Software Project Lead

Key Responsibilities

System Ownership & Architecture

Own the software design, architecture, delivery & deployment for the program
Be accountable for delivery; keep the effort honest about scope, schedule, and risk, and raise issues early.
Favor proven, open-source and off-the-shelf tools, and reuse what already exists, over building from scratch.

Requirements & Customer Engagement

Sit with the customer and end users, gather requirements, and turn what they need into a design and a plan, including the user experience and UX direction.
Represent DEFCON’s engineering to the customer and work the “how does our software get onto your network” conversation to a resolution.
Communicate clearly across many audiences: run stakeholder workshops and translate between the customer, the PM, subject-matter experts, and the optimization and data-science staff.

Team Leadership & Delivery

Drive the technical vision and keep the program aligned to it.
Coordinate across the PM, subject-matter experts, and the software team, sequence the work, define what “done” looks like, and unblock the team.
Lead a small software team as the effort grows.
Own the release cadence from capability intake through demonstration and deployment, aligned to government timelines.

Unclassified to Secure Delivery

Own the unclassified-to-secure delivery path: design so software built in the open runs unchanged once it moves into the government’s secure environment.
Own the data and schema contract that lets the app ingest securely-prepared data it has never seen before, and keep unclassified fixtures and secure-side data in strict parity.
Drive the transfer process end to end: offline, self-contained packaging, the low-to-high move, and a secure-side smoke test, working it early so it stays off the critical path.
Keep sensible CI/CD hygiene (testing, security scanning) as a normal engineering practice, and coordinate with the security team on whatever accreditation the program ultimately requires.

Required Qualifications

8+ years building and shipping production software, including at least one system owned end to end as the senior technical voice accountable for it, not just a component.
Front-end and data visualization engineering (e.g. React/TypeScript or equivalent): the deliverable is a data-visualization product, so you can architect and personally build its core surfaces.
A working lead, not just a director: this is a small team without other software depth early, so you write and review code directly while leading the developers on the effort.
Unclassified-to-secure delivery: building software in the open so it runs unchanged in a government secure or air-gapped environment, owning the data and schema contract, and driving the transfer. Sensible CI/CD hygiene expected; deep RMF and ATO ownership is a plus, not a requirement.
Requirements and architecture instincts: you can sit with a customer who does not speak software, pull out what they need, and turn it into a design and a plan.
Partnering with an optimization scientist: conversant enough in the analytic core (optimization, dependency management, critical-path analysis) to define the contracts between engine and UI and pressure-test feasibility, without owning the models yourself.
Leading small teams and coordinating across roles (PM, SMEs, data scientists, operations research and analytics, security), customer-facing in a government setting.
US Citizenship Required
Active Secret Clearance
Willingness to Travel up to 25% to customer site, Defcon AI HQ, and vendor facilities as required.

Preferred Qualifications

Background in defense and national-security software, especially anything touching classified, cross-domain, or air-gapped environments
Hands-on depth in optimization or operations research (e.g. building or integrating solvers), or a track record partnering closely with OR and data-science teams
Experience standing up software in government-furnished or classified environments (IL-6 or equivalent)
Experience transitioning systems from an existing or incumbent starting point to a durable production system, or standing one up greenfield
Experience leading AI-augmented software delivery: directing agent-assisted implementation, critically reviewing AI-generated code, and working inside a gated spec, review, and retro workflow (or a clear track record adopting new delivery methods fast). This is how the team works.
Familiarity with government secure-software platforms and accreditation pipelines (RMF and cATO, containerized or air-gapped delivery), and with platforms such as Iron Bank, Platform One, Second Front (Game Warden), Stormbreaker, or Black Pearl
Comfortable across a modern software stack (e.g. Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL databases, containerized cloud deployment)
Deep optimization or operations-research depth, or full-stack depth beyond the front end
Range to flex across efforts. The core of this role is owning one program, but a lead who can lend a hand across other efforts and help the broader engineering org is a real plus