Lead Army cyber units conducting offensive and defensive cyberspace operations. Plan and execute cyber missions in support of joint and combatant commands.
Officer - College Degree Required (STEM preferred)
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Cyber Operations Officers lead the teams that defend Army networks and conduct authorized offensive cyberspace operations. Commissioning requires a bachelor degree through a service academy, ROTC, or Officer Candidate School, and the branch screens hard for technical aptitude. Your days mix mission planning, legal and authority review, resource decisions, and the leadership work of developing a team of very capable specialists. You brief senior commanders who may not be technical, translating what your operators found into decisions they can act on. Much of the job is being accountable for work you supervise rather than perform yourself, which is the officer bargain in every branch.
You learn to plan and direct cyber operations inside a framework of law, policy, and authority that civilian security leaders rarely meet this early in a career. Technical fluency is expected across networks, operating systems, malware behavior, and the tradecraft your teams use, even though you are not the one at the keyboard. Leading a highly skilled technical team teaches management of people who know more than you do about their specialty. You practice risk assessment, written communication to senior audiences, and the budgeting and manning decisions that keep a unit capable. Clearance handling and interagency coordination become routine parts of the work.
You develop the judgment to make decisions with incomplete information and then own the result publicly in front of people senior to you. The role builds intellectual humility, since staying current in this field requires admitting what you do not yet know. Leading technical experts teaches you to earn credibility rather than assume it arrives with rank. You become a clearer writer and speaker, because senior leaders act on your summaries and not on your raw data. Composure under scrutiny grows from briefing decisions that carry real consequences for missions and for the people executing them.
This is one of the strongest officer translations available, because security operations leadership is scarce in the civilian market. Veterans move into security operations center management, threat intelligence leadership, incident response management, and cybersecurity consulting at major firms. Federal agencies and defense contractors recruit cyber officers directly, and an active clearance is a substantial hiring advantage. The leadership record supports graduate study, and a business or technical masters funded partly by the GI Bill opens technology management tracks. Few young managers anywhere get to lead operations with this level of stakes and oversight.
Your morning opens at the cyber operations center reviewing mission status and coordinating offensive and defensive tasks with your teams. You spend your day planning cyberspace operations, synchronizing with joint and combatant commands, and leading the operators executing on target. Balancing technical detail with command intent, you drive the missions that defend Army networks and contest adversaries in cyberspace.
Related career-field video—not specific to Army 17A.
No suitable exact-MOS video was verified in the recorded search. This does not establish that none exists.
Related field: cyber operations. Source occupation: Army 17C.
Learn what it takes to be 17C, Cyber Operations Specialist with Staff Sgt. Mosac. (U.S. Army video by Staff Sgt. Matthew Garrett).
Official publisher description and direct video page checked; playback not independently watched. Checked 2026-10-25. This assignment may not reflect every posting in this career.
$77,814–$144,392
2026 basic pay only; the same grade and service time pay the same across jobs. Promotions are assumed, not promised. Excludes allowances, bonuses and special pays.
Possibilities for serving Soldiers, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Earned by successfully completing Ranger School's demanding leadership and field training.
Not restricted to combat MOSs. Requires selection, a school slot and current course prerequisites. The tab does not mean assignment to the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Recognizes successful airborne qualification, including the required training jumps.
Support specialties can attend too; the Army explicitly gives human resources and wheeled-vehicle mechanics as examples. Requires a school slot and medical, physical and course qualification.
Earned through Air Assault School, covering helicopter operations, sling loads and rappelling.
Available across job specialties, not just combat roles, subject to unit nomination, available seats and current school requirements.
A waiver-dependent opportunity outside engineering; earned by successfully completing the Sapper Leader Course.
Conditional opportunity: Soldiers outside engineering must submit a waiver to attend. Approval is not guaranteed; all other course requirements still apply.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Army 17A Cyber Operations Officer, official service-wide guidance and any exact feeder-list matches are distinguished below from unverified specialty-specific requirements. Ranks are not separate jobs, and these possibilities are not guaranteed promotions or available contracts.
Examples of higher service ranks
These are service-wide rank names, not a verified promotion ladder for this specialty. Examples are not exhaustive; appointments sharing a pay grade are not additional promotion steps.
Official military rank referenceThe Army distinguishes enlisted, warrant officer, and commissioned officer ranks. These are separate career tracks; a warrant appointment is not the next enlisted promotion. The Army rank chart does not establish a maximum rank for this specialty.
Army rank structureSpecialty-specific advancement, senior assignments, and eligibility for a different personnel category have not been verified for this listing. No feeder eligibility or automatic transition to another specialty is implied.
Advancement depends on current service rules, performance, required education, qualifications, selection, and authorized positions—not simply years served. Confirm current requirements with an official recruiter or career counselor.
Related military jobs below are for exploration, not promised progression or confirmed transfer paths.
Sources reviewed 2026-10-03. This is a partial evidence review, not verification of every advancement route for this specialty. Source retrieval dates do not replace policy effective dates.
Career-field mappings, not automatic qualifications. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024 national medians). O*NET links explain each occupation; military experience does not guarantee a job or salary.
Lead Army cyber units conducting offensive and defensive cyberspace operations. Plan and execute cyber missions in support of joint and combatant commands.
Cyber Operations Officers lead the teams that defend Army networks and conduct authorized offensive cyberspace operations. Commissioning requires a bachelor degree through a service academy, ROTC, or Officer Candidate School, and the branch screens hard for technical aptitude. Your days mix mission planning, legal and authority review, resource decisions, and the leadership work of developing a team of very capable specialists. You brief senior commanders who may not be technical, translating what your operators found into decisions they can act on. Much of the job is being accountable for work you supervise rather than perform yourself, which is the officer bargain in every branch.
You learn to plan and direct cyber operations inside a framework of law, policy, and authority that civilian security leaders rarely meet this early in a career. Technical fluency is expected across networks, operating systems, malware behavior, and the tradecraft your teams use, even though you are not the one at the keyboard. Leading a highly skilled technical team teaches management of people who know more than you do about their specialty. You practice risk assessment, written communication to senior audiences, and the budgeting and manning decisions that keep a unit capable. Clearance handling and interagency coordination become routine parts of the work.
This is one of the strongest officer translations available, because security operations leadership is scarce in the civilian market. Veterans move into security operations center management, threat intelligence leadership, incident response management, and cybersecurity consulting at major firms. Federal agencies and defense contractors recruit cyber officers directly, and an active clearance is a substantial hiring advantage. The leadership record supports graduate study, and a business or technical masters funded partly by the GI Bill opens technology management tracks. Few young managers anywhere get to lead operations with this level of stakes and oversight.
Officer - College Degree Required (STEM preferred). This is the catalog's listed requirement, not an individual eligibility decision. Confirm the current standard and any exceptions with the service.
A civilian can pursue this specialty through an officer accession path, subject to eligibility and assignment. Confirm the current status of this specific classification with an official recruiter.
Catalog sources consulted: 2026-09-26. This is not an entry-by-entry verification date. No record-specific verification date is recorded. Occupation audit evidence reviewed: 2026-09-26; this does not re-verify every requirement.
Confirmed in DA PAM 611-21 Smartbook, November 2025, historical end-of-FY2025 snapshot (https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/12/04/e1190672/chapter-3-officer-branches-and-fas.pdf). The Army maintains a newer restricted version; it was not sought or accessed. Checked 2026-09-27. Confirmation means documented appearance, not present-day accession availability.
Official branch occupation evidence
Occupation identified. This occupation was identified in the cited source. This does not verify requirements, benefits, or a current opening.
Army G-1 DA Pam 611-21, chapter 3: officer branches and functional areas (historical public consolidation) · reviewed 2026-09-26
Confirmed. Catalog evidence is not an inventory of open contracts.
No dated public inventory confirmed a currently open recruiting contract for this role. This does not mean there are no openings. Confirm current eligibility and offers with an official recruiter.
Advertised — Army, as of 2026-09-28Deployment likelihood: Lower*
* Estimated. Rank progression and specialty-pay eligibility are illustrative assumptions. Deployment likelihood, when shown, is inferred from similar specialties in the branch and career field, not a published specialty deployment rate.
Descriptions may change. No military role is free from risk of injury or death, including non-combat work. Catalog review dates do not establish current openings or re-verification of every requirement.
Recruiting signals reflect what each branch published on the dates shown. They are not offers, and they do not mean a contract is open for you. Eligibility depends on your ASVAB scores, medical qualification, security clearance eligibility, and ship date. Confirm everything with an official recruiter. See our Disclaimer and Terms.