About the Department

Summary  
The Cybersecurity Competition Team Manager supports Johnston Community College’s NSF ATE grant, Integrating Soft Skills with Technical Skills to Produce Next-Generation Cybersecurity Technicians. This position is responsible for designing, developing, coordinating, and managing the Cybersecurity Competition Team, including integrating competition activities into targeted cybersecurity courses and preparing students for participation in on-site and off-site cyber competitions. The Manager will work closely with the Principal Investigator, Co-PIs, faculty, Career Coaches, and industry partners to enhance student technical and soft skill development through gamification, team-based problem solving, and competition-based learning. This position is temporary, entirely grant-funded through September 30, 2028 for approximately 20 hours a week for 18 weeks in year one and 20 hours a week for 36 weeks in years two and three.

Position Duties

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following: other duties as assigned

Design, Develop, and Manage Cyber Competitions:
Create, coordinate, and oversee all on-site cybersecurity competitions activities integrated into Cybersecurity program courses, ensuring alignment with grant goals and curriculum needs.

Coordinate Off-Site Competition Participation:
Arrange for JCC’s top cybersecurity students to participate in external cyber competitions, including CCN-hosted events, regional contests, and statewide challenges.

Research and Select Appropriate Competitions:
Identify prospective competitions, evaluate rules and technical requirements, determine relevance to student skill development, and plan participation logistics.

Develop and Maintain a Cyber Competition Team Playbook:
Document standards, processes, procedures, team roles, scoring strategies, preparation methods, safety guidelines, and competition expectations for students and faculty.
 
Create and Manage Practice and Training Schedule:
Establish regular practice sessions that include technical skill drills, challenge walkthroughs, communication exercises, and teamwork development activities.

Conduct Mock Competitions:
Run simulated Capture the Flag events and practice scenarios to prepare students for real competition environments while assessing growth in problem solving, collaboration, and communication.

Support Soft Skill Integration and Development:
Reinforce targeted soft skills such as communication, teamwork, adaptability, time management, and ethical judgment through competition-based activities and structured coaching. We are focusing on five essential skills: Communication, Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, Continuous Learning, and Attention to Detail.

Integrate Competition Activities into Coursework:
Collaborate with faculty to embed competition tasks, challenges, and gamified exercises into designated courses (CCT110, SEC151, SEC160, CSC211) in support of curriculum enhancements. 

Collaborate with Faculty on Instructional Materials:
Assist faculty and Co-PIs in executing soft skill mini-modules and course-based competition assignments defined in the NSF ATE project.

Coordinate Equipment, Software, and Lab Readiness:
Ensure proper setup of laptops, virtual environments, practice ranges, and software tools needed for competition training and execution.

Monitor Student Engagement and Progress:
Track student participation, performance in competitions, readiness benchmarks, and soft skill development for NSF reporting and continuous improvement.

Serve as a Member of the Grant Management Team:
Attend meetings, provide updates, contribute to planning, and support documentation and reporting efforts as assigned in the grant structure.

Collaborate with the Career Coach and Industry Partners:
Coordinate efforts with the Career Coach to support student visibility, employer networking, and industry engagement related to competition activities.
 
Support Recruitment and Outreach Efforts:
Assist with promoting the Cybersecurity Competition Team, presenting at informational sessions, and supporting veteran, high school, and CCP recruitment activities as needed.

Support Dissemination and Public Visibility:
Provide content, photos, summaries, and updates for the cyber competition webpage, social media, ATE Central reporting, and grant publications.

Other Duties as Assigned:
Support additional NSF ATE grant activities as needed, including events, workshops, competitions, site visits, and student engagement initiatives.

Supervisory Responsibilities:  This job has no supervisory responsibilities.

Minimum Qualifications

Qualifications  
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Individual must be able to work independently with minimum supervision and possess creative problem-solving skills and strong written and verbal communication skills.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
 
Education Minimum:  Associate’s degree from an accredited institution, preferably in the IT, cybersecurity, or related field.

Experience Minimum:  One-year relative work experience in a similar job to include coordination of internships, apprenticeships, career counseling, or employability instruction.

Experience Preferred:  One-year relative work experience in IT, networking, Cybersecurity, or a closely-related field.

Other Qualifications

Language Skills                       

• Ability to read, analyze, interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures or governmental regulations.
• Ability to write reports, business correspondence and procedure manuals.
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

 
Mathematical Skills                       

• Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.   
• Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

Reasoning Ability                       

• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists
• Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral diagram, or schedule form

Computer Skills                       

• To perform this job successfully, an individual should be proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point and College Systems.

  
Certificates, Licenses, Registrations  

• None

 
Physical Demands  
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
 
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands and fingers, reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment  
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet.