1761 - Director of Engineering

Sigma Defense•San Diego, CA

1d•$195,000 - $260,000•Hybrid

About The Position

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 role sits at the intersection of technical execution and business growth, requiring the individual to be credible in design reviews, customer interactions, and proposal efforts. The Director is responsible for solving high-value engineering problems and building the organizational capability to do so repeatedly. This position operates across a portfolio of software-intensive defense programs, providing technical oversight, leading engineering contributions to new business pursuits, and enhancing the capabilities of engineers within the business unit. While engineers formally align with Program Managers for day-to-day tasks, this role focuses on elevating technical quality, winning new business, and fostering an engineering culture. The position also extends technical leadership and strategic influence across organizational boundaries, contributing to cross-business initiatives and a unified engineering identity. This role 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. The role is based in San Diego, CA, with the option for remote work from a dedicated home office. Availability to support proposal deadlines, program escalations, and customer engagements outside standard business hours, including limited evening or weekend work during proposal periods, is necessary. The ability to work on-site at customer and government facilities, including secure spaces where personal electronic devices are prohibited, is also required. Candidates must be U.S. citizens and able to complete a background investigation.

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.
Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM).
Must be a U.S. citizen.
Must be able to successfully complete a background investigation.
Candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance or higher.
Candidate must be eligible to access information subject to U.S. export control regulations (ITAR/EAR).

Nice To Haves

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.
Candidates currently holding an active Secret clearance or higher clearance are strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

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.
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.
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.
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.