Technical Mission Director

Defense Unicorns; Springfield (VA); On-site; USD 145,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

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

The ideal candidate is an Agile delivery leader with deep fluency in software, cloud, DevSecOps, AI/ML, data, and platform engineering.

Qualifications

• Local to the National Capital Region (NCR) and able to support regular onsite work at a government facility in Springfield, Virginia; available for increasing onsite/SCIF interaction as the effort matures.
• 7+ years leading Agile software, technology, or mission programs, preferably in government or other mission-critical environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with Scrum and Agile delivery, including backlog management, sprint planning, dependency management, retrospectives, and release planning.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and coordinating multiple concurrent technical workstreams, government stakeholders, and technology vendors.
• Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery, DevSecOps, cloud, Kubernetes, CI/CD, AI/ML, and data platforms.
• Ability to understand technical architecture, dependencies, integration risks, and engineering tradeoffs well enough to drive informed program decisions.
• Exceptional communication, organization, facilitation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to operate effectively in high-tempo, ambiguous environments.

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 become a 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 closely with the Technical Solutions Architect and engineering leads across platform, DevSecOps, data, and AI/agentic disciplines to keep execution aligned with the evolving architecture.
• Maintain enough technical depth to recognize integration, security, data, deployment, or architecture issues early and engage the right experts quickly.
• Coordinate the transition from prototype environments into classified operational environments, including readiness, dependencies, and increasing onsite/SCIF collaboration.
• Act as a trusted technical thought partner to government customers: surface risks, frame options, challenge assumptions constructively, and help translate mission needs into executable technical priorities.
• Identify follow-on mission needs, expansion opportunities, and adjacent use cases; understand the customer's acquisition and buying motion and partner with DU growth leadership to shape actionable opportunities.
• Capture lessons learned and repeatable delivery patterns, continuously reducing coordination overhead and improving engineering velocity.
• Build durable customer relationships and represent Defense Unicorns as a technical thought leader rather than simply a delivery resource.

Skills

Agile leadership

Scrum

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Technical fluency

Cloud

DevSecOps

AI/ML

Data platforms

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Communication

Facilitation

Problem-solving

Tools

OpenShift/OpenShift AI

GitLab

NVIDIA AI

enterprise data platforms

Job description

***Must have active Top Secret clearance in order to apply***

Technical Mission Director

Defense Unicorns | Senior Technical Delivery Leadership

Role Description

Defense Unicorns is seeking a senior Technical Mission Director to embed with a government team leading a fast-moving, multi-vendor AI and software modernization effort. This role owns day-to-day execution across government stakeholders, engineering teams, and commercial technology partners, creating the structure and tempo needed to move from prototype to operational capability.

The ideal candidate is an Agile delivery leader with strong technical fluency across modern software, cloud, DevSecOps, AI/ML, data, and platform engineering. They must be credible with engineers and senior government leaders, able to run Scrum in a high-tempo environment, and comfortable turning ambiguity into decisions, priorities, and action.

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 become a 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 closely with the Technical Solutions Architect and engineering leads across platform, DevSecOps, data, and AI/agentic disciplines to keep execution aligned with the evolving architecture.
• Maintain enough technical depth to recognize integration, security, data, deployment, or architecture issues early and engage the right experts quickly.
• Coordinate the transition from prototype environments into classified operational environments, including readiness, dependencies, and increasing onsite/SCIF collaboration.
• Act as a trusted technical thought partner to government customers: surface risks, frame options, challenge assumptions constructively, and help translate mission needs into executable technical priorities.
• Identify follow-on mission needs, expansion opportunities, and adjacent use cases; understand the customer's acquisition and buying motion and partner with DU growth leadership to shape actionable opportunities.
• Capture lessons learned and repeatable delivery patterns, continuously reducing coordination overhead and improving engineering velocity.
• Build durable customer relationships and represent Defense Unicorns as a technical thought leader rather than simply a delivery resource.

Minimum Experience and Qualifications

• Local to the National Capital Region (NCR) and able to support regular onsite work at a government facility in Springfield, Virginia; available for increasing onsite/SCIF interaction as the effort matures.
• 7+ years leading Agile software, technology, or mission programs, preferably in government or other mission-critical environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with Scrum and Agile delivery, including backlog management, sprint planning, dependency management, retrospectives, and release planning.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and coordinating multiple concurrent technical workstreams, government stakeholders, and technology vendors.
• Strong technical fluency in modern software delivery, DevSecOps, cloud, Kubernetes, CI/CD, AI/ML, and data platforms.
• Ability to understand technical architecture, dependencies, integration risks, and engineering tradeoffs well enough to drive informed program decisions.
• Exceptional communication, organization, facilitation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to operate effectively in high-tempo, ambiguous environments.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

• Experience leading programs involving generative AI, AI agents, data platforms, or enterprise AI ecosystems.
• Experience working across technologies such as OpenShift/OpenShift AI, GitLab, NVIDIA AI, enterprise data platforms, or comparable commercial technologies.
• Familiarity with NIST 800-53, RMF, ATO processes, continuous authorization, and security engineering.
• Experience supporting systems across multiple security classifications or transitioning capabilities into Secret or TS/SCI environments.
• Experience with complex multi-vendor integration efforts where no single provider owns the complete solution.
• Experience advising senior government customers on technology strategy, mission modernization, or platform adoption.
• Experience identifying and shaping follow-on opportunities, expansion paths, or new mission applications within an existing customer.
• CSM, PSM, SAFe, PMI-ACP, PMP, or comparable Agile/program certification.

This position is NCR-local and requires regular onsite support at the government team's Springfield campus. Some hybrid flexibility, but regular onsite/SCIF engagement is expected.

This position offers a base salary of $145,000 - $185,000. (Total on-target earnings of $290,000 to $370,000)