How To Become A Watch Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a watch officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

A watch officer's chief duty is to develop, implement, and monitor the security procedures of their organization. Their goal is to ensure that all protocols are being followed and that these protocols are optimized according to the organization's security needs.

Based on the resumes of actual watch officers, the duties of this job can vary. A watch officer may be responsible for monitoring cybersecurity practices, coordinating with DoD collection managers, disseminating security information, analyzing security reports, and organizing high-level teleconferences that also require high-level security.

For this role, employers consider candidates with a bachelor's degree in any field or a high school diploma (or equivalent) with at least five years of experience in a related field. An applicant must also have a valid driver's license, a U.S. passport, and certain medical screening qualifications.

Watch officers may work in an operationally sensitive environment. That said, they need to be highly communicative, detail-oriented, organized, and able to handle high amounts of stress on the job.

ScoreWatch OfficerUS Average

Salary

7.0

Avg. Salary $89,161

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.72%

Asian 5.85%

Black or African American 15.62%

Hispanic or Latino 16.99%

Unknown 5.54%

White 54.28%

Gender

female 15.88%

male 84.12%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a watch officer

Explore watch officer education requirements

Most common watch officer degrees

Bachelor's

63.8 %

Associate

16.6 %

Master's

11.0 %

Start to develop specific watch officer skills

Skills	Percentages
DOD	11.21%
Situational Awareness	10.44%
IC	6.78%
SharePoint	6.25%
DHS	5.90%

Complete relevant watch officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New watch officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a watch officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real watch officer resumes.

Research watch officer duties and responsibilities

Used GCCS-M and relate comm gear successfully manage over
Manage, configure and operate an end-to-end collection/processing system for task targets on UNIX and LINUX base systems.
Manage safeguards and handle large quantities of classify COMSEC, technical manuals, publications and equipment progressively increasing.
Manage and perform LAN maintenance and repair of extensive department computer equipment.

Prepare your watch officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your watch officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a watch officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable watch officer resume templates

Build a professional watch officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your watch officer resume.