Deployment Lead, Strategic Defense

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Operations, Cyber & Security team is responsible for safely deploying and sustaining a mission-critical command-and-control capability across laboratories, test ranges, data-center environments, and operational sites. Site Operations is the connective tissue between the customer, engineering, field support, logistics, security, and program leadership. We make sure every site is ready to receive, operate, exercise, and sustain the capability.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are hiring a Deployment Lead to own end-to-end readiness and the day-to-day operating picture for a portfolio of deployment sites. This is a deeply technical, field-facing program role. You will be the primary site liaison, orchestrating people, access, equipment, logistics, schedules, technical support, and customer communication from the first survey through deployment and sustainment. You will lead through influence across engineering, Site Reliability Engineering, Deployment Operations, security, procurement, Growth Operations, and government stakeholders.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Serve as the accountable program liaison for assigned sites, establishing trusted relationships with customer points of contact, operators, local support teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Lead site surveys and readiness reviews; translate power, cooling, rack space, network, access, security, shipping, travel, and staffing conditions into an owned action plan.
• Maintain authoritative site profiles covering points of contact, access procedures, technical configuration, frequently asked questions, travel, logistics, shipping, open actions, and operational history.
• Plan and coordinate deployments, ground tests, live-fire exercises, customer visits, training events, and sustainment activities, including agendas, staffing, access, travel, equipment, and after-action follow-through.
• Build and manage integrated schedules, readiness gates, dependencies, risks, decisions, and issue-resolution plans across concurrent sites and events.
• Coordinate purchase requests, purchase orders, shipping, receiving, material staging, and local logistics while maintaining clear ownership and traceability for site equipment.
• Partner with Deployment Operations to itemize new hardware, establish catalog and part records, verify asset accountability, and ensure equipment is eligible and compliant for customer-facing growth events.
• Orchestrate engineering and Site Reliability Engineering support for node flashing, installation, troubleshooting, hardware replacement, and return-to-service activities.
• Develop and maintain reusable site-survey guides, technical orientation materials, exercise-support playbooks, end-user troubleshooting manuals, and controlled emergency-access procedures.
• Own user-feedback intake and after-action reviews; turn observations into prioritized, traceable actions and clearly distinguish site-support needs from product-roadmap decisions.
• Provide concise status, risk, and readiness reporting through a deployment calendar, near-term action board, and six-month look-ahead for leadership and cross-functional teams.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years of experience in technical program management, field operations, deployment operations, systems integration, or a comparable role delivering complex hardware and software capabilities.
• Demonstrated ownership of multi-site or multi-event execution involving customers, engineering teams, logistics, access constraints, and time-critical dependencies.
• Working knowledge of integrated hardware, software, networking, and data-center or field-site infrastructure; able to understand technical architecture and ask the questions that reveal execution risk.
• Experience building executable plans, schedules, readiness criteria, risk registers, decision logs, and clear status reporting in an ambiguous environment.
• Ability to build trust with government customers and end users, lead through influence, and resolve issues without waiting for perfect information.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to brief technical, operational, and executive audiences.
• Ability to travel 30–50%, work non-standard hours during major events, and operate on site in classified or controlled environments.
• Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance and is eligible to obtain a Top Secret clearance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience deploying distributed command-and-control, edge-compute, sensor, communications, or other mission systems in DoD environments.
• Experience planning site surveys for data-center or integration-lab environments, including rack, power, cooling, network, and physical-security requirements.
• Experience supporting developmental test, operational test, range activities, ground test, or live-fire exercises.
• Familiarity with asset management, serialization, barcode-based inventory, hardware configuration records, procurement, and reverse logistics.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or equivalent tools for execution and knowledge management.
• Working knowledge of RMF, classified handling, controlled data movement, courier procedures, or secure shipping requirements.
• PMP, CAPM, or comparable program-management certification.