Chief Executive Officer

The QED Group LLC; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founder equity (10–15%)

Remote work

Performance bonus

Job summary

Elessar Systems Inc. seeks a Chief Executive Officer (co-founder) to set strategy, lead fundraising, and drive government and commercial go-to-market for Q2 Holodeck™ training platform. You will manage P&L, price decisions, and major contracts while building the team and culture.

In the first 18 months, you will personally pursue customers, shape pricing, and target significant awards, reporting to the Board. Remote work and equity incentives align with company growth and mission.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressively senior leadership roles, including CEO or equivalent.
• Direct experience with federal/defense/public sector sales or delivery.
• Experience leading capital raises or fundraising activities.
• U.S. citizenship required; security clearance may be needed.

Responsibilities

• Set company strategy and market-entry plan; finalize pricing and packaging.
• Lead equity fundraising and manage budget, burn rate, and runway.
• Own revenue, pipeline, and forecasting; lead early-stage pursuits with customers.
• Define product roadmap priorities with CTO and drive delivery and renewals.
• Recruit and develop founding team; establish culture, cadence, and accountability.
• Ensure ISO 27001, FedRAMP or equivalents; manage risks and compliance.
• Serve as spokesperson to customers, government leaders, and investors.

Skills

Financial acumen

Technical literacy

Judgment

Resilience

Strategic leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Chief Executive Officer

Founding executive of a new defense technology company commercializing Q2 Holodeck™, an immersive training platform for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and counter-UAS (C-UAS) decision-making.

POSITION Chief Executive Officer (Co-Founder)

COMPANY Elessar Systems Inc. (Q2 Holodeck™ training platform)

REPORTS TO Board of Directors

DIRECT REPORTS Chief Technology Officer; Chief of Staff; Chief Operating Officer, Director of Business Development; future CRO, CFO/Controller, and Head of Delivery

LOCATION Remote

EMPLOYMENT TYPE Full-time, exempt

CLEARANCE U.S. citizenship required; may be required to obtain a security clearance

TRAVEL Approximately 25-30%

COMPENSATION $200K-$250K base, plus bonus and founder equity

POSTING DATE October 2026

Position Summary

The Chief Executive Officer is a co-founder and principal of Elessar Systems Inc., holds full profit-and-loss accountability, and reports to the Board of Directors. The CEO sets the company’s strategy, raises capital, leads government go-to-market, and builds the team to execute on that strategy. In the first eighteen months, the CEO will personally lead customer pursuits, fundraising, and pricing decisions and will be accountable for the company’s first major contract awards.

About Elessar

Elessar is a newly formed defense technology company commercializing Q2 Holodeck™, a browser-based, AI/ML-driven, scenario-based training platform that trains security, force protection, and first-responder personnel to identify a drone, select a lawful and effective response, and report the incident before a real event occurs. The platform runs on The Makusudi Game™, a patented decision- training methodology incubated at Q2IMPACT™, and scores each decision against the authorities and rules of engagement applicable to the customer’s site.

Q2 Holodeck™ is offered as a hosted SaaS, with dedicated and customer-hosted deployments available, subject to technical validation. It serves DoD and DOE/NNSA protective forces, federal and SLTT law enforcement, critical-infrastructure operators, corrections, private entities, and allied nations. As a software product, it enables thousands of personnel to train simultaneously, without the classroom, range, and instructor constraints of traditional schoolhouse training. The market is still early, and the CEO will have the opportunity to set the training standard for AI/ML-driven, dynamic, decision-based training capabilities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities (approximate % of time)

• Ø Strategy and Commercial Model (15%). Set the company’s strategy and market-entry sequence across federal, state and local, and critical-infrastructure markets; finalize pricing and packaging for all deployment modes; protect and extend the company’s intellectual property; and position Q2 Holodeck™ as the reference standard for C-UAS decision training.
• Ø Capital Formation and Finance (20%). Lead equity fundraising; pursue non-dilutive funding, including SBIR/STTR, OTA, and program-office awards; own the budget, burn rate, and runway; and establish the finance, accounting, and contract-cost infrastructure required to scale.
• Ø Business Development and Capture (30%). Own revenue, pipeline, and forecast; personally lead early-stage pursuits and close reference customers; establish repeatable contracting pathways (CRADA, government purchase card, sole source, and OTA); convert demonstrations into awards; and build relationships with partners and prime contractors.
• Ø Product and Delivery Oversight (10%). Set roadmap priorities with the CTO; clearly distinguish fielded and planned capabilities in all external communications; turn custom scenario development into a repeatable process; and build delivery, support, and training-effectiveness measures that drive renewals.
• Ø Organization and Talent (10%). Recruit revenue, finance, and delivery leadership ahead of need; build the founding team; and set the company's culture, planning cadence, and accountability standards.
• Ø Governance, Compliance, and Risk (10%). Report accurately and promptly to the Board; ensure compliance with ISO 27001, FedRAMP or equivalent authorizations, export controls (ITAR and EAR), and security requirements; manage concentration, accreditation, key-person, and IP risks; and enforce ethical standards in government or commercial sales.
• Ø External Representation (5%). Serve as the company’s principal spokesperson to customers, agency and congressional leadership, industry, media, and investors, and contribute to the policy debate on C-UAS authorities and training standards.

Key Performance Objectives

The Board expects the following outcomes over the first twenty-four months. The CEO will set specific targets at the time of hire, and the Board will review them quarterly.

OBJECTIVE HOW SUCCESS IS MEASURED HORIZON

Capital formation Priced round or non-dilutive award closed, funding at least eighteen months of runway against a credible plan Months 1-9

First revenue Signed multi-seat agreements, including at least one named reference customer willing to speak publicly Months 3-12

Contract vehicles At least one executed CRADA, OTA, or sole-source award, with a documented, repeatable path for follow-on work with government and private-sector customers Months 6-15

Compliance and

delivery Progress toward ISO 27001, CMMC 2.0, and FedRAMP certification, including a GCC High environment accredited for CUI Months 6-24

Team and pipeline Revenue, finance, and delivery leadership hired; qualified pipeline covering the following year’s plan Months 1-24

Qualifications

Required

• Ø Education. Bachelor’s degree required; an advanced degree in business, engineering, national security, public policy, STEM, or a related field is preferred.
• Ø Experience. Fifteen or more years of progressively senior leadership, including at least five years as a CEO, general manager, division president, or other executive with profit-and-loss responsibility.
• Ø Growth record. Demonstrated success scaling a technology, services, products, or software business from early revenue to a durable commercial model, including ownership of pricing and go-to-market strategy.
• Ø Market exposure. Direct experience selling to or delivering for U.S. federal, defense, public safety, critical infrastructure, or business-to-business customers.
• Ø Capital formation. Experience leading or advising on capital raises (venture, strategic, or non-dilutive) or on mergers and acquisitions.
• Ø Citizenship. U.S. citizenship is required. The CEO may be required to obtain a security clearance.

Preferred

• Ø Background in counter-UAS, air defense, force protection, homeland security, or critical infrastructure protection.
• Ø Experience delivering or implementing SaaS solutions.
• Ø Familiarity with the DoD Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process.
• Ø A record of taking a company from pre-revenue to a recurring-revenue sales pipeline.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ø Financial acumen, including budgeting, cash management, unit economics, and the fiduciary and governance obligations of a company officer.
• Ø Technical literacy. Sufficient to engage the CTO and COO on architecture, deployment, and accreditation trade-offs and to be credible with technically demanding customers.
• Ø Intellectual honesty. Clearly separates fielded capability from planned capability for customers and investors.
• Ø Judgment and resilience. Makes decisions with incomplete information, states assumptions, and adjusts quickly; demonstrates persistence through long domestic and international sales cycles.

Working Conditions

• Ø Travel. Approximately 25-30% for customer demonstrations, agency engagements, industry events, and investor meetings.
• Ø Security. Employment is contingent upon a successful background investigation. Sponsorship for U.S. employment is not available.
• Ø Physical demands. Office environment with extended computer use; travel includes government facilities.

Compensation and Benefits

• Ø Base salary of $200,000 to $250,000, based on experience and the company’s capital position at the time of hire.
• Ø Performance bonus. A milestone-based bonus of 25% to 50% of base salary is paid upon achievement of the Board-approved objectives above, such as closing the first funding round or securing the first contract award.
• Ø Equity. Founder-level equity of 10% to 15%, vesting over four years with a one-year cliff and acceleration upon a qualifying change of control.
• Ø Benefits. Medical, dental, and vision coverage; 401(k) with matching; unlimited paid time off; and clearance-related and professional expenses.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Elessar, a subsidiary of Q2IMPACT™, is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Reasonable accommodations are available to applicants and employees with disabilities upon request.