Vannevar labs

Mission Lead - SOF (Clearance Required)

Vannevar labs$150K — $170K *
Tampa, FL 33647In-Person
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 6+ years managing outcomes in complex government customer environments, preferably in SOF or PSYOPs/IO
  • Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams autonomously
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, able to clarify ambiguity into actionable plans
  • Capable of translating mission needs into software solutions and measurable outcomes
  • Technical proficiency for effective collaboration with Product and Engineering teams

Responsibilities

  • Lead mission engagements by establishing trust with stakeholders
  • Translate mission needs into structured problem statements and measurable requirements
  • Shape pilots and scale plans, converting initial successes into sustainable programs
  • Communicate mission-centric narratives relating capabilities to operational constraints
  • Facilitate regular customer meetings and track action items and risks
  • Cooperate across functions to align product delivery with mission goals
  • Assist stakeholders with program navigation and requirement development

Benefits

  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Remote-first culture with WeWork access
  • Unlimited PTO and competitive vacation/holiday schedules
  • Monthly stipends for mental health, wellness, fitness, and home office setup
  • Salary top-up during military reserve duty
  • Fully paid parental leave
  • Reimbursement for child and pet care during travel
Full Job Description
About the role

Mission Leads are customer-facing owners of mission outcomes. You will lead engagements with government stakeholders to identify high-value mission problems, shape pilots and deployments, and turn demonstrated mission value into durable, funded programs.

This role blends mission credibility with strong execution and technical intuition. You will operate with high autonomy in ambiguous environments, translate mission needs into clear technical narratives, and coordinate across functional teams (Product, Engineering, Mission, Security, and Operations) to deliver and scale.

This is a customer-facing role required to be based on the East Coast (preferably Washington D.C.). Candidates should have experience in the SOF community or PSYOPs/IO community, and work will require time in secure or classified environments and frequent travel.

U.S. Persons status with at least a current Top Secret US DoD or IC clearance is required.This is a customer-facing role required to be based on the East Coast. Work will require time in secure or classified environments and periodic travel.

What you'll do
  • Lead mission engagements. Build trusted relationships with operational, technical, and leadership stakeholders to understand mission needs, constraints, and success criteria.
  • Translate mission problems into plans. Turn mission needs into clear problem statements, requirements, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
  • Shape pilots and pathways to scale. Define objectives, timelines, and adoption plans that convert early wins into sustained programs.
  • Communicate the "why" and the "how." Create crisp technical narratives that map our agent-based capabilities to mission requirements and operational constraints.
  • Run the operating cadence. Lead weekly customer syncs, internal standups, executive updates/QBRs, action-item tracking, and risk reviews, as applicable.
  • Coordinate cross-functional delivery. Partner closely with Product and Engineering to ensure mission context is reflected in scope, tradeoffs, and delivery plans.
  • Navigate program realities. Help stakeholders work through requirements development, budgeting cycles, contracting pathways, and coordination across organizations.
  • Enable adoption. Coordinate onboarding, training, and customer success so the customer can use and sustain the capability.
  • Maintain durable account knowledge. Keep high-signal documentation in Notion: stakeholders, org charts, use cases, timelines, deliverables, decisions, and lessons learned.
  • Support expansion. Identify adjacent use cases and partner with Account teams where applicable.


What we're looking for
  • 6+ years owning outcomes in complex customer environments (preferably in the SOF or PSYOPs/IO community)
  • Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functionally without consistent guidance
  • Strong written and verbal communication; able to synthesize ambiguity into clear plans and execution
  • Ability to scope and articulate a solution credibly: connect mission problems to software capabilities and measurable outcomes
  • Sufficient technical fluency to partner effectively with Product and Engineering and translate complex concepts into mission-relevant narratives
  • Strong operational skills: planning, prioritization, stakeholder management, and follow-through
Nice to have
  • Experience with deployments or fielding in secure/regulated environments (e.g., ATO/IL environments, classified workflows, compliance constraints)
  • Experience navigating within programs (requirements, budgets, authorities, timelines, contracting pathways)
  • Deep expertise in a specific mission or technical domain (e.g., cyber, information warfare, ISR, networks, operations, warfare systems/command and control)
  • Experience running executive-level customer updates (QBRs, steering committees)


Benefits

The salary range for this position is $150,000-$170,000 + equity + 401K match. Within the range, individual pay is determined by experience, relevant education, and/or training.
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • 100% remote first culture. You can work from anywhere in the US and all full time employees have WeWork access
  • Unlimited PTO including competitive vacation and holiday schedules
  • Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend, in-home office setup stipend and family planning assistance
  • Salary top-up during military reserve duty
  • Fully paid parental leave
  • Child and pet care reimbursement during travel

About Vannevar labs

Vannevar Labs is an artificial intelligence research company that focuses on developing advanced machine learning algorithms. The company was founded in 2017 and has raised $4 million in funding to date. Vannevar Labs' algorithms are designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of natural language processing, computer vision, and other AI applications. The company's mission is to advance the state of the art in AI and make it more accessible to businesses and organizations.
Learn more about Vannevar labs
Size
10 employees
Industry
Founded
2019

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