Senior Manager, Cybersecurity (R6149)

Lever, Inc.; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Senior Cybersecurity Engineer to lead the security strategy for mission-critical technology. You will own the RMF/authorization portfolio, drive continuous authorization, and coordinate with program management and government partners to maintain an optimal security posture across classified systems.

Responsibilities include defining monitoring, control inheritance, and automation, while aligning with enterprise security objectives and program schedules.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical field related to cybersecurity, engineering, or defense systems.
• 8+ years of cybersecurity engineering experience in defense or mission-critical platforms.
• Experience leading cybersecurity activities for complex integrated systems or defense platforms.
• Strong knowledge of RMF, STIGs, system hardening, network security, secure architectures, and vulnerability management.
• Experience across hardware, software, networking, and mission system integration environments.
• Active Top Secret Clearance with SCI Eligibility.

Responsibilities

• Own the authorization portfolio across classified systems and drive continuous authorization goals.
• Maintain a single authoritative view of RMF posture, ATO/IATT status, and remediation items.
• Own accreditation roadmaps and manage dependencies to meet dates.
• Represent Shield AI with government officials and security officers.
• Drive reuse of controls across programs and sites to avoid re-litigation.
• Define enterprise continuous monitoring, templates, and evidence libraries.
• Invest in automation for repeatable compliance workflows.
• Define and own the security toolchain and budgeting.

Skills

RMF & STIGs

Cybersecurity Engineering

Defense Systems

Systems Integration

Clearance TS/SCI

Cross-domain solutions

Threat & Vulnerability Mgmt

Education

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity/Engineering

Tools

Cameo Systems Modeler

Job description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BATaircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. Visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

Lead the security strategy behind advanced, mission-critical technology. In this role, you’ll drive secure and scalable solutions, collaborate across technical and business teams, and help ensure complex systems are protected, compliant, and ready for real-world operations.

What you'll do:

Own the authorization portfolio

• Hold overall accountability for RMF execution across all Shield AI classified systems under JSIG, DAAPM, and NIST SP 800-53, driving toward continuous authorization as the goal state.
• Maintain a single authoritative view of authorization posture: ATO and IATT status, expiration dates, conditions, open POA&M items, and assessment findings across every system and site.
• Own the accreditation roadmap and commit dates with program management, and manage the dependencies — facility, network, tooling, and personnel — that determine whether those dates hold.
• Represent Shield AI as the senior security authority with Authorizing Officials, SCAs, government program security officers, and DCSA or cognizant SAPCO representatives.
• Drive reciprocity and inheritance strategy so controls implemented once are reused across programs and sites instead of re-litigated in each package.
• Approve risk acceptance recommendations, deviations, and mitigation strategies before they go to the government, and elevate residual risk to Shield AI leadership with a clear position.

Build the capability, not just the packages

• Define the enterprise continuous monitoring strategy — vulnerability scanning, STIG and SRG compliance, audit review, and configuration drift detection — and hold the team to a reportable cadence.
• Standardize package templates, control evidence libraries, hardening baselines, and inheritance documentation so new enclaves start from an accredited pattern.
• Invest in automation — infrastructure as code, scripted STIG application, scan and evidence pipelines — to make compliance repeatable rather than heroic.
• Select and own the security compliance toolchain (eMASS or Xacta, ACAS/Nessus, SCAP, SIEM) including budget, licensing, and government-directed tooling requirements.
• Define metrics that reflect real security posture and report them to Federal Systems and company leadership.

Partner across the company

• Work with IT, network, platform, and product security engineers so security architecture is designed in rather than retrofitted before an assessment.
• Partner with Industrial Security, Facilities, and Contracts on new facility and enclave stand-ups from concept through ATO, including accredited network extensions between facilities.
• Advise program managers and engineering leadership on accreditation timelines and the security consequences of architecture, schedule, and staffing decisions.
• Own incident response leadership on classified systems: containment, spillage and contamination response, government reporting, and after-action corrective plans.
• Ensure the classified user population is trained, access is least-privilege and auditable, and data transfer and media control actions follow program guidance.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field
• 8+ years of experience in cybersecurity engineering, defense systems, mission systems, or military aerospace programs
• Experience leading cybersecurity activities for complex integrated systems or defense platforms
• Strong knowledge of RMF, STIGs, system hardening, network security, secure architectures, and vulnerability management processes
• Experience working across hardware, software, networking, and mission system integration environments
• Active Top Secret Clearance with SCI Eligibility

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience supporting military aircraft, UAV, mission systems, or tactical communication platforms
• Familiarity with resilient system architectures, zero trust principles, cross-domain solutions, and contested environment operations
• Experience with MBSE methodologies and tools such as Cameo Systems Modeler
• Background supporting cybersecurity test events, airworthiness, or platform accreditation activities

$170,000 - $250,000 a year

#LI-ML2

#LE

Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed toequal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.