Director – Technical Services Division

Overview

Steely is a fast-growing, high-tech, mission-driven company based out of Reston, Virginia that prides itself on delivering technical and mission-related solutions that allow our customers to succeed in achieving their most challenging goals.

We are a close-knit team of highly motivated and skilled individuals that are focused on a commitment to facing the most complex and difficult efforts head-on with a balance of creativity and discipline, and an unwavering nerve.

Our Team embraces the concept that the sky's the limit. Regardless of where you are at in your career, our goal is to work with you to refine your skills, add to your technical tool belt, and aid you in your growth as a professional.  We offer growth opportunities such as leadership training, industry conferences, and mentorship from experienced, passionate individuals.

Candidates must an active and current TOP SECRET security clearance.

Responsibilities

Steely LLC is seeking an accomplished technical and business leader to serve as the Director of our Technical Services Division. This position will lead a multidisciplinary team of radio frequency (RF) engineers, reverse engineers, electrical engineers, and other technical professionals supporting complex customer missions. The Director will also serve as a technical thought leader for Steely, anticipating how new and emerging technologies, capabilities, and engineering approaches can be applied to solve evolving mission challenges and create differentiated customer value.

The Director will be responsible for the division’s people, technical execution, customer relationships, business growth, and forward-looking technical direction. The successful candidate must be equally comfortable guiding engineers through complex technical challenges, engaging senior customers about future mission requirements, evaluating the mission relevance of emerging capabilities, and developing compelling technical solutions and proposals that lead to new business.

This is a hands-on leadership position. The Director will establish priorities, mentor technical personnel, ensure high-quality program execution, identify emerging customer needs, and translate those needs into practical technical solutions and executable growth opportunities. The Director will be expected to look beyond current requirements, identify technology and capability trends before they become mature customer demands, and help position Steely as a trusted technical advisor and innovator in the markets we serve.

Division Leadership and Team Development• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of RF engineers, reverse engineers, electrical engineers, and supporting technical personnel.• Establish and communicate a clear, forward-looking technical vision, operating priorities, and performance expectations for the division, informed by customer mission needs and relevant technology trends.• Create an environment that promotes accountability, technical rigor, collaboration, innovation, and professional growth.• Guide employees through complex technical and programmatic challenges while allowing them the ownership necessary to develop as technical leaders.• Conduct workforce planning and identify the skills, certifications, tools, and staffing required to support current and future programs.• Support recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, performance management, and succession planning.

Technical Leadership and Program Execution• Provide senior technical oversight for RF engineering, reverse engineering, electrical engineering, hardware exploitation, prototyping, testing, and related technical activities.• Review technical approaches, system architectures, test strategies, and engineering deliverables.• Ensure programs are executed in accordance with customer requirements, schedules, budgets, quality standards, and contractual commitments.• Identify technical, schedule, cost, and operational risks early and lead the development of effective mitigation strategies.• Promote disciplined engineering processes while preserving the agility required to solve emerging and unconventional customer problems.• Continuously assess relevant technologies, tools, engineering practices, market developments, and emerging capabilities; determine their potential mission impact and guide investment, experimentation, and adoption where they can create a meaningful technical or competitive advantage.• Serve as the division’s technical thought leader by forming and communicating informed points of view on emerging RF, hardware, communications, exploitation, sensing, prototyping, and adjacent technologies; distinguish durable mission-relevant advances from short-lived technology trends.• Work with program managers and technical leads to balance customer priorities, technical performance, staffing availability, and financial objectives.

Customer Engagement and Solution Development• Develop trusted relationships with government, defense, intelligence, and other mission-focused customers.• Engage customers to understand their current operational challenges, future mission requirements, technology gaps, acquisition priorities, and emerging mission problems that may benefit from new technical approaches or capabilities.• Translate customer needs into technically credible and commercially viable solutions.• Lead technical exchanges, solution briefings, demonstrations, white papers, and capability presentations.• Connect Steely’s technical capabilities with customer mission outcomes, including needs that may not yet be fully defined in a formal requirement, and proactively introduce emerging technologies and technical concepts that can expand what is operationally possible.• Represent Steely as a credible technical voice with customers and industry partners through technical exchanges, white papers, demonstrations, briefings, and other forums that shape understanding of emerging capabilities and future mission solutions.• Maintain ongoing customer engagement throughout program execution to ensure Steely remains aligned with mission needs and positioned for follow-on opportunities.

Business Development and Growth• Own and execute the growth strategy for the Technical Services Division in coordination with Steely’s executive leadership.• Identify, qualify, shape, and pursue new business opportunities aligned with Steely’s capabilities and strategic objectives, including opportunities created by emerging technologies, new technical approaches, and evolving mission requirements.• Develop opportunity pipelines and provide leadership with accurate assessments of probability, timing, resource requirements, risks, and revenue potential.• Develop technically credible solutions that are executable within proposed cost and schedule constraints.• Participate in color-team reviews, oral presentations, customer demonstrations, and other capture activities.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications• Current active U.S. Government security clearance at the TOP SECRET level.• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a closely related engineering discipline.• Substantial professional experience in electrical engineering, RF engineering, reverse engineering, hardware development, systems engineering, or a related technical field.• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary engineering or technical teams.• Strong working knowledge of RF systems, electrical systems, hardware, signals, communications, electronic systems, reverse engineering, or related technical domains.• Experience mentoring engineers and developing technical leaders.• Demonstrated ability to engage customers, understand operational problems, anticipate future technical needs, and develop practical technical solutions.• Experience supporting business development, capture activities, and proposal development.• Strong technical writing and communication skills, including the ability to articulate complex and emerging technical concepts through proposal content, white papers, technical approaches, executive-level presentations, and customer-facing thought leadership.• Proven ability to manage multiple programs, priorities, customers, and growth activities simultaneously.• Strong business judgment and an understanding of program financial performance, staffing, risk, and resource management.

Preferred Qualifications• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Engineering Management, Business Administration, or a related field.• Prior experience supporting Department of War, Intelligence Community, federal law enforcement, or other national security customers.• Experience leading RF exploitation, hardware reverse engineering, vulnerability research, signal analysis, communications engineering, electronic warfare, or specialized engineering programs.• Experience serving as a technical director, division director, chief engineer, engineering manager, program manager, or capture lead.• Demonstrated record of winning new business and expanding existing customer accounts.• Experience managing a division, portfolio, or business unit with responsibility for revenue and profitability.• Established relationships within relevant government, defense, intelligence, or industry communities, with demonstrated credibility as a technical advisor or thought leader in relevant mission and technology areas.

We believe in paying fairly and competitively based on the value each team member brings to the role. Individual compensation is determined by factors such as skills, experience, education, certifications, location, and market data. The anticipated salary range for this position is $250,000 - $275,000 annually.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, national origin, color, age, military service eligibility or veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or any other protected class. We encourage and support workplace diversity.