Do I need a degree to work for a defense contractor?

Not always, but it helps. Many labor categories substitute experience for education, often at a rate of two years of experience per year of education. If a labor category requires a bachelor's degree and four years of experience, you can often qualify with eight years of relevant experience and no degree. Some contracts are stricter than others. A technical degree helps for engineering and IT roles. But plenty of veterans work in contracting with no degree, especially in operations, logistics, training, and field support roles where hands-on experience is more valuable than a diploma.

Can I work for a defense contractor while still on active duty?

No. You cannot accept paid employment from a federal contractor while on active duty. This is a conflict of interest and potentially a violation of procurement integrity rules. You can network, attend job fairs, and interview. But you cannot start work until you are separated or on terminal leave. Some contractors have specific rules about when you can discuss employment if you are currently working with them as a government counterpart. Ask about post-government employment rules before you engage. They will tell you what is allowed.

What is the difference between working for a prime contractor and a sub-contractor?

Prime contractors hold the main contract with the government. They are usually large companies with more bureaucracy, more benefits, and more internal mobility. Sub-contractors work under the prime on a piece of the contract. They are usually smaller, more agile, and offer more direct impact. Sub-contractor salaries can sometimes be higher because they have lower overhead. The tradeoff is less job security because sub-contracts can be re-competed or absorbed more easily. Both are viable. Many people start at a sub, build experience, and move to a prime. Others do the opposite.

Will my clearance transfer to a contractor without any gaps?

If you separate from the military and immediately start with a contractor who sponsors your clearance, the transition is usually seamless. Your clearance is transferred from the DOD to the contractor's facility security officer. You should coordinate this with the contractor's FSO before you separate. If there is a gap of more than 24 months where you are not working in a cleared position, your clearance expires. You then have to go through a new investigation, which can take months and is not guaranteed.

What government contracting jobs pay the most for veterans?

Cybersecurity and IT roles with a TS/SCI clearance typically pay the highest, often well into six figures within a few years. Intelligence analysis also pays well at the senior level. Program management, especially for large acquisition programs, pays well but usually requires more years of experience. Operations and logistics roles pay solidly but the premium is lower because the labor supply is larger. The clearance level is the biggest multiplier across all categories. A Secret clearance increases your market value. A Top Secret increases it dramatically. With a TS/SCI and a polygraph, you are in a very small labor pool and you can command a significant premium.

How to Get a Government Contracting Job After the Military: The Pipeline Nobody Tells You About

By GetVetsHired · July 2026 · 5 min read

You spent years working alongside defense contractors. You saw them on base every day. They did jobs that looked a lot like yours but they were getting paid civilian salaries to do them. You probably thought, I could do that. You are right. You can. Government contracting is one of the most natural career paths for separating service members. The work is familiar. The environment is similar. Your military experience is directly valued. And the pay is substantially higher than what you are making now. But getting hired by a contractor is not automatic. You have to know which companies are actually hiring, how to frame your experience for a contract proposal, and what the clearance pipeline looks like. Here is everything you need to know to get from active duty to a six-figure contracting role.

Why defense contractors want to hire you

Government contractors have a strong financial incentive to hire veterans. Many contracts explicitly require or incentivize veteran hiring. A company that meets its veteran hiring targets stays competitive for future contract awards. On some contracts, the government evaluates the contractor's veteran hiring record as part of the source selection process. Beyond compliance, veterans bring concrete value. You already understand the mission. You know the terminology. You know the chain of command. You can walk onto a military base without a learning curve. You probably already have a security clearance. A contractor has to pay thousands of dollars and wait months to get a civilian cleared. You show up already cleared. That is worth real money to them. And you have operational experience that no civilian can replicate. You have done the job. You understand the end user. You can talk to the government customer in a language they understand because you were the government customer. Contractors do not hire veterans out of charity. They hire veterans because veterans make them more competitive for contracts and more effective at executing them.

The big players and where to find the smaller ones

You know the names. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, L3Harris, BAE Systems. These are the prime contractors. They have the biggest contracts and the most jobs. They also have massive applicant tracking systems and formal hiring processes that can feel slow and impersonal. Apply to them. But also consider the sub-contractors. These are smaller companies that work under the primes. They range from 50-person shops to mid-size firms with a few thousand employees. Sub-contractors often move faster in hiring. You are more likely to talk to a real person instead of an ATS. The work is often more hands-on because smaller companies have fewer layers between you and the customer. How to find them. Go to usaspending.gov and search for contracts in your area of expertise. See which companies are winning work. Look up those companies on LinkedIn and their career pages. Attend industry days and job fairs on base. The smaller contractors show up to these events because they need to. The primes send recruiters. The subs send the program manager who actually needs to hire someone. That person can make a decision on the spot. The recruiter cannot.

How your security clearance changes the game

If you have an active security clearance, you are in a completely different job market than civilians. The clearance changes everything. A Secret clearance can add a 10 to 20 percent premium to your salary for the same work. A Top Secret clearance can add 15 to 30 percent. A TS/SCI with a polygraph can add even more. The reason is simple economics. There are far more cleared jobs than cleared people. Companies bid on contracts and then scramble to find people with the right clearances. They will pay a premium, train you on the specific skills, and in some cases wait months for you to start. Your clearance is one of your most valuable assets when entering the civilian workforce. Protect it. Your clearance stays active for two years after you separate if you do not use it. If you go work at a job that does not require a clearance and two years pass, your clearance expires. Getting it reinstated is harder than maintaining it. Prioritize cleared work for your first job after separation, even if it is not your dream role. Keep the clearance active. You can always move to a non-cleared job later. Getting the clearance back is much harder.

How to translate your military experience for a contractor resume

Contractors evaluate your resume differently than other civilian employers. They are looking for three things. First, can you do the work on the contract. Second, do you have the clearance or can you get one. Third, do you understand the customer. Your military experience speaks directly to all three. But you still have to write it in contractor language. Contract proposals drive everything in this industry. Contractors win work by writing proposals that describe exactly how they will staff and execute a contract. When they hire, they are looking for people whose resumes match the labor categories in the proposal. A labor category might say 'Logistics Analyst, Senior: 8 years experience in military logistics operations, inventory management, and supply chain optimization.' Your resume needs to look like it was written to fill that labor category. Use the same words. Show the eight years. Demonstrate the logistics operations, inventory management, and supply chain experience. A tailoring tool can help with this. Paste your military resume and the job description. It will pull out the labor category keywords and reframe your experience to match. You go from a generic military background to a resume that looks like it was written for the contract.

The application process and how it is different

Applying to a government contractor is a hybrid of private sector and federal hiring. It is faster than federal hiring. You might get an interview within a week and an offer within three weeks. But the paperwork can feel familiar. You will fill out an OF-306 or similar declaration form. You will authorize a background investigation if you need a new clearance. You may need to provide documentation of your military service and your existing clearance. One thing to know. Many contractor jobs are contingent on contract award. The company may interview you and make an offer, but the start date is contingent on the government actually awarding them the contract. This is common. The offer letter should clearly state that it is contingent. Ask how likely the award is and when they expect a decision. Do not turn down other offers for a contingent one unless you are confident the contract will be awarded and you have a backup plan. If the offer is for an existing contract with an immediate start, that is much more reliable.

How to negotiate salary in government contracting

Contractor salaries are tied to the contract's billing rates. The government approves a certain hourly rate for each labor category. The contractor pays you out of that rate, keeping the rest for overhead and profit. This means there is a ceiling on what they can pay you for a given role. But there is usually some room. When you receive an offer, ask what labor category the role is mapped to. This tells you the ceiling. If you have more experience than the labor category requires, you can argue that you should be mapped to a higher category with a higher rate. This is a much stronger negotiating position than just asking for more money. You are not asking for a favor. You are showing them that you qualify for a more senior labor category on the contract. They can bill the government more for your time and pay you more out of it. That is a business argument, not a personal one. Use it. Also, do not forget to negotiate your clearance bonus if you are bringing an active clearance. Some companies offer a one-time bonus for cleared hires. Ask if they have one. If they do not, ask if they will consider it. The clearance saves them time and money. You should capture some of that value.

The fastest way to get your resume contractor-ready

Defense contractors post hundreds of jobs every day. Each one has specific labor category requirements and contract language that the resume screeners are looking for. You can manually tailor your resume for each one, translating military terms into contract language and matching keywords to labor categories. Or you can use a tailoring tool to do it in minutes. Upload your military resume and the job description. The tool pulls out the required experience, translates your background into contractor language, and builds a resume that matches the labor category. You apply to more jobs faster. You get past the keyword screen more often. You get interviews. And once you get the interview, your operational experience closes the deal. The resume just gets you in the room.

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