Cleared IT recruiting in Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a command market.
MacDill Air Force Base on the Interbay Peninsula hosts the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, which arrived in 1983 and 1987, together with the Joint Communications Support Element and 44 joint mission partners supported by the 6th Air Refueling Wing. The James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital is one of the largest federal health facilities in the state, and Cyber Florida at the University of South Florida was created by the legislature to build the state's cybersecurity workforce. Requisitions run from Public Trust at the hospital to TS/SCI at the commands.
The base sits at the southern tip of the city's peninsula, so every commute to it funnels down Dale Mabry Highway and Bayshore Boulevard, and candidates in Brandon, Riverview or St. Petersburg weigh that drive before accepting.
Installations, agencies and employers that shape hiring in Tampa
The organizations below shape the Tampa market. They are named as facts about the area; none is a client of the firm.
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MacDill Air Force Base
MacDill sits on Tampa's Interbay Peninsula and is home to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, whose KC-135 mission, in the wing's words, directly supports Headquarters U.S. Central Command, Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command and 44 joint mission partners. Central Command arrived at MacDill in 1983 and Special Operations Command in 1987, and the base lists the Joint Communications Support Element among its major commands.
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James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital
At 13000 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, the hospital hosts the Tampa Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, one of five facilities in the country designed for intensive rehabilitation of veterans and service members with severe injuries to more than one organ system, and the Michael Bilirakis Spinal Cord Injury Center.
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Cyber Florida
Created by the Florida Legislature in 2014 and codified in Section 1004.444 of the Florida Statutes, Cyber Florida operates within the University of South Florida from 4202 East Fowler Avenue, with the goal of positioning the state as a national leader in cybersecurity and a focus on the defense, finance, health care, transportation and utility sectors.
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Contractor and enterprise employers
Jabil, headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, reports more than 120 sites and 140,000 employees worldwide, and the contractors supporting the commands cluster in the offices along the Westshore district and near the base's gates.
Commuting and remote work around Tampa
Interstate 275 runs 60.26 miles through St. Petersburg and Tampa, according to the federal route log, and Interstate 4 runs 131.89 miles across Florida from Tampa toward Orlando. The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority owns and operates the Selmon Expressway, the Brandon Parkway and Meridian Avenue, and the 1.7-mile Selmon Greenway trail runs beneath the expressway through downtown to the Riverwalk.
HART, the Hillsborough Transit Authority, operates bus service, the TECO Line streetcar, HARTPlus paratransit, HARTFlex and MetroRapid from its offices on East Seventh Avenue in Ybor City, and most commutes to the base are by car down the peninsula.
Command, communications and cleared contractor work at MacDill is on site. Hospital IT positions follow federal telework policy, and the cybersecurity and enterprise employers around the university and Westshore offer hybrid arrangements; a requisition should state its policy.
Clearance levels commonly requested in Tampa
Requisitions supporting Central Command, Special Operations Command and the joint communications element ask for TS/SCI, often with a polygraph set by the sponsoring program. Engineering and IT support around the base asks for Secret and Top Secret, hospital and health IT positions are Public Trust, and the cybersecurity and enterprise employers rarely require a clearance.
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, so the clearance line and the commute decide most Tampa searches.
Specialties in demand in Tampa
Industries hiring in Tampa
Nearby markets
Questions about hiring in Tampa
Which Tampa requisitions carry a polygraph?
Those supporting the intelligence and special operations programs at the commands, where the sponsoring program sets the requirement. Most engineering, communications and IT support requisitions around the base ask for Secret or TS/SCI without one. The requisition summary should say which examination applies.
Will St. Petersburg candidates commute to MacDill?
Some will, across the Gandy Bridge or Interstate 275, but the drive down the peninsula to the base's gates is the deciding factor for many. Recruiters Workforce records where each candidate lives and the sites they will accept before submittal.