Head of Engineering, Defense OS

What you'll do

• Build and lead the DefenseOS engineering organization. Hire, structure, and grow a multi-disciplinary team across platform and software, EE and hardware architecture, perception and fusion, and integration and test, and develop its technical leads.
• Own the technical strategy and roadmap across the four WarshipOS pillars: zonal compute, data transport / API / SDK, AI/ML perception and fusion platform, and modern SIL/HIL test with a digital twin, aligned to the broader DefenseOS strategy.
• Lead the zonal architecture. Drive the design and deployment of location-based zone controllers and centralized compute that replace federated, domain-based designs, and their interfaces to prime-built combat, C4I, and HM&E systems.
• Stand up the software and data platform. Direct the middleware, APIs, and SDKs that extract and unify data from sensor and mission systems behind a common data plane across classification levels.
• Set engineering best practices across hardware and software: architecture, code review, CI/CD, automated and hardware-in-the-loop test, performance, and quality metrics suited to mission-critical, field-deployed systems.
• Own program execution. Plan releases, track progress against milestones across anchor programs, surface risks early, and deliver on schedule and to quality under acquisition and field constraints.
• Partner with product, defense customers, and shipbuilders/integrators as a design-informed engineering leader, shaping operator-facing capability and the trade-offs that keep the roadmap mapped to operational value.
• Communicate status, risk, and outcomes to senior leadership, escalate clearly, and provide engineering input into program and business decisions.

What we're looking for

• Engineering leadership at scale. Typically 12+ years in software and systems engineering with 6+ years leading engineering teams, including managing other managers and technical leads, and a track record of building and scaling a team from a small core.
• Software platform depth. Shipped complex software platforms that integrate real-time, mission- or safety-critical systems: middleware, data transport, and APIs / SDKs that unify heterogeneous subsystems behind a common data plane.
• Hardware / software systems fluency. Led programs spanning hardware and software (compute architecture, sensor and system integration, lab-to-platform test), enough to set direction for EE / hardware and integration leads.
• Integrating modern compute with legacy, closed subsystems. Built the gateways, adapters, and abstraction layers that connect proprietary or undocumented interfaces into a unified data plane.
• Delivery under hard constraints. Ownership of the full lifecycle from requirements through deployment and sustainment under reliability, latency, safety, and field-readiness constraints, with disciplined execution in ambiguous, fast-moving programs.
• Cross-functional leadership and communication with product, hardware, operations, customers, and senior leadership, including clear escalation of technical and schedule risk.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen. Must hold or be eligible for a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Nice to have

• Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) or analogous commercial platforms where a zonal architecture and centralized compute replaced distributed, domain-based controllers, directly transferable to a warship operating system.
• Naval or maritime subsystems: combat / mission systems, shipboard communications (C5I, tactical data links, SATCOM), or HM&E.
• Unmanned surface vessels (USVs) or other unmanned / autonomous platforms; familiarity with shipboard size, weight, power, and survivability constraints.
• Prior naval service or fleet / operational experience.

Compensation

Base salary range for this full-time position: $250,000 to $343,000 USD annually. Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits.