Mission Operations Lead-Commercial

Forterra; Clarksburg (MD); On-site; USD 125,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium Healthcare Benefits

Paid Time Off (20 days per year)

Tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend

401(k) retirement savings plan with company match

Job summary

Forterra, located in Clarksburg, MD, is seeking a Mission Operations Lead to take charge of customer program engagements. You will be responsible for developing program plans, managing delivery, and ensuring operational excellence.

This role demands a strong background in Defense Tech, excellent interpersonal skills, and a willingness to travel. Forterra offers competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, including premium healthcare and professional development support.

Qualifications

• Experience working within the Department of Defense or similar.
• Ability to engage effectively with business partners.
• Familiarity with technology trends and applications.

Responsibilities

• Develop partnerships with customers for deploying solutions.
• Scope and implement customer integrations and pilots.
• Expand pilot projects into larger, sustained capabilities.
• Identify customers needing our technology and facilitate understanding.
• Assist partners in navigating implementation pathways.

Skills

Strong interest / experience in Defense Tech

Strong interpersonal skills

Goal-oriented in ambiguous environments

Enthusiasm for technology

Willingness to travel 50%

Eligibility for US DoD Security Clearance

Education

Engineering or Technical Degree

Job description

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

About the role

As Mission Operations Lead, you will serve as the program owner for customer engagements, accountable for end-to-end program execution. This includes developing a deep understanding of customer requirements, translating them into integrated program plans with clear milestones, dependencies, and success metrics, and leading cross-functional teams to manage scope, schedule, cost, and risk. You will establish program governance, drive execution reviews, and proactively identify and mitigate risks to ensure delivery through deployment and sustainment. Working closely with Engineering and Product to shape viable solutions, and with Operations to ensure readiness and operational excellence, you will be responsible for on-time, on-mission delivery and long-term customer success.

What you’ll do

• Develop: Create and nurture partnerships with our customers and partners to ensure the deployments of our autonomy solutions are in full support of their mission. As your portfolio grows so does the team supporting it to ensure mission success. Ultimately, you are responsible for the team working on mission execution for your clients.
• Build: Scope and implement integrations and pilots with our partners. You will help your vertical determine the scope of an engagement and navigate the group’s internal bureaucracy to implement the pilot. Work directly with Forterra engineers to build relevant products for your client’s operational needs.
• Scale: Expand successful pilots into larger projects. You will convert the pilot’s tangible outcomes generated by engineers in partnership with the operations and growth into a shared roadmap for expanding the pilot into a sustained capability.
• Embed: Get our platform into the hands of customers who need it by identifying those with a problem our technology can solve and enabling their understanding of the technology’s value.
• Own: Work hands‑on with our partners to help them navigate complex organisational, contracting and budget pathways to implement a pilot or project.

Qualifications

• Strong interest / experience working within the Department of Defense / Government / Defense Tech industry / Commercial Logistics customers and vehicle OEMs
• Strong interpersonal skills will be required to engage with business partners and customers
• Comfortable setting and achieving goals in an amorphous environment
• Enthusiasm for, and broad knowledge of, technology
• Must be able to travel at least 50% of the time
• Must be eligible to obtain and hold a US DoD Security Clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a start‑up or similar fast‑paced environment
• Experience selling to, or working within, the Department of Defense or Commercial Logistics industry
• Engineering or Technical Degree - or you nerd out hard on emerging tech

Education & Experience

Describe the experience and attributes of the ideal candidate

Salary

US Salary Range: $125,000.00—$175,000.00

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialised training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full‑time, high‑demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full‑time employees including:

Benefits

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA‑eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long‑term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after‑tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal‑opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.