Technical Mission Director (FedD235)

• Own day-to-day execution for a multidisciplinary government/industry team and establish the Agile operating rhythm, including Scrum ceremonies, backlog management, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives, and release planning.
• Coordinate government stakeholders and multiple technology vendors, keeping priorities, dependencies, milestones, and technical risks visible and driving blockers to resolution.
• Lead daily cross-vendor synchronization without allowing meetings to become a substitute for execution; create clear owners, decisions, and next actions.
• Maintain an integrated delivery plan and communicate concise updates on mission outcomes, technical risk, resource needs, decisions, and schedule.
• Work closely with the Technical Solutions Architect and engineering leads across platform, DevSecOps, data, and AI/agentic disciplines to keep execution aligned with the evolving architecture.
• Maintain enough technical depth to recognize integration, security, data, deployment, or architecture issues early and engage the right experts quickly.
• Coordinate the transition from prototype environments into classified operational environments, including readiness, dependencies, and increasing onsite/SCIF collaboration.
• Act as a trusted technical thought partner to government customers: surface risks, frame options, challenge assumptions constructively, and help translate mission needs into executable technical priorities.
• Identify follow-on mission needs, expansion opportunities, and adjacent use cases; understand the customer's acquisition and buying motion and partner with DU growth leadership to shape actionable opportunities.
• Capture lessons learned and repeatable delivery patterns, continuously reducing coordination overhead and improving engineering velocity.
• Build durable customer relationships and represent Defense Unicorns as a technical thought leader rather than simply a delivery resource.

• Active TS/SCI clearance.
• Local to the National Capital Region (NCR) and able to support regular onsite work at a government facility in Springfield, Virginia; available for increasing onsite/SCIF interaction as the effort matures.
• 7+ years leading Agile software, technology, or mission programs, preferably in government or other mission-critical environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with Scrum and Agile delivery, including backlog management, sprint planning, dependency management, retrospectives, and release planning.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and coordinating multiple concurrent technical workstreams, government stakeholders, and technology vendors.
• Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery, DevSecOps, cloud, Kubernetes, CI/CD, AI/ML, and data platforms.
• Ability to understand technical architecture, dependencies, integration risks, and engineering tradeoffs well enough to drive informed program decisions.
• Exceptional communication, organization, facilitation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to operate effectively in high-tempo, ambiguous environments.

• Experience leading programs involving generative AI, AI agents, data platforms, or enterprise AI ecosystems.
• Experience working across technologies such as OpenShift/OpenShift AI, GitLab, NVIDIA AI, enterprise data platforms, or comparable commercial technologies.
• Familiarity with NIST 800-53, RMF, ATO processes, continuous authorization, and security engineering.
• Experience supporting systems across multiple security classifications or transitioning capabilities into Secret or TS/SCI environments.
• Experience with complex multi-vendor integration efforts where no single provider owns the complete solution.
• Experience advising senior government customers on technology strategy, mission modernization, or platform adoption.
• Experience identifying and shaping follow-on opportunities, expansion paths, or new mission applications within an existing customer.
• CSM, PSM, SAFe, PMI-ACP, PMP, or comparable Agile/program certification.

This position is NCR-local and requires regular onsite support at the government team's Springfield campus. Some hybrid flexibility, but regular onsite/SCIF engagement is expected.

THIS POSITION OFFERS A BASE SALARY OF $145,000 - $185,000. (TOTAL ON-TARGET EARNINGS OF $290,000 TO $370,000)