Ascension is seeking an experienced Cognitive Performance / Resilience Subject Matter Expert to support the Commander, Navy Installations Command’s transformation of its Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fitness program into an integrated Human Performance Optimization model.

The ideal candidate brings specialized expertise in performance psychology, cognitive readiness, resilience, stress management, mental skills training, or a closely related discipline. This individual helps ensure that cognitive performance and mental resilience are deliberately integrated with physical training, nutrition, recovery, injury prevention, and other components of human performance.

This position is well suited for a practitioner who understands the demands placed on military personnel and can translate behavioral science and performance psychology research into practical, scalable education, tools, and implementation recommendations. The selected individual must be comfortable working as part of a multidisciplinary team and supporting a developing program in which requirements, resources, and delivery models may evolve.

The role is important because the Navy seeks to create a workforce of resilient, adaptable, and high-performing Sailors. The Cognitive Performance / Resilience SME provides the expertise needed to address the cognitive-readiness, stress-management, and mental-resilience components of that objective.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Cognitive Performance / Resilience SME serves as Ascension’s principal advisor on the cognitive and psychological dimensions of human performance. The SME supports the HPO Lead and works with specialists in physical performance, nutrition, recovery, workforce development, technology, program evaluation, and change management.

The contractor assesses current cognitive-readiness and resilience practices, identifies capability gaps, and recommends evidence-based methods for strengthening focus, decision-making, adaptability, stress regulation, recovery, and performance under pressure. The SME may also help develop educational content, facilitator resources, assessment methods, implementation guidance, and performance measures appropriate for individual, group, and command-level delivery.

The successful candidate is expected to be:

• Evidence-driven and capable of evaluating scientific research critically.
• Detail-oriented, organized, and responsive.
• Self-directed and effective with limited supervision.
• Comfortable working in an evolving or ambiguous program environment.
• Skilled in translating technical behavioral-science concepts into practical language.
• Sensitive to military culture, operational demands, confidentiality, and psychological safety.
• Collaborative and comfortable contributing within an interdisciplinary HPO team.
• Capable of distinguishing performance education and resilience support from clinical diagnosis or treatment.

The role does not inherently constitute a clinical mental-health provider position. Unless separately authorized and performed by an appropriately licensed clinician, the contractor provides performance education, program-development support, and nonclinical resilience guidance—not diagnosis, psychotherapy, crisis intervention, or medical treatment.

Anticipated Day-to-Day Activities

The contractor will perform activities according to the project schedule and assigned level of effort rather than on a continuous full-time basis.

• Advise the HPO Lead on cognitive readiness, mental resilience, stress management, performance psychology, and related behavioral-science matters.
• Assess current Navy fitness and wellness practices for gaps affecting cognitive performance, resilience, readiness, and sustained performance.
• Review existing programs, policies, educational materials, tools, and research relevant to military cognitive performance.
• Identify evidence-based practices that can be integrated with physical training, nutrition, sleep, recovery, and injury-prevention programs.
• Develop practical recommendations for improving focus, confidence, emotional regulation, adaptability, decision-making, and performance under pressure.
• Design or contribute to nonclinical resilience and cognitive-performance education for individual, group, and command-level delivery.
• Create lesson content, participant materials, facilitator guides, job aids, presentations, and other knowledge products.
• Define appropriate learning objectives and performance outcomes for cognitive-readiness and resilience programming.
• Recommend screening, assessment, feedback, and evaluation approaches suitable for program-level use.
• Establish measurable indicators for participation, learning, behavior change, resilience, and performance outcomes.
• Analyze qualitative and quantitative information to determine whether recommended interventions produce intended results.
• Interpret assessment and program data while observing privacy, ethics, and data-protection requirements.
• Evaluate digital applications, virtual-delivery platforms, immersive tools, and emerging technologies that may support cognitive training and resilience education.
• Support the design of accessible virtual and in-person programming for diverse users, including individuals with disabilities.
• Collaborate with physical-performance, nutrition, recovery, technology, training, data, and change-management specialists.
• Engage Navy fitness personnel, HPO stakeholders, leaders, and subject-matter experts to understand operational needs and implementation constraints.
• Facilitate interviews, workshops, focus groups, working sessions, or educational events, as assigned.
• Translate scientific findings into actionable recommendations that can be understood and used by leaders, fitness professionals, and Sailors.
• Contribute to standard operating procedures, role definitions, training standards, implementation plans, and proof-of-concept documentation.
• Support change-management activities that help personnel understand and adopt new HPO practices, technologies, and delivery methods.
• Document assumptions, findings, risks, recommendations, decisions, and lessons learned.
• Present findings and recommendations clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Maintain professional boundaries and refer clinical, medical, or crisis-related matters to appropriately qualified personnel.
• Protect sensitive participant, health-related, assessment, and program information in accordance with applicable requirements.
• Perform quality reviews of resilience and cognitive-performance deliverables before submission.

Anticipated Tools and Processes

The SME may use or help define the following tools and processes:

• Evidence reviews and research-synthesis methods.
• Cognitive-readiness and resilience program frameworks.
• Nonclinical performance questionnaires and screening tools.
• Mixed-method assessments combining surveys, interviews, observations, and program metrics.
• Pre- and post-program evaluation instruments.
• Learning-management and virtual-training platforms.
• Collaboration and knowledge-sharing platforms.
• Microsoft 365 applications, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, and SharePoint.
• Data-collection, dashboard, and reporting tools.
• Workshop, focus-group, and stakeholder-engagement methods.
• Adult-learning and instructional-design principles.
• Continuous-improvement and lessons-learned processes.
• Privacy-conscious data-handling and documentation procedures.
• Accessibility and inclusive-design practices.

Any validated psychological instrument must be administered, scored, and interpreted only by personnel whose education, licensure, certification, and scope of practice permit its use.