Senior Engineering Strategy & Technical Authority Lead

Jobtailor

San Diego (CA)

Hybrid

USD 180,000 - 240,000

Full time

4 days ago

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Job summary

Jobtailor in San Diego, CA seeks a senior technical leader to guide government/industrial programs, ensuring high-quality software delivery and credible technical proposals. You will mentor engineers, shape architecture, and drive new business through technical excellence and strategic engagement with executives and customers.

The role emphasizes governance, risk management, and leadership across multiple programs, with travel up to 30% and on-site engagements as needed.

Qualifications

Minimum 15 years of Government/Industry experience with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
Demonstrated ability building a technical sales strategy and increasing revenue.
Strong written and verbal communication for executive and customer audiences.
Experience delivering software-intensive systems in a Department of War contracting environment.
Experience as a technical authority across multiple programs and recovery paths.
Experience defining engineering standards, governance, or review processes.
Experience developing engineering BOE, labor mix, and schedule estimates for proposals.
Willingness to travel 20-30% and work onsite as required.
U.S. citizen; ability to obtain Secret clearance; ITAR/EAR eligibility.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior technical voice across programs, providing oversight and hands-on support to ensure engineering quality.
Review and validate technical deliverables against customer expectations and internal standards.
Provide direct technical leadership to programs facing execution risk and steady ownership transfer.
Partner with Program Managers during hiring to evaluate engineering talent.
Advise on engineering approaches, architecture decisions, and technical risk.
Lead engineering contributions to new business pursuits and proposals.
Drive solutioning and win theme development for recompetes.
Develop cost structures and timeline estimates for proposals.
Represent the organization as technical authority in customer engagements.
Identify emerging trends and capability gaps relevant to customers.
Raise engineering performance through standards, mentorship, and guidance.
Advocate for training investments, tooling, and resources.
Help engineers progress in their careers within the unit.
Serve as the technical career resource across the business unit.
Create technical differentiation through engineering strategy.
Shape how software-intensive systems are built and delivered.
Define and champion engineering standards, practices, and tooling.
Identify gaps and drive sustainable delivery improvements.
Represent engineering in leadership discussions on design, strategy, and priorities.
Lead prototyping and operationalization of AI and emerging technologies.
Develop reusable architectures and patterns across programs.