10+ years of experience in defense acquisition or related fields with a Bachelor's degree; or 8 years with a Master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years' experience; or a related education and work experience combination.
Experience leading large-scale software or digital transformation initiatives.
Familiarity with Agile, DevSecOps, CI/CD, or cloud modernization practices.
Experience working in regulated or mission-critical environments.
Strong influencing and coaching skills across technical and organizational boundaries.
Ability to translate engineering best practices into actionable guidance.
Demonstrated capacity to drive organizational change and deliver measurable improvements.
Responsibilities
Lead transformation efforts to modernize software delivery models across sponsor portfolios.
Identify and shape modernization opportunities for sponsors proactively.
Build and maintain trusted relationships with sponsors, industry, and academic stakeholders.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance acquisition and delivery capabilities.
Align engineering practices with governance, funding, and contracting frameworks.
Design strategies to improve software acquisition and delivery outcomes.
Create performance measurement frameworks to demonstrate modernization impact and effectiveness.
Benefits
Comprehensive health and wellness benefits.
Professional development opportunities for career advancement.
A culture of innovation and collaboration.
Flexible work arrangements with a hybrid model.
Mission-driven work focused on national challenges.
Full Job Description
Roles & Responsibilities
MITRE's ASA Department seeks a well-connected and recognized expert on defense acquisition and innovation. The ideal candidate will be a credible authority on defense acquisition, emerging technologies, and national security processes You will belong to a high-performing team that regularly initiates and implements projects in support of sponsors' strategic initiatives, often before a sponsor can fully recognize or articulate that they are needed. The team may publish, speak at high visibility events, and advise senior government officials.
Responsibilities include:
Serve as senior transformation leader responsible for shaping and scaling modern software delivery models across sponsor portfolios. This role brings deep software engineering and digital modernization expertise that integrates with DoW acquisition transformation leaders to improve how software-enabled capabilities are developed, secured, and delivered.
Proactively help sponsors identify and shape modernization opportunities.
Build and sustain trusted relationships across sponsors, FFRDC partners, industry, and academic stakeholders to support integrated modernization efforts.
Serve as an active member of multidisciplinary teams integrating acquisition, engineering, and delivery expertise to improve capability outcomes.
Collaborate with the MITRE team and DoW sponsors to align engineering modernization with governance, funding, and contracting structures.
Shape and scale modern software delivery models across sponsor portfolios, influencing how engineering, funding, and governance intersect.
Design or evolve platform engineering strategies for DoW software acquisition that improve developer experience, reduce cycle time, and enable quality, secure, scalable delivery.
Establish repeatable patterns and capability delivery strategies that can be adopted across multiple programs.
Define and implement performance measurement frameworks to demonstrate tangible modernization impact.
Link engineering performance metrics to acquisition and delivery outcomes.
Provide architectural and technical insight to guide modernization of DoW software-intensive systems.
Coach technical and non-technical stakeholders in modern software delivery approaches.
Maintain awareness of evolving commercial best practices in software engineering and apply them thoughtfully within DoW organizations.
Navigate organizational resistance and legacy practices to enable sustainable adoption of modern software delivery approaches.
Serve as a trusted advisor to program teams and senior leaders.
Basic Qualifications:
Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 8 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years' experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
Demonstrated experience leading software or digital transformation initiatives at scale.
Experience implementing Agile, DevSecOps, CI/CD, or cloud modernization efforts.
Experience operating in regulated or mission-critical environments.
Strong ability to influence and coach across technical and organizational boundaries.
Ability to translate engineering best practices into practical execution guidance
Demonstrated ability to drive organizational change and measurable improvement.
Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Ability to operate in dynamic sponsor environments with evolving objectives.
Experience working across organizational boundaries to achieve mission outcomes.
Must have an active Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government's eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
Willingness to support hybrid on-site engagement as required by sponsors.
This position requires a minimum of 3 days a week on-site.
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience with the DoW software acquisition pathway leading critical acquisition modernization or reform
Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Top Secret clearance with access to Secure Compartmented Information (TS/SCI).
Private sector experience defense, technology, or consulting industries.
Experience working with OSD Research and Engineering and/or Acquisition and Sustainment staffs.
Demonstrated ability to maintain and leverage a strong professional network to provide thought leadership across the acquisition enterprise.
This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s): Secret
This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s): Secret
Salary compensation range and midpoint: $173,200 - $216,500 - $259,800 Annual
