Cleared IT recruiting in Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a simulation, training and health IT market built around the largest university in Florida.
The University of Central Florida enrolls more than 70,000 students, holds the top research designation and reports 237.4 million dollars in research funding, its Institute for Simulation and Training has four decades of experience, and the Central Florida Research Park next door houses the companies that build training systems for the armed services. The Orlando VA Medical Center at Lake Nona anchors federal health IT, Siemens Energy headquarters its United States business in the city, and EA Orlando develops sports titles. Requisitions run from non-cleared software to Secret and Top Secret on the training programs.
The research park and the university sit thirteen miles east of downtown, Lake Nona lies to the southeast by the airport, and the Interstate 4 corridor runs through the middle, so a requisition should name its side of the city.
Installations, agencies and employers that shape hiring in Orlando
The organizations below shape the Orlando market. They are named as facts about the area; none is a client of the firm.
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The University of Central Florida
UCF enrolls 70,674 students as of fall 2025, the largest enrollment of any university in Florida, on a main campus thirteen miles east of downtown. Its first classes began in October 1968 with 1,948 students, it holds the 2025 Carnegie designation for very high research spending and doctorate production, and it reports 237.4 million dollars in research funding for fiscal year 2025. Its Institute for Simulation and Training describes four decades of simulation research.
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The Central Florida Research Park
The park describes itself as a campus-like environment for business adjacent to the university, with offices at 12424 Research Parkway, and is where the region's simulation and training contractors and the government organizations they support keep their offices.
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The Orlando VA Medical Center
At 13800 Veterans Way in Lake Nona, the medical center runs an emergency department open every day of the year and anchors the federal health IT programs that draw analysts, systems and support staff to the southeast side of the city.
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Siemens Energy and EA Orlando
Siemens Energy states that its United States business is headquartered in Orlando, with offices in 84 locations including more than 20 manufacturing facilities and a workforce of 12,000 in the country. EA Orlando is an Electronic Arts studio based in the city that works on EA SPORTS titles.
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Northrop Grumman in Apopka
Northrop Grumman opened its Micro-Line microelectronics facility in Apopka, in the Orlando region, in 2020, part of nearly 8,000 Florida employees across 17 sites.
Commuting and remote work around Orlando
The I-4 Ultimate project rebuilt 21 miles of Interstate 4 from west of Kirkman Road to east of State Road 434, added two tolled managed lanes in each direction known as I-4 Express, and is described as the largest highway infrastructure project in Florida's history and now complete; the federal route log records I-4 at 131.89 miles across the state. SunRail, administered by FDOT, runs between DeLand and Poinciana with 17 stations across Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties, including LYNX Central and Orlando Health.
LYNX serves Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties and parts of Polk and Lake with local routes, FastLink limited-stop service, the LYMMO downtown circulator, NeighborLink flex routes and paratransit from its base on North Garland Avenue. The research park and Lake Nona are reached by car from most of the metro.
Training system integration and the cleared engineering around the research park are on site or in controlled facilities. The hospital follows federal telework policy, and the software, energy and enterprise employers offer hybrid arrangements; a requisition should state its policy and its side of the city.
Clearance levels commonly requested in Orlando
Training and simulation programs for the armed services ask for Secret for most engineering positions and Top Secret for some program work, and the contractors in the research park write requisitions accordingly. The medical center's positions are Public Trust, and the software, energy and entertainment employers rarely require a clearance. TS/SCI requisitions are uncommon in Orlando, and the polygraph line rarely appears.
Florida sets no posting-stage rules on pay or salary history, and private employers with 25 or more employees must use E-Verify for new hires.
Specialties in demand in Orlando
Industries hiring in Orlando
Nearby markets
Questions about hiring in Orlando
Which Orlando requisitions are cleared?
Those on the military training and simulation programs delivered from the research park, which commonly ask for Secret and sometimes Top Secret, and positions at the Orlando offices of defense contractors supporting programs elsewhere. Health IT, software and enterprise requisitions usually carry no clearance line.
Does simulation experience from the entertainment industry transfer to defense training programs?
Often, for software and graphics engineers, provided the candidate meets the program's citizenship requirement and the contractor will sponsor a Secret investigation. Programs commonly start such an engineer on unclassified work while the investigation runs, and the submittal records the platforms and tools the candidate has shipped on.