Engineering Manager

Obviant•Arlington, VA

15d•Onsite

About The Position

Engineering Manager Arlington, VA — Full Time The defense market is surging, but the data that drives it hasn’t kept up. Companies, government, and investors are forced to perform heavily manual processes and piece together hundreds of disparate sources to make decisions. Obviant is building a data source of truth and AI tools for defense acquisition to solve this. We fuse information from thousands of sources – structured + unstructured – to provide a cohesive picture of budget, programs, the organizations running them, and much more. Whether it’s a company navigating GTM or a program manager developing capabilities, we’re providing all sides with the intelligence they need to execute effectively. We’re growing fast and backed by top funds and DoD/national security veterans. We believe that public sector mission sets matter above anything else. If you feel the same way, we’d love for you to join us. The Role We are seeking an Engineering Manager to lead, grow, and empower a high-impact engineering team building the next generation of scalable, resilient defense technology. You will balance people leadership, technical direction, and execution oversight — enabling engineers to do their best work while ensuring alignment with company and product goals. You’ll work closely with engineering, product, and design to set direction, build momentum, and ensure that the systems we deliver meet the reliability, performance, and clarity expected of mission-critical workflows. This is a role for someone who leads from the front: a strong technical foundation, a deep care for people, and a bias toward action.

Requirements

10+ years of engineering experience, including substantial experience leading teams
Proven track record of developing, supporting, and scaling high-performing engineering teams
Strong technical depth across modern web, data, and/or cloud systems
Experience guiding architecture, reviewing designs, and ensuring execution quality
Demonstrated ability to turn ambiguous business needs into clear engineering plans
Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
Comfortable with the pace and expectations of a fast-growing startup
Passionate about defense, national security, and mission-driven work

Nice To Haves

Experience building complex data or AI systems
Background working with government, govtech, or regulated environments
Prior responsibility for reliability, SRE, observability, or infrastructure teams
Experience scaling teams through rapid growth phases

Responsibilities

Hire, onboard, and develop world-class engineers.
Provide coaching, mentorship, regular feedback, and career development support.
Foster a culture of ownership, continuous improvement, transparency, and psychological safety.
Drive team health and engagement through effective rituals, retrospectives, and performance processes.
Empower engineers to take initiative, own outcomes, and grow their capabilities.
Partner with senior engineers and architects to define technical direction and long-term strategy.
Guide teams through design tradeoffs, architecture decisions, and implementation quality.
Ensure effective planning, estimation, and reliable execution of engineering work.
Maintain accountability for system performance, scalability, reliability, and technical debt management.
Drop into a tactical role when needed to unblock the team or deliver business-critical outcomes.
Collaborate with product, design, and stakeholders to refine requirements and set priorities.
Translate business and mission goals into clear engineering outcomes and execution plans.
Ensure teams understand user value — delivering iteratively, measurably, and with urgency.
Uphold a strong connection between engineering decisions and customer impact.
Establish working practices that support velocity, quality, and transparency.
Lead planning, standups, reviews, and retrospective cycles.
Manage resourcing, capacity planning, roadmap execution, and cross-team dependencies.
Monitor KPIs for delivery, system reliability, team health, and operational excellence — driving continuous improvement.