Strategic Technical Mission Lead (Agile)

Defenseunicorns

Washington (District of Columbia)

On-site

USD 145,000 - 185,000

Full time

5 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Stock options

Home office budget

Flexible time off

Parental leave

Conferences (travel)

Job summary

Defense Unicorns seeks a senior Technical Mission Director to embed with a government team and lead a fast-moving AI and software modernization effort. You will own day-to-day execution across government stakeholders, engineering teams, and commercial technology partners, creating the structure and tempo to move from prototype to operational capability.

The ideal candidate is an Agile delivery leader with strong technical fluency in modern software, cloud, DevSecOps, AI/ML, data, and platform

Qualifications

Active TS/SCI clearance is required.
7+ years leading Agile software, technology, or mission programs, preferably in government or mission-critical environments.
Hands-on Scrum/Agile delivery with backlog and sprint planning experience.

Responsibilities

Own day-to-day execution for a multidisciplinary government/industry team and establish the Agile operating rhythm, including Scrum ceremonies, backlog management, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives, and release planning.
Coordinate government stakeholders and multiple technology vendors, keeping priorities, dependencies, milestones, and technical risks visible and driving blockers to resolution.
Lead daily cross-vendor synchronization without allowing meetings to substitute for execution; create clear owners, decisions, and next actions.
Maintain an integrated delivery plan and communicate concise updates on mission outcomes, technical risk, resource needs, decisions, and schedule.
Work with Technical Solutions Architect and engineering leads across platform, DevSecOps, data, and AI/agentic disciplines to keep execution aligned with evolving architecture.
Maintain technical depth to recognize integration, security, data, deployment, or architecture issues early and engage the right experts quickly.
Coordinate transition from prototype environments into classified operational environments, including readiness, dependencies, and onsite collaboration.
Act as trusted technical thought partner to government customers: surface risks, frame options, and translate mission needs into executable technical priorities.
Identify follow-on mission needs, expansion opportunities, and adjacent use cases; understand customer buying motion and shape actionable opportunities.
Capture lessons learned and repeatable delivery patterns, reducing coordination overhead and improving velocity.
Build durable customer relationships and represent Defense Unicorns as a technical thought leader.