Senior Director, Mission Systems Growth and Market Entry

Viasat, Inc. • Carlsbad, CA

18h

About The Position

Viasat’s Government Services & Solutions seeks a Senior Strategy Director to drive long-range growth supporting the U.S. Department of War (DoW), specifically (but not limited to) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3), Mobility, and Special Missions domains. This role focuses on mission system integration opportunities and growth across strategically aligned airborne platforms with space-enabled communications and resilient network architectures. The selected leader will provide market vision, technical insight, and direction to develop major defense programs, implementing strategies that align with DoW mission needs. The leader will direct complex opportunity campaigns and drive industrial base and partner strategies to ensure long-term growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree and 15+ years of service experience within the US Defense or related Industry positions
• 6+ years in senior program, portfolio, or leadership roles
• Demonstrated experience shaping and leading large, complex programmatic efforts
• Proven track record guiding cross-functional teams
• Deep understanding of DoW strategy, requirements, and budget processes
• Deep understanding and experience with coordination of initiatives, engineering, test, and integration of new capabilities across diverse customer programs
• Established relationships across the DoW, USAF, USSOCOM, the Space Operations branch, Joint Staff leadership, OSD, and/or Combatant Commands
• Executive-level customer engagement
• Program and financial management
• Risk management and compliance
• Leadership, mentoring, and team development
• Clear, concise executive communication
• MS Office skills (PowerPoint, Excel, Word)
• Exceptional interpersonal skills (both written and verbal)
• Active Top Secret security clearance or expired clearance that may be reactivated.

Nice To Haves

• Prior Strategy Development experience within industry, the DoW, and/or USAF programs
• 10 years of experience in Program Management and portfolio leadership
• Direct business lead and ownership of large profit and loss (P&L), DoW programs
• Experience in DoW with airborne Programs, Weapons, Sensors, Technologies, and Active Communication Programs
• Experience in industry to include program management, engineering, marketing, capture, and proposal activities (generation or review)

Responsibilities

• Analyze USAF, SOCOM, Space Force, Joint Staff, and industrial partner strategies, budgets, and operational priorities to identify and develop high-value growth opportunities in airborne mission systems integration.
• Align Viasat’s technology roadmap and investments with evolving warfighter needs, with a specific focus on mission systems, digital infrastructure, data, sensors, surveillance, communications, tactical battle management, and cyber capabilities.
• Lead early engagement and influence activities across requirements, acquisition, resourcing, and partner communities.
• Lead and mentor a distributed team of program directors, technical leads, and senior managers specializing in complex aviation and mission system programs.
• Translate operational gaps into compelling, executable solutions that inform government strategy, requirements development, and acquisition approaches.
• Own the end-to-end strategy for selected large-scale aircraft missionization pursuits, including qualification, capture planning, teaming, proposal, and program execution.
• Provide executive oversight for a portfolio of complex DoW programs, ensuring cost, schedule, performance, and compliance objectives are met.
• Serve as senior point of contact for program risks, issues, and customer concerns.
• Ensure disciplined program management practices consistent with FAR, DFARS, and internal governance standards.
• Build and lead cross-functional teams spanning engineering, finance, contracts, operations, and external partners.
• Drive internal company processes and execution to meet customer requirements and demand.
• Establish and mature strategic partnerships across the Defense Industrial Base to support scale, resilience, and mission execution.
• Develop unconventional teaming, acquisition, and contracting strategies (e.g., OTAs, prototypes, hybrid approaches) to accelerate capability delivery.
• Serve as a senior collaborator with Flag-level leaders, SES, PEOs, PMs, OSD staff, and allied partners. Build and maintain trusted advisor relationships with customers and industry partners.
• Represent Viasat in executive-level briefings, provide effective support with leadership analysis and feedback for white papers, industry forums, and strategic working groups.
• Lead, mentor, and develop program directors, program managers, and functional leaders
• Foster a culture of accountability, compliance, and mission focus
• Support workforce planning and succession strategies across programs
• Build, lead, and implement strategies (to articulate and generate consensus for strategic vision, action plan, competitive intelligence, investments, argument, etc.) within the targeted markets and agencies.
• Monitor and interpret evolving DoW requirements, operational priorities, and budget signals to anticipate shifts in customer demand and position Viasat solutions accordingly.
• Translate emerging mission needs and future operating concepts into early market shaping, investment alignment, and capture strategies, ensuring relevance before formal requirements and solicitations are defined.
• Develop and lead overall strategic opportunities, with emphasis on communications, SATCOM, networking, cyber-resilient architecture, and operational interoperability.
• Engage customers to gain intimacy and knowledge of their problems to better identify and shape opportunities and requirements.
• Support Captures and Proposals to maintain continuity across the BD lifecycle, improving our ability to win as opportunities pass from qualification into capture and then proposal.
• Direct program leadership in agile and effective execution with all customers and across functional program areas to define new requirements, assess capability feasibility and implement program execution plans for a wide variety of Government contracts.
• Be an effective leader in formal customer and partner presentations, ensuring credibility, clarity, and mission alignment.

Benefits

• range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered
• comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior