Director Of Space Operations

AVP; Colorado Springs (CO); Remote; USD 190,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Company stock options

Home office budget

Job summary

Defense Unicorns is seeking a Director of Space Operations to own the Space pod's end-to-end P&L, revenue attainment, margins, and mission success, ensuring delivery quality and sustained growth.

You will lead cross-functional teams across Sales, Delivery, Product, and Operations, balance time-to-value with margins, and drive talent retention while expanding customer value in a remote USA setting.

Qualifications

• Active Top Secret Clearance or eligibility to obtain is required.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver the annual revenue target for the Space pod/domain.
• Own domain-level gross profit margins and manage delivery and growth profitability.
• Ensure high-quality delivery across all domain programs and manage risk.
• Build, retain, and develop high-performing Mission Directors and supporting domain staff.
• Lead across Sales, Delivery, Product, and Operations; align with Exec reviews and strategic planning.

Job description

Director Of Space Operations

Active Top Secret Clearance or eligibility to obtain is required.

Position Summary

The Director of Domain Revenue & Operations is the single-threaded owner for the financial performance, operational health, and mission success of the Space pod/domain at Defense Unicorns. This role owns the end-to-end P&L for the domain, including revenue attainment, gross profit margins, and sustainable growth, while ensuring exceptional delivery quality, hero satisfaction, and team retention.

This leader operates at the intersection of sales and delivery, translating corporate growth objectives into executable domain strategy. They are accountable not only for closing and expanding revenue, but for building a durable, healthy domain capable of scaling profitably.

Core Responsibilities

1. Revenue Ownership & Growth

• Own and deliver the annual revenue target for the Space pod/domain.
• Drive net new revenue, expansions, and cross-sales in close partnership with Account Executives and Mission Directors.
• Ensure pipeline coverage and forecasting accuracy sufficient to meet or exceed domain revenue goals.
• Collaborate with the Marketing and Business Development teams to:
• Ensure adequate pipeline coverage.
• Co-develop marketing collateral for significant deals.
• Act as the final accountable owner for domain bookings, renewals, and expansions.

2. Gross Profit & Financial Management

• Own domain-level gross profit margins, ensuring financial discipline across delivery and growth activities.
• Balance time-to-value with long-term margin targets, maintaining:
• Strong early customer outcomes
• Sustained domain gross margins (target: 65%+ post-TTV)
• Partner with Finance, RevOps, and Delivery leadership to:
• Approve staffing models
• Evaluate contract modifications
• Ensure accurate revenue recognition and margin reporting

3. Domain Health & Delivery Excellence

• Ensure high-quality delivery across all domain programs, measured by:
• Hero NPS / satisfaction scores
• CPARs and other government performance evaluations
• Delivery quality, predictability, and risk management
• Serve as the escalation point for delivery or customer risk within the domain.
• Ensure Mission Directors are effectively managing onboarding, adoption, and renewals.

4. Talent, Retention & Team Leadership

• Build, retain, and develop high-performing Mission Directors and supporting domain staff.
• Maintain strong personnel retention and engagement, proactively addressing burnout, performance gaps, and staffing risks.
• Approve and prioritize domain staffing requests, balancing growth, margin, and delivery quality.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and mission obsession within the domain.

5. Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as the domain's senior leader across Sales, Delivery, Product, and Operations.
• Ensure tight alignment between:
• Account Executives (growth)
• Mission Directors (retention and expansion)
• Delivery teams (execution)
• Product teams (R&D prioritization)
• Represent the domain in executive reviews, QBRs, and strategic planning forums.

Key Metrics of Success

The Director of Domain Revenue & Operations is measured on:

• Domain revenue attainment vs. plan
• Net new growth, expansion, and cross-sale performance
• Gross profit margin performance
• Hero NPS and customer satisfaction scores
• CPARs and formal government performance feedback
• Renewal and retention rates
• Forecast accuracy
• Personnel retention and engagement within the domain

Compensation Structure

Base Salary

$190,000 – $250,000 base salary, commensurate with experience and scope of domain responsibility.
This role is eligible to participate in Defense Unicorn's commission plan and it is common for employees in this role to receive total on-target earnings of $340k to 450k.

Travel Expectations

Significant travel is required for key customer engagements, executive reviews, and internal planning sessions.

Estimated: 25-50%

Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States.

Remote - USA

$190,000 — $250,000 USD

Who We Are

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.

What We Do

We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.

Who We Serve

Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.

What We Work On

• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy

Health:

• Medical/Dental/Vision
• Premiums are 100% Company Paid
• Health Savings Account
• Life Insurance
• Disability Insurance

Financial:

• 401k Retirement Plan
• Company Stock Options
• Home Office Budget

Leave:

• We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
• Paid Parental Leave

Learning:

• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.

At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

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