Full-time position | San Mateo, CA (Onsite)
Note: In accordance with export control regulations, this position requires candidates to qualify as a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined under 8 U.S.C. a7 1324b(a)(3)). An active or obtainable U.S. security clearance (Secret or TS/SCI) is preferred.
YOUR IMPACTAs the Senior/Principal Lead Delivery Engineer for Defense, you own customer outcomes for Luminary's defense and government engagements - prime contractors, DoD agencies, defense innovation organizations, and national labs. You are a dual hat - project manager and product manager - leading a matrixed value delivery team across Applications Engineering, Applied AI/ML, Data & Platform, and product engineering. You operate fluently in environments with security, compliance, and ITAR/EAR requirements, and you partner with the GTM team on program engagement and expansion.
WHAT YOU'LL DO- Own end-to-end customer outcomes across new and existing defense and government accounts - prime contractors, DoD agencies (DARPA, AFRL, NRL, Navy), and national labs - from discovery through model deployment and embedding into program workflows.
- Author SOWs and RFP/RFI responses that navigate government contracting items - milestones, deliverables, IP, and export control - and own delivery accountability against them.
- Lead a value delivery team in a matrix structure: Applications Engineers, Applied AI/ML Scientists, Data and Platform Engineers, and selected product engineers. Set technical direction, sequence the work, remove blockers.
- Operate as a dual hat - project manager and product manager - running execution while shaping the product intuition for what to build next.
- Stay hands-on-keyboard where it matters. Debug a model, restructure a data pipeline, prototype a workflow integration.
- Embrace co-engineering: work side-by-side with customer engineers on use case development, including at customer sites where required.
- Partner with the GTM team on new program engagement and account growth.
- Navigate compliance: ITAR/EAR, CMMC, DFARS, and FedRAMP awareness in delivery planning and customer dialogue.
- Bring market and customer signal back to Product and Research, shaping Luminary's roadmap for defense-specific requirements including security, compliance, and certification.
WHAT YOU BRING- 5-10 years of experience in a technical role in defense, government R&D, prime contractor engineering, or defense-adjacent enterprise software. Principal-level candidates have an extensive track record in defense.
- Multi-physics fluency across defense engineering disciplines: structural mechanics, aeroelasticity, thermal-structural analysis, propulsion, signal integrity, electromagnetics, or multi-physics simulation.
- U.S. Person required; active or obtainable Secret/TS-SCI clearance preferred.
- Familiarity with government contracting, ITAR/EAR, and defense acquisition frameworks.
- Strong hands-on engineering chops - Python, scripting, simulation tools, and AI/ML workflows.
- Working knowledge of AI/ML applied to engineering - surrogate modeling, neural operators, physics-informed ML, structural digital twins.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional technical teams without direct authority.
- Product instinct and customer-facing presence; comfortable with chief engineers, program managers, and government technical leadership.
- Self-starter, persistent through iteration, willing to travel 10-25% to customer sites.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS- Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical Engineering, or related discipline.
- Prior experience at prime contractors (e.g., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing Defense, Raytheon/RTX, General Dynamics, L3Harris) or defense labs (DARPA, AFRL, NRL, Sandia, Los Alamos).
- Active security clearance.
- Experience with digital twin programs for airframe, propulsion, or fleet health management applications.
- Track record of deploying ML or simulation tooling into program environments under compliance constraints.
