Full-Time
Senior Security Specialist
Posted on 11/25/2025
Nooks
51-200 employees
Platform enabling classified government–private collaboration
Compensation Overview
$120k - $140k/yr
Arlington, VA, USA
In Person
US Top Secret Clearance, Canada Citizenship Required
 Security & Protective Services |
|---|
- 5–10 years of industrial security experience within the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.
- In-depth knowledge of ICDs, CFRs, DoD Manuals, and related policies.
- Construction Security: Expertise in CSPs, FFCs, TEMPEST, and accreditation documentation.
- TEMPEST: Understanding of CNSSI 7000-series and emanations security principles.
- Physical Security (PHYSEC): Familiarity with ACS, IDS, and CD-X10/X-10 locks.
- Contract & Customer Management: Proven ability to manage DD-254s and classified contract requirements.
- Personnel Security Systems: Proficiency with DISS, NISS, and other access databases across DoD Collateral, SCI, and SAP programs.
- Clearance: Active TS/SCI required.
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizenship required.
- Oversee and perform onsite industrial security operations, ensuring compliance with NISPOM, SCI, and SAP program requirements.
- Serve as the primary security liaison between Nooks and general contractors/subcontractors throughout the construction process.
- Represent Nooks as a forward-facing security contact for clients, prospects, and accreditation authorities.
- Prepare, review, and manage DD-254s, including subcontractor coordination and updates.
- Support DCSA assessments and internal self-inspections, including documentation and coordination.
- Assist in developing and implementing SOPs, Emergency Action Plans, and site-specific security training.
- Drive SCIF/Open Storage Area accreditation by managing CSPs, Fixed Facility Checklists, TEMPEST packages, and related documentation.
- Process and validate Visit Authorization Requests (VARs), personnel/facility clearances, and other security documents.
Nooks offers a platform-as-a-service that enables government agencies and private defense/space firms to collaborate on classified projects. It accelerates tech adoption in national security by handling facility clearance sponsorship and personnel clearances, simplifying compliance and onboarding. The platform provides secure workflows and vendor-access controls, expanding options for vendors while managing the complexities of clearance processes. Its veteran-led team focuses on moving faster, reducing costs, and letting clients concentrate on their core work within the government–private sector ecosystem.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$32.7M
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Founded
2021
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- $25M Series A from Zigg Capital, Upper90, SAIC, Lockheed Martin validates model.
- Defense primes co-invest, signaling equity partnerships over customer sales.
- Federal demand grows for private CIaaS in secure national security projects.
What critics are saying
- Name confusion with SF AI sales Nooks.ai erodes brand clarity immediately.
- Defense budget cuts in 2026 slash CIaaS contracts within 12 months.
- SAIC and Lockheed Martin acquire Nooks by 2027, ending independence.
What makes Nooks unique
- Nooks delivers Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service for secure classified workspaces.
- Platform bridges government agencies and private defense firms for collaboration.
- Handles facility and personnel clearances to accelerate tech adoption.
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Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 4%1 year growth
↑ 2%2 year growth
↓ -5%Nooks, a Crystal City, VA-based classified-infrastructure-as-a-service (CIaaS) model company for workspaces, raised $25M in Series A funding.
Nooks raises $25M Series A to expand its subscription-access classified workspaces. Backed by Zigg Capital, Upper90, SAIC, and Lockheed Martin, Nooks is redefining access to secure, flexible classified workspaces for government and defense.
Nooks has closed a $25M Series A funding round, partnering with Zigg Capital, Upper90, SAIC, and Lockheed Martin. The funding will enhance Nooks' Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS) model, aiming to improve secure collaboration for government and industry. The investment will support Nooks' growth in key markets and its integration of advanced technologies, with a focus on transforming classified infrastructure access.
A modular SCIF facility designed by Maryland-based builder, Modular Genius. Modular GeniusIf your small defense business has desirable technology that the government considers classified, you’ll need a secure workspace before you can secure government work. It’s a Catch-22 that Congress wants to alleviate.The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act includes language from both the House and Senate meant to open up existing classified work-spaces to small businesses.Building or gaining access to a government-approved secure workspace is a costly burden that adds to the already thorny problems defense startups face in getting security clearances for their employees and in getting their companies as a whole “covered” or cleared to work on classified projects.Such hurdles curb or prevent innovative, potentially war-winning technologies and ideas from being embraced and applied by the Pentagon says Andrew “Scar” Van Timmeren, vice president of government solutions for Blue Force Technologies, a small North Carolina-based business which recently secured a contract to build prototype unmanned adversary training aircraft for the Air Force.A former USAF F-22 pilot, Van Timmeren has seen the problem surface repeatedly among the cohort of defense startups traveling in the same circles as Blue Force, shutting them out of potentially meaningful contracts and contributions to national security.“It’s remarkably easy for continued contracts to go to incumbents within the cleared [classified] space because of the time and effort it takes to increase the number of new businesses that have access to cleared [workspace].”Van Timmeren cites an example wherein defense program managers are evaluating candidates to perform radar cross section survivability analysis of an aircraft. There’s already a cleared company with its own approved secure workspace. Another new firm may want to enter into that mix. But for DoD, “the easy button is to just go to the incumbent which may not be a small business.”Setting up a secure workspace isn’t easy
San Francisco, CA - According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Nooks is raising $5,000,000.00 in new funding. Sources indicate as part of senior management Chief Executive Officer, Sean Blackman played a