Technical Delivery Lead

Location: Washington, DC or Denver, CO preferred (hybrid). Highly qualified candidates outside these locations may also be considered for unclassified work.

Work Authorization: U.S. citizenship required

Clearance: An active TS/SCI clearance is strongly preferred. Candidates without an active clearance may be considered for unclassified work but must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Salary Range: $145,000-$250,000 USD, dependent on experience level and location
About the Role

We're looking for a Technical Delivery Lead to own the end-to-end technical delivery of an AI/ML platform running in secure, regulated environments. This is a role for someone who has taken a system from a development environment into hardened production and knows how much of that job is not writing code.

The work runs across three fronts. You lead the deployment itself - a containerized, API-first platform moving from open development into locked-down production, across network boundaries and through whatever gates the environment imposes. You steer the system through security accreditation and authorization, which means owning that path rather than waiting on someone else to walk it. And you provide day-to-day technical leadership for a combined engineering and security team, including partner and subcontractor personnel.

This is hands-on leadership. You'll make the calls on architecture, security posture, and sequencing - and your team will judge those calls on the merits, which is a good thing. The people who thrive here have done this work themselves: the promotion between environments, the boundary crossings, the accreditation paperwork. Not managed it from a distance - done it.

This position is contingent upon contract award. Travel of up to 25% may be required, primarily to Government facilities and between company locations. Unclassified work may be performed remotely, while classified responsibilities require an appropriate clearance and onsite presence in an accredited facility.
Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end technical delivery of the platform across unclassified development and classified production environments
• Lead the promotion of platform releases into classified environments, including signed release packages, software bills of materials, cross-domain submission packages, and environment-parity validation
• Establish and maintain a recurring software-promotion cadence
• Lead the development and maintenance of the RMF body of evidence, including the System Security Plan, control implementations, Plan of Action and Milestones, and security test artifacts
• Drive the accreditation timeline in partnership with Government security officials and the Authorizing Official
• Position the program for a potential transition from a traditional ATO to a continuous ATO model
• Direct platform, DevSecOps, and ML infrastructure engineers across unclassified and classified workstreams
• Set technical priorities, remove delivery blockers, enforce engineering standards, and align technical execution with contract milestones
• Lead cybersecurity and systems engineering personnel responsible for RMF execution, system hardening, and classified-environment integration
• Ensure security engineering is integrated into the delivery lifecycle and automated pipelines
• Manage subcontractor technical personnel as part of an integrated delivery team
• Track and escalate Government-furnished information, access, equipment, personnel, and other dependencies that could affect delivery
• Document schedule risks associated with cross-domain turnaround, environment access, account provisioning, reviews, and approvals
• Serve as the accountable technical owner for milestone acceptance criteria, operational demonstrations, and technical contract deliverables
• Represent technical delivery status during Government program reviews and technical exchange meetings
• Communicate clearly with mission owners, security officials, technical stakeholders, and partner organizations

Required Skills & Experience

• U.S. citizenship and eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance
• 10+ years of software or systems engineering experience
• 5+ years of experience leading technical delivery teams supporting Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, or comparable Government programs
• Direct experience guiding a system through RMF accreditation to an Authority to Operate
• Experience owning or coordinating the RMF body of evidence and working directly with security officials and Authorizing Official staff
• Hands-on experience deploying and operating containerized workloads using Kubernetes
• Experience working in classified, air-gapped, disconnected, or limited-connectivity environments
• Experience with classified cloud environments, such as AWS Secret or Top Secret regions
• Experience with low-to-high software promotion and Government-approved cross-domain transfer processes
• Working knowledge of DevSecOps practices for regulated environments, including hardened containers, artifact signing, software bill of materials generation, vulnerability management, and continuous monitoring
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams spanning platform engineering, infrastructure, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, and systems engineering
• Experience managing subcontractor technical personnel as part of an integrated delivery team
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with Government, technical, security, and program stakeholders
• Current DoD 8140/8570 qualifying certification, such as CISSP or CASP+, or the ability to obtain an appropriate certification within 90 days of hire
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Nice to Have

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Experience delivering AI/ML platforms or data-intensive analytic systems for defense or intelligence users
• Familiarity with Kubernetes platforms and platform-as-a-service offerings commonly used in classified Government environments
• Experience implementing or operating under a continuous ATO model
• Experience automating security evidence and continuous-monitoring pipelines
• Experience with multi-intelligence data workflows, mission analytics, or decision-support systems
• Experience supporting rapid prototyping programs or defense innovation initiatives
• Experience integrating third-party capabilities against published technical standards or API specifications
• Experience managing technical milestone acceptance and contract data requirements

What We Offer

• Medical, Dental & Vision - 100% paid for employees, 75% for dependents
• 401(k) Match - Up to 5% with full vesting after 2 years
• Unlimited PTO - With a required minimum of 15 days off annually
• Fully Remote Setup - Includes up to $3,000 equipment reimbursement
• Continuous Education - Includes up to $500 reimbursement
• Disability & Life Insurance - 100% employer-paid
• HSA & FSA Options - With monthly HSA contributions from OpenTeams