Director R&D, US

Windward • Washington, DC

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Windward is seeking a Director, US R&D to establish and lead its new R&D function in the United States. This foundational role involves creating a cleared, GovCloud-native engineering capability to serve US federal customers. The Director will oversee the migration of Windward's platform to a US Government Cloud environment, build and lead the US engineering team, and act as the primary technical liaison between federal agency customers and Windward's global product and engineering organization. This is an opportunity to build something entirely new within an existing US entity, focusing on high classification levels and mission-critical intelligence.

Requirements

• Agentic-First Mindset: Default to automation, bring AI coding and agentic development tools into workflows, drive engineering organization toward full agentic operations, passion for automating engineering teams.
• Experience: 10+ years of combined software engineering, DevOps, and cloud infrastructure experience, with 3-5 years in a senior technical leadership role.
• Proven, hands-on experience deploying and operating workloads in US GovCloud environments (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, or equivalent).
• Strong developer background with proficiency in at least one modern language (Python, Go, Java, or similar) and cloud-native, microservices architectures.
• Experience building or leading technical teams in cleared environments, including hiring for and maintaining security clearances.
• Demonstrated track record as a customer-facing technical leader, comfortable engaging with senior government stakeholders at program and executive levels.
• Technical Depth: Deep knowledge of federal compliance frameworks: FedRAMP, NIST 800-53, IL4/IL5, CMMC, and/or ITAR.
• Hands-on expertise with Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps pipelines, and modern observability tooling in restricted or air-gapped environments.
• Comfort with REST APIs, data engineering, and cloud security fundamentals (identity, access controls, encryption at rest and in transit).
• Leadership & Culture: 3-5 years experience managing a team of at least 5 R&D / DevOps engineers.
• Builder mindset — energized by creating from scratch, comfortable navigating ambiguity, and focused on outcomes over process.
• Exceptional communicator — credible with mission operators, technical peers, and C-level executives alike.
• Team-first orientation — collaborative, transparent, and invested in the growth of the people around you.
• Aligned with Windward's mission: delivering intelligence that matters, to people whose decisions matter.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with data fusion architectures, multi-source intelligence platforms, or AI/ML deployment in CUI or classified environments.
• Experience integrating with or deploying Palantir platforms (Gotham, Foundry, AIP) in federal environments — a significant advantage. Former Palantir employees are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Top Secret; TS/SCI clearance desired.
• Willingness to support clearance upgrades as required by the mission.

Responsibilities

• Establish Windward's US R&D Function: Define structure, processes, and operating model; hire, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of cleared engineers and DevOps practitioners; integrate the new R&D function with current commercial and business development operations; partner with global R&D leadership to align the US team with the broader engineering roadmap and architecture.
• Lead the GovCloud Migration: Own the end-to-end technical migration of Windward's Maritime AI™ platform to a US GovCloud environment; architect and implement cloud infrastructure meeting federal compliance frameworks (FedRAMP, IL4/IL5, CMMC, NIST 800-53); build and maintain the full DevOps pipeline in a cleared environment; ensure the migrated platform meets security, availability, and performance SLAs.
• Develop and Maintain the Solution: Contribute hands-on development and technical design for the US federal market; maintain, support, and improve the live US production environment; establish engineering best practices, documentation standards, and operational runbooks; identify opportunities to adapt global platform capabilities to US federal customer requirements.
• Own the Customer Technical Relationship: Serve as the primary technical point of contact for US federal agency customers; translate mission requirements and customer feedback into engineering priorities; lead technical reviews and architecture sessions with federal stakeholders; bridge the gap between US federal customers and Windward's global organization.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed