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Air Force AFSC · Support

15AX Air Force Operations Staff Officer

Current service use not established

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Overview

Air Force Operations Staff Officers develop and write Air Force and joint service programs and policies. They apply their operations background and knowledge of Air Force operational doctrine to satisfy mission objectives, and the specialty also includes operations analysts.

Core Skills

  • Mathematical modeling of complex operational systems
  • Analysis of structured and unstructured data
  • Problem formulation and potential solution evaluation
  • Independent, data-driven recommendations for decision makers

Civilian Career Paths

Career associations are editorial assessments of the cited evidence, not an official crosswalk unless the evidence explicitly says so. O*NET supplies civilian occupation information, not proof of a military match. Related experience does not confer civilian qualifications. Tasks and tools below describe civilian work, not military training.

Operations Research Analysts

Military experience formulating complex operational problems, applying mathematical models, and evaluating solutions directly supports civilian operations research.

How to prepare: Build a portfolio case using public data that defines an operational problem, tests a quantitative model, and presents a decision recommendation.

What the civilian work involves
  • Present the results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users.
  • Define data requirements, and gather and validate information, applying judgment and statistical tests.
  • Perform validation and testing of models to ensure adequacy, and reformulate models, as necessary.
Civilian tools and software (examples)
  • Python
  • Structured query language SQL
  • Microsoft Excel

Data Scientists

The verified specialty's data science functions use structured and unstructured data and advanced analytical techniques to produce decision-relevant insights.

How to prepare: Create a reproducible public-data project demonstrating data cleaning, model comparison, and an explanation of findings for a nontechnical decision maker. Check target employers for industry-specific experience or education expectations.

What the civilian work involves
  • Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software.
  • Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software.
  • Compare models using statistical performance metrics, such as loss functions or proportion of explained variance.
Civilian tools and software (examples)
  • Apache Spark
  • Git
  • Microsoft Power BI

Notes & Sources

  • The recorded title, Air Force Operations Staff Officer, differs from the verified 15AX specialty description, Operations Analysis Officer; these recommendations follow the verified operations research and data science functions.
  • Both paths typically require at least a bachelor's degree with substantial mathematics preparation. Some operations research jobs require a master's degree; some data science employers require or prefer a master's or doctoral degree. Data science also calls for extensive statistics study and data-oriented programming.
  • Certain operations research positions require a background check to obtain a security clearance.
Evidence for this guidance (5 documents)
  1. DAFOCD, 30 Apr 26: OPERATIONS ANALYSIS OFFICER (15AX)

    [1] Specialty Summary section "OPERATIONS ANALYSIS OFFICER"; normalized cached text lines 3174-3202; family-level section (15A4, 15A3, 15A1)

    Supports: Mathematical modeling of complex operational systems, Analysis of structured and unstructured data, Problem formulation and potential solution evaluation, Independent, data-driven recommendations for decision makers, Operations Research Analysts (O*NET 15-2031.00), Data Scientists (O*NET 15-2051.00)

  2. O*NET: Operations Research Analysts

    [2] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Operations Research Analysts (O*NET 15-2031.00)

  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Operations Research Analysts

    [3] Duties, How to Become, Education and Other Experience; checked September 24, 2026

    Supports: Operations Research Analysts (O*NET 15-2031.00)

  4. O*NET: Data Scientists

    [4] O*NET 30.3 occupational data

    Supports: Data Scientists (O*NET 15-2051.00)

  5. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Data Scientists

    [5] How to Become, Education and Other Experience; checked September 24, 2026

    Supports: Data Scientists (O*NET 15-2051.00)

Defense contractor jobs for 15AX

Descriptions may be summarized for clarity. Verify all information with your branch career counselor or official military documentation before making career decisions.

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