1761 - Director of Engineering at Sigma Defense

Sigma Defense is seeking a Director of Engineering to serve as the senior technical authority and lead of technical sales for our IMS Business Unit. This is not a role that manages engineers from a distance. It sits at the intersection of technical execution and business growth, and the person in it is expected to be credible in a design review, in front of a customer, and in a proposal color team in the same week.

The Director is responsible not only for solving high-value engineering problems, but for building the organizational capability to solve those problems repeatedly without dependence on any single individual.

You will operate across a portfolio of software-intensive defense programs, providing the technical oversight that keeps delivery on track, leading the engineering contribution to new business pursuits, and raising the capability of engineers across the business unit. These three areas reinforce one another. Credibility earned on programs opens doors with customers. Customer engagement wins new work. A stronger engineering bench makes delivery more reliable and more competitive.

Engineers on our programs align formally to their Program Managers, who own contract budgets, headcount, and day-to-day tasking. That structure is intentional, and it frees this role from the administrative overhead of functional management so it can focus on the highest-value work: elevating technical quality across programs, winning new business, and building an engineering culture where individuals are equipped to compete and grow.

Although funded and prioritized within IMS, this position is positioned to extend technical leadership and strategic influence across organizational boundaries, contributing to cross-business initiatives and reinforcing a unified engineering identity across the company.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled: Sigma Defense Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Requirements

• Minimum 15 years of Government / Industry experience with at least 5 years in a leadership position.

• Demonstrated ability building and successfully implementing a technical sales strategy and increasing company revenue.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical approaches to non-technical executive and customer audiences.
• Demonstrated experience delivering software-intensive systems in a Department of War federal government contracting environment.
• Experience serving as a technical authority across multiple concurrent programs or product lines, including intervening on troubled efforts and establishing a recovery path.
• Experience defining and enforcing engineering standards, architecture governance, or technical review processes at an organizational level.
• Experience developing engineering basis of estimate (BOE), labor mix, and schedule estimates supporting proposal pricing.
• Experience representing an organization as a technical authority in customer-facing settings such as capability briefs, technical exchange meetings, industry days and program reviews.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence as well as direct authority, building credibility with program managers, executives, and customers who do not report to you.
• Proven track record of mentoring and developing engineers, with evidence of measurable career progression among those mentored.
• Business development experience to include demonstrated contribution to competitive government proposals including:
• Authorship of Technical Volumes
• Solution Architecture
• Win Theme Development
• Technical Approach Sections
• Working depth in modern software engineering practice to include:
• Distributed Systems or Service-Based Architecture
• CI/CD and DevSecOps Pipelines
• Cloud or Hybrid Infrastructure
• Networks
• Artificial Intelligence
• Containerization
• Automated Testing
• Secure Development Practices
• The ideal candidate is:
• Technical enough to earn respect in a code or architecture review, and commercial enough to sit across from a customer and shape a pursuit.
• Committed to building capability in engineers rather than manage their tasks.
• Comfortable being accountable for outcomes you influence but do not fully control.
• Capable of walking into a struggling program, identifying the real problem quickly, and creating a path forward rather than a list of observations.

• This position may require up to 20-30% travel to program sites, customer locations, corporate facilities, and industry events. Travel volume fluctuates with proposal cycles and program needs.
• This role is based in San Diego, CA. Candidates can work from home, but must maintain a dedicated, professional home work environment with reliable high-speed internet suitable for daily video collaboration and customer engagement.
• Must be available to support proposal deadlines, program escalations, and customer engagements that occasionally fall outside standard business hours, including limited evening or weekend work during proposal color team and submission periods.
• Must be able to work on-site at customer and government facilities during travel, including secure spaces where personal electronic devices are prohibited.
• Must be a U.S. citizen.
• Must be able to successfully complete a background investigation.

Candidate Differentiators

• Active DoW Secret or Top Secret/SCI clearance.
• Advanced degree in a technical discipline, or an MBA paired with a technical undergraduate degree.
• Direct experience with C5ISR, tactical communications, mission systems, data transport, or similar defense mission domains.
• Familiarity with DoW software acquisition pathways, Authority to Operate (ATO) and RMF processes. and DoW software modernization initiatives. E.g., Software Factory or platform-based delivery models.
• Experience adopting AI and machine learning capabilities into engineering workflows or delivered products.
• Experience supporting organic growth on existing contracts through customer relationship development and identification of new task order opportunities.
• Prior experience operating in a matrixed organization where engineers align to program leadership rather than a functional chain.

Personnel Clearance Level

• Candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance or higher.
• Candidates currently holding an active Secret clearance or higher clearance are strongly preferred.
• Candidate must be eligible to access information subject to U.S. export control regulations (ITAR/EAR).

Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM).

Essential Job Duties

Technical Authority and Program Support

• Serve as the senior technical voice across active programs, providing oversight, guidance, and hands-on support to ensure engineering quality and delivery confidence.
• Review and validate technical deliverables, ensuring outputs meet customer expectations and internal quality standards.
• Provide direct technical leadership to programs experiencing execution risk, with the objective of stabilizing delivery, transferring knowledge, and returning sustained ownership to the program team.
• Partner with Program Managers during hiring to evaluate and vet engineering talent, ensuring new hires are well-positioned for success on their contracts.
• Advise on engineering approaches, architecture decisions, and technical risk across the program portfolio.

Growth and Business Development

• Lead the engineering contribution to new business pursuits.
• Drive technical solutioning and win theme development for proposals and recompetes, translating customer requirements into credible, competitive engineering approaches.
• Develop cost structures and timeline estimates for proposals, bringing both technical depth and pragmatic delivery experience to the effort.
• Represent the organization as the technical authority in customer-facing engagements alongside executive and BD/Capture leadership, building technical credibility and setting the foundation for long-term relationships.
• Identify and articulate emerging technical trends and capability gaps relevant to target customers and markets.
• Contribute strategic positioning of the business unit within the competitive landscape.

Engineer Enablement and Development

• Raise the ceiling of engineering performance across the business unit.
• Set and communicate clear standards for engineering performance, professional conduct, and career ownership - establishing high expectations while providing the context and resources to meet them.
• Provide mentorship, coaching, and technical guidance to engineers across programs, with a focus on building capability rather than managing tasks.
• Advocate training investments, certifications, tooling, and resources that improve engineering competitiveness.
• Equip engineers to take ownership of their career trajectories by helping them understand what makes them valuable to programs and customers, and actively preparing them for their next opportunity within the organization.
• Serve as the technical career resource across the broader business unit, extending influence beyond the formal IMS engineering team.
• Create technical differentiation through engineering strategy that strengthens competitive positioning and supports growth.

Engineering Strategy and Standards

• Provide strategic engineering leadership that shapes how the organization builds and delivers software-intensive systems.
• Define and champion engineering standards, practices, and tooling that improve consistency and quality across programs.
• Identify systemic gaps in workflows, technical debt, and delivery processes, driving practical and sustainable improvements.
• Represent the engineering in leadership discussions on organizational design, business unit strategy, and integration priorities.
• Lead the identification, prototyping, evaluation, and responsible operationalization of AI and emerging technologies relevant to IMS customers and programs, with emphasis on creating reusable engineering capabilities that can scale across programs
• Establish repeatable pathways for moving promising prototypes and emerging capabilities into secure, supportable, program-ready solutions, including architecture, engineering standards, cybersecurity, sustainment, and transition planning.
• Develop and drive adoption of reusable architectures, standards, tools, and technical patterns across multiple programs.

Salary Range: $195,000 - $260,000 annually.

Benefits

• Dental and Vision Insurance
• Medical Insurance to Include HSA, FSA, and DFSA Plans
• Life and AD&D coverage
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• 401(k) Plan with Company Matching Contributions
• 160 Hours of Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 12 (Floating) Holidays
• Educational Assistance
• Highly Competitive Salary