluates.

For defense contracting: Your security clearance is your most valuable credential. If you held a TS/SCI clearance for CIC operations, maintaining that clearance active through your transition is worth tens of thousands of dollars in starting salary. Defense contractors will pay a premium for candidates who are already cleared because the clearance investigation process is expensive and time-consuming for them to sponsor.

For emergency management: FEMA offers free online certifications through the Emergency Management Institute — the IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800 series are baseline credentials that most emergency management job postings list as required or preferred. Completing these before applying shows employers you understand the civilian emergency management framework, not just the military one.