Program Execution

Lead Software Engineer – DevOps Architect | TS/SCI with Poly | Palm Bay, FL

Lead Software Engineer – DevOps Architect (TS/SCI with Poly)

📍 Location: Palm Bay, FL (100% Onsite)
🏢 Industry: Aerospace & Defense
💼 Employment Type: Full-Time
🗓️ Work Schedule: 9/80 Schedule (Every Other Friday Off)
🔒 Security Clearance Required: Active TS/SCI with Polygraph
🚫 Visa Sponsorship: Not Available
🚚 Relocation Assistance: Available
✈️ Interview Travel: Reimbursed
💰 Compensation: $140,000 – $180,000 Base Salary

Overview

A leading aerospace and defense organization is seeking a Lead Software Engineer – DevOps Architect to lead the design, modernization, and long-term evolution of a containerized microservices platform supporting mission-critical applications.

This is a highly technical architecture role focused on DevOps engineering, containerization, CI/CD, infrastructure automation, and platform modernization. The successful candidate will provide technical leadership across architecture, implementation, and engineering best practices while partnering closely with software engineering, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and program stakeholders.

This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced DevOps Architect, Platform Architect, Software Architect, or Cloud Infrastructure Architect who enjoys designing scalable, secure, and resilient distributed systems.

Key Responsibilities

DevOps & Platform Architecture

  • Lead the architecture and design of Docker-based microservices platforms.

  • Develop scalable, secure, and resilient distributed system architectures.

  • Define platform roadmaps and long-term modernization strategies.

  • Establish architecture standards and engineering best practices.

Containerization & Orchestration

  • Design and implement containerized application environments.

  • Drive technical decisions around container orchestration platforms.

  • Improve platform scalability, availability, and operational resilience.

  • Guide platform standardization across engineering teams.

CI/CD & Infrastructure Automation

  • Design modern CI/CD pipelines and deployment strategies.

  • Drive Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and automation initiatives.

  • Improve build, release, deployment, and monitoring processes.

  • Promote DevOps best practices across the software lifecycle.

Software Architecture

  • Produce detailed architectural designs and interface specifications.

  • Define deployment models and technical design documentation.

  • Support API integration and service-to-service communication.

  • Evaluate architecture tradeoffs and recommend improvements.

Technical Leadership

  • Lead architecture and design reviews.

  • Mentor engineering teams and provide technical guidance.

  • Identify technical risks and mitigation strategies.

  • Collaborate with software, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and program leadership.

Required Qualifications

Education & Experience

  • Bachelor's Degree with 9+ years of relevant experience

OR

  • Master's Degree with 7+ years of relevant experience

OR

  • 13+ years of related experience in lieu of a degree

Security Clearance

✔ Active TS/SCI with Polygraph (Required)

Required Technical Expertise

DevOps & Platform Engineering

  • DevOps Architecture

  • Platform Engineering

  • Distributed Systems Architecture

  • Microservices Architecture

  • Docker

CI/CD & Automation

  • Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

  • Configuration Management

  • Automated Deployments

Container Technologies

  • Docker

  • Kubernetes

  • OpenShift (or similar orchestration platforms)

Software Architecture

  • API Design

  • Service-to-Service Communication

  • Distributed Systems

  • Platform Modernization

Security & Reliability

  • Secure Platform Engineering

  • Scalability & Performance Optimization

  • System Reliability & Observability

  • Infrastructure Resilience

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with:

  • Kubernetes

  • OpenShift

  • Docker Enterprise

  • Infrastructure Automation

  • Platform Modernization

  • Enterprise DevOps

  • Cloud-Native Platforms

  • Large-Scale Distributed Systems

Strong experience producing:

  • Architecture documentation

  • Technical design artifacts

  • Interface specifications

  • Engineering decision records

Must-Have Skills

Architecture

  • Docker-Based Architecture

  • Microservices

  • Distributed Systems

  • Platform Engineering

DevOps

  • CI/CD Pipelines

  • Infrastructure as Code

  • Configuration Management

  • Deployment Automation

Leadership

  • Technical Leadership

  • Architecture Reviews

  • Engineering Mentorship

  • Cross-Functional Collaboration

Infrastructure

  • Kubernetes / OpenShift

  • API Integration

  • Secure Platform Engineering

  • Monitoring & Observability

Screening Questions

  1. Do you currently hold an active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph?

  2. How many years of experience do you have in DevOps engineering, software architecture, or platform architecture?

  3. Have you designed and implemented Docker-based microservices architectures?

  4. What experience do you have with container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes or OpenShift?

  5. Have you designed and implemented enterprise CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code solutions?

  6. Have you produced detailed architectural documentation, technical designs, and deployment models?

  7. Do you have experience designing secure distributed systems, APIs, and service-to-service communication patterns?

  8. Have you led architecture reviews, mentored engineering teams, and driven technical direction?

  9. What tools or technologies have you used for infrastructure automation and configuration management?

  10. Are you able to work onsite full-time in Palm Bay, Florida?

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will:

  • Hold an active TS/SCI with Polygraph.

  • Be an experienced DevOps or Platform Architect with deep expertise in distributed systems.

  • Have extensive experience designing Docker-based microservices platforms.

  • Possess strong Kubernetes or OpenShift experience.

  • Be comfortable defining enterprise architecture standards and long-term technology roadmaps.

  • Thrive in highly collaborative engineering environments.

  • Demonstrate strong mentoring, communication, and technical leadership skills.

  • Balance hands-on engineering with strategic architectural decision-making.

Candidate Snapshot

Requirement

Details

Clearance

Active TS/SCI with Polygraph

Experience

10–15+ Years

Architecture

DevOps, Platform & Microservices

Containerization

Docker

Orchestration

Kubernetes / OpenShift

DevOps

CI/CD, IaC, Configuration Management

Software

API Design, Distributed Systems

Location

Palm Bay, FL

Work Arrangement

100% Onsite

Schedule

9/80 (Every Other Friday Off)

Compensation

$140K – $180K

Relocation

Available

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role?

  • Deep expertise in DevOps architecture and distributed systems.

  • Strong experience designing Docker-based microservices platforms.

  • Ability to architect scalable, resilient, and secure enterprise solutions.

  • Proven success implementing CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and automation strategies.

  • Strong technical leadership with experience mentoring engineering teams.

  • Excellent communication skills, capable of presenting architectural concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

  • Ability to drive platform modernization while ensuring operational reliability and long-term maintainability.

 

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Senior Manager, Systems Engineering | Aerospace & Defense Leadership | Waco, TX

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Senior Manager, Systems Engineering

📍 Waco, Texas (Onsite)
🕒 9/80 Schedule – Every Other Friday Off
💰 $190,000 - $220,000 Base Salary
🚚 Relocation Assistance Available
✈️ Aerospace, Defense & Advanced Mission Systems
👥 Engineering Leadership Opportunity

Lead High-Impact Engineering Teams Supporting Advanced Aerospace & Defense Programs

An industry-leading aerospace and defense organization is seeking a Senior Manager, Systems Engineering to lead and develop multidisciplinary engineering teams supporting complex aircraft modification, systems integration, mission systems, and advanced technology programs.

This is an exceptional opportunity for an experienced engineering leader who combines strong technical depth with proven people leadership, strategic planning, and program execution capabilities.

You'll oversee teams responsible for the design, integration, and delivery of sophisticated systems supporting both military and commercial customers while playing a key role in shaping departmental strategy, workforce planning, technical excellence, and long-term business growth.

If you're passionate about leading engineers, solving complex technical challenges, influencing organizational strategy, and delivering mission-critical solutions, this role offers outstanding visibility, responsibility, and career progression.

Why This Opportunity Stands Out

This is not a traditional engineering management role.

You'll operate at the intersection of engineering leadership, program execution, customer engagement, workforce planning, and strategic business growth.

You'll help define how engineering teams support future programs, influence hiring and staffing strategies, drive technical excellence, and partner directly with senior leadership to ensure successful program execution.

Highlights include:

  • Lead multiple engineering teams supporting complex aerospace and defense programs

  • Direct influence on departmental strategy and workforce growth

  • High visibility with executive leadership and customers

  • Opportunity to shape future engineering capabilities and talent development

  • Significant involvement in proposal development and business growth initiatives

  • Exposure to both military and commercial aviation programs

  • Strong technical and leadership career progression opportunities

What You'll Be Doing

Engineering Leadership & Team Development

  • Lead, mentor, and develop a diverse team of Systems Engineers and technical professionals

  • Create a culture focused on technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement

  • Establish training and professional development plans to support long-term organizational goals

  • Support employee growth, performance management, succession planning, and talent development initiatives

  • Foster strong collaboration across engineering, program management, operations, and customer teams

Strategic Workforce Planning

  • Forecast engineering resource requirements based on current and future program demand

  • Develop hiring strategies and workforce plans to support business growth

  • Lead recruiting efforts and participate in candidate selection processes

  • Ensure teams are appropriately staffed to meet program commitments and customer expectations

  • Support long-term capability development across the engineering organization

Program & Technical Leadership

  • Provide leadership and oversight across multiple engineering programs and integration efforts

  • Partner closely with Program Managers and Project Engineers to ensure successful execution

  • Review engineering schedules, budgets, risks, and resource allocations

  • Support engineering teams throughout the full program lifecycle

  • Ensure technical solutions align with customer requirements, budgets, and schedules

Systems Engineering Excellence

  • Lead and review systems engineering activities including:

    • Requirements analysis

    • System architecture development

    • Trade studies

    • System integration planning

    • Verification and validation activities

    • Technical baseline management

  • Ensure customer requirements are translated into clear, verifiable system-level requirements

  • Review engineering trade studies for technical accuracy, completeness, and feasibility

  • Support development of complex integrated system architectures

Customer & Stakeholder Engagement

  • Serve as a key technical leader during customer interactions

  • Build strong relationships with military, government, commercial, and internal stakeholders

  • Present technical information to executive leadership, customers, and engineering teams

  • Represent the organization during technical reviews, program meetings, and customer engagements

  • Facilitate collaboration between engineering, program management, and customers to ensure alignment and success

Business Growth & Proposal Support

  • Support new business capture activities and proposal development efforts

  • Participate in labor estimating, Basis of Estimate (BOE) creation, and technical proposal development

  • Contribute to growth strategies and future program planning

  • Support investment planning and technical roadmap development

Department Operations & Financial Management

  • Manage departmental budgets and overhead spending

  • Ensure engineering teams have the tools, resources, and infrastructure required to succeed

  • Monitor departmental performance against strategic goals and operating plans

  • Drive process improvements and operational efficiencies across the organization

What We're Looking For

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, Physics, or a related technical discipline

  • Minimum 12 years of relevant engineering experience with a Bachelor's Degree

OR

  • Minimum 10 years of relevant engineering experience with an advanced degree

  • Previous engineering leadership or management experience

  • Strong understanding of Systems Engineering principles and methodologies

  • Experience leading multidisciplinary technical teams

  • Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills

Highly Preferred Experience

Systems Engineering

  • Requirements management

  • System architecture development

  • Trade study execution and evaluation

  • System integration

  • Verification & validation

  • Technical baseline management

  • Full engineering lifecycle experience

Leadership & Program Management

  • Functional management experience

  • IPT (Integrated Product Team) leadership

  • Workforce planning and hiring

  • Resource forecasting

  • Budget management

  • Engineering operations leadership

  • Strategic planning and execution

Business Development

  • Proposal development

  • Basis of Estimate (BOE) creation

  • Technical volume development

  • Customer engagement and presentations

Aerospace, Defense & Mission Systems

Experience supporting:

  • Aircraft modification programs

  • Avionics integration

  • Mission systems

  • Defense platforms

  • Government programs

  • Complex system integration efforts

Cybersecurity Experience

Experience supporting cybersecurity-focused engineering teams or cybersecurity programs is considered a strong plus.

Leadership Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

  • Strategic thinking and planning

  • Exceptional problem-solving abilities

  • Strong business acumen

  • Critical thinking and sound decision-making

  • Team leadership and coaching skills

  • Executive-level communication capabilities

  • Accountability and ownership mentality

  • Ability to influence across multiple functions and stakeholder groups

Security & Eligibility Requirements

Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.

Preferred

  • Active Secret Clearance

Compensation & Benefits

💰 Base Salary: $190,000 - $220,000

Additional benefits include:

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage

  • Retirement savings plans

  • Paid time off and company holidays

  • Professional development opportunities

  • Relocation assistance for qualified candidates

  • Interview travel reimbursement

  • Long-term career advancement opportunities

  • 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off

Why Join?

This is an outstanding opportunity to lead talented engineering teams working on complex, high-visibility aerospace and defense programs that have a direct impact on mission success.

You'll help shape engineering strategy, influence future business growth, develop the next generation of engineering talent, and work alongside some of the industry's most respected technical professionals.

If you're an experienced engineering leader looking for a role that combines technical depth, people leadership, business impact, and long-term career growth, we'd love to hear from you.

 

Business Segment Director – Space Mission Systems | TS/SCI Poly | Scottsdale, AZ

Business Segment Director – Space Mission Systems

📍 Location: Scottsdale, Arizona / Remote Flexibility Available
🏢 Work Model: Remote with Travel Requirements
💼 Employment Type: Full-Time
🔐 Security Clearance Required: Active TS/SCI Clearance Required at Time of Hire
🔒 CI Polygraph Preferred (Must be eligible and willing to obtain post-hire if not currently held)

💰 Compensation & Benefits

  • Base Salary: $200,000 – $290,000
    (Depending on experience and qualifications)

  • Full comprehensive benefits package

  • Relocation assistance available for ideal candidates

  • Interview travel reimbursement provided

📍 Location & Travel Expectations

  • The role can ultimately be performed remotely with travel as needed

  • However, the first 3 months will require significant onsite presence in Scottsdale to support onboarding, stakeholder integration, and operational ramp-up

  • Following this initial period, candidates may be based remotely but must be willing to travel when required for program, customer, and leadership engagements

🚀 The Opportunity

A leading defense and aerospace organization is seeking a Business Segment Director to lead a portfolio of advanced national security and space mission programs supporting critical missions globally.

The portfolio includes technologies and programs related to:

  • Data networking & secure data transport

  • Cybersecurity & high-assurance cryptography

  • Mission-critical space systems

  • Satellites & embedded mission technologies

  • Secure communications & networking platforms

This executive leadership role oversees high-value development and production programs and is responsible for strategic growth, operational execution, customer engagement, financial performance, and organizational leadership across a highly complex classified portfolio.

The ideal candidate is a proven defense industry executive with deep expertise across space systems, secure technologies, avionics, cybersecurity, cryptographic solutions, or embedded mission systems, combined with strong operational leadership and business development capabilities.

🔧 Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Growth

  • Lead and expand a portfolio of mission-critical defense and space programs

  • Develop and execute short- and long-term business growth strategies

  • Identify and capture adjacent and new business opportunities

  • Drive business development and customer engagement initiatives

  • Support strategic portfolio growth within national security and classified environments

Program & Operational Leadership

  • Oversee execution of complex development and production programs

  • Manage financial, operational, schedule, and customer satisfaction objectives

  • Ensure successful delivery across highly classified and technically complex environments

  • Balance mission urgency, execution discipline, and customer expectations

  • Lead operational performance across multiple programs and business initiatives

Customer & Stakeholder Engagement

  • Serve as senior interface to government and defense customers

  • Build trusted relationships across:

    • Space systems organizations

    • Cryptographic and cybersecurity communities

    • Networking and avionics sectors

    • Certification and mission authorities

  • Communicate effectively with executive, operational, and technical stakeholders

  • Represent the business segment with senior internal and external leadership

Organizational & Team Leadership

  • Lead and mentor high-performing engineering and program leadership teams

  • Drive accountability, collaboration, and organizational alignment

  • Support transformation and change management initiatives

  • Foster an inclusive, innovative, and mission-focused culture

  • Build and sustain high-performing cross-functional teams

Technical & Mission Leadership

  • Support programs involving:

    • Satellites and space mission systems

    • Secure networking solutions

    • High-assurance cryptographic systems

    • Embedded mission technologies

    • Secure communications platforms

  • Collaborate across engineering, operations, and customer teams to deliver mission success

  • Support Agile development environments and innovation initiatives

  • Identify opportunities for AI-enabled operational improvements and efficiencies

✅ Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree required

  • 15+ years of leadership experience within defense contracting or related national security environments

  • Proven experience managing:

    • Complex development programs

    • Production programs

    • Large portfolios or business segments

  • Strong expertise in one or more of the following areas:

    • Space systems

    • Satellites

    • Cryptography

    • Cybersecurity

    • Secure networking

    • National security systems

  • Active TS/SCI clearance required at time of hire

  • Ability and willingness to obtain CI Polygraph clearance

  • U.S. Citizenship required

⭐ Preferred Background

  • Embedded systems or avionics experience

  • Experience supporting compartmented programs

  • Agile development environment experience

  • Existing relationships across aerospace and defense communities

  • Experience operating within large matrix organizations

  • Strong financial and operational leadership capability

  • Experience leading organizational transformation initiatives

🛠️ Core Skills

✔ Strategic Planning
✔ Business Development
✔ Program Execution
✔ Space Systems Leadership
✔ Cryptographic Solutions
✔ Cybersecurity
✔ Financial Management
✔ Customer Relationship Management
✔ Change Management
✔ Team Leadership
✔ Defense Contracting
✔ Agile Development
✔ Operational Leadership
✔ National Security Programs

🎯 Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an executive-level aerospace or defense leader who:

  • Brings deep expertise across mission-critical national security programs

  • Understands complex space mission systems and secure technologies

  • Has successfully led large organizations through growth and transformation

  • Combines strong operational execution with strategic business leadership

  • Is highly customer-facing and trusted within classified defense environments

  • Thrives in fast-moving, high-accountability mission environments

  • Demonstrates strong leadership presence, communication, and stakeholder management capability

🌟 Why This Role Stands Out

  • Lead highly strategic national security and space mission programs

  • Influence cutting-edge technologies in cybersecurity, cryptography, and secure space systems

  • Significant executive visibility and organizational influence

  • Opportunity to shape the future of secure space mission capabilities

  • Join a highly respected defense and aerospace organization supporting critical global missions

  • Strong long-term growth and leadership opportunity

📋 Additional Details

  • Travel required based on program and customer needs

  • Director-level executive leadership position

  • Relocation assistance available for exceptional candidates

  • Candidates must possess an active TS/SCI clearance and be eligible to obtain a CI Polygraph

  • Remote flexibility available following initial onboarding period

Recruiter Summary

This is a highly visible executive leadership opportunity within a premier aerospace and defense environment supporting advanced national security and space mission programs. The position offers the opportunity to lead complex classified portfolios involving secure communications, cybersecurity, cryptography, satellites, and mission-critical technologies while influencing long-term strategic growth and operational direction across the organization.

Ideal candidates will bring a blend of strategic leadership, operational excellence, technical credibility, customer engagement experience, and deep understanding of classified defense environments.

 

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