Technical Director with Security Clearance

Position: Full-time, reporting to the Program Director.

Access: U.S. citizenship required, with the ability to obtain a Top Secret security clearance. The likely salary range for this position is $225,000 to $270,000 per year. Salary is set based on experience, and this range is not a guarantee of compensation. Colvin Run Networks builds mission-driven intelligent systems for national security and other high-stakes government missions. We apply commercial innovation to operational missions, an approach we call reverse dual use. As mission timelines outpace the acquisition system, we work at startup velocity with enterprise credibility.

We build solutions that a program office can stand behind, and that operators want to use. This role supports a federal civilian agency modernization program that applies AI and modern data tools to 24/7 operations, readiness, and crisis response. About the job
This program is modernizing how a 24/7 operations organization collects, checks, and escalates information, measures the performance of its own systems and people, and scales when a crisis, or several at once, exceeds normal capacity.

The AI, data, and cloud work behind it has to hold up under real operational pressure, not just in a demo. Before anything is built, the team spends time with the people who do this work today to learn what they track by hand, what breaks, and what separates a good escalation from a bad one. You lead the technical side of that work and turn it into a working architecture. You set the standards your team builds against and make the call when speed runs against security or cost against performance.

When a government leader asks why something was built a certain way, you are the one who answers, in plain conversation rather than a technical memo. What you'll do

• Lead discovery: Work alongside the government staff who run operations today to learn how the mission works in practice, then turn those findings into an architecture, technical standards, and a delivery plan.
• Own the architecture: Decide how operational information is collected, validated, escalated, and shared, and set the standards for the AI models, data pipelines, and integrations behind it.
• Design for readiness and surge: Shape the dashboards and performance measures leadership uses to know whether systems and people are performing, and make sure the system scales during major incidents without losing data or continuity.
• Lead the technical team: Direct the engineers, architects, and analysts building these capabilities, review their designs, and unblock decisions stuck above their level.
• Protect quality and security: Make sure what ships meets agency security and governance requirements and holds up with real users. Catch technical risks early and decide whether each needs a fix, a workaround, or escalation.
• Explain and document: Brief program leadership, government stakeholders, and end users in terms they can act on, and document decisions well enough that someone other than you could run the system. Required qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field.
• 12 or more years of experience in technical delivery, architecture, engineering, or applied research.
• Technical leadership on complex federal or regulated programs, including making and defending architecture decisions.
• Production experience with cloud platforms, data systems, and AI-enabled capabilities, beyond labs and pilots.
• Experience briefing non-technical audiences and government leaders on technical tradeoffs.
• Risk management on a live delivery program, including knowing when to escalate rather than absorb.
• U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain a Top Secret security clearance. Desired qualifications
• Modernizing legacy operational or information-sharing workflows.
• Responsible AI, MLOps, or data governance in a federal or regulated environment.
• Mission operations, emergency management, operational intelligence, or crisis-response systems that must perform under surge conditions.
• Federal security and governance frameworks such as FISMA, NIST SP 800-53, FedRAMP, and NIST SP 800-171. How we work We hire and review against REACH.
• Rigor: We think deeply and act decisively. Sound judgment, data, and critical thought separate signal from noise. We ask "what needs to be true?" and stay grounded in facts, not assumptions.
• Excellence: We deliver results that are fast, intuitive, and impactful. We focus on what the client truly needs and take pride in solutions people want to adopt. Quality is how we earn trust.
• Agility: "That's not my job" is not part of our vocabulary. We take ownership, adapt quickly, and find solutions rather than roadblocks, flexible under pressure, whatever the role.
• Commitment: We believe in the mission we serve and never stop improving. We are our own biggest critics because we care about the outcome. Our ethics are non-negotiable.
• Humility: Egos low, standards high. We listen, stay curious, and seek feedback. We speak with radical candor, assume good intent, and put the team's success over individual credit. Veterans and military spouses are encouraged to apply. Colvin Run Networks is an

Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.