Director, Programs

About the role

Distributed Spectrum builds RF sensing and mission systems technology for defense applications. Our work sits at the intersection of RF sensing, AI/ML-enabled software, embedded integration, tactical edge systems, and operational deployment. We are hiring DS's first Director, Programs to help move the company from founder-led program execution to scalable multi-program delivery. This is not a process-only PMO role, a pure technical program manager role, or a legacy-prime bureaucracy role. It is a senior, hands-on defense programs role for someone who can personally lead high-consequence programs while building the lightweight operating system DS needs to execute repeatedly, predictably, and credibly as we scale. You will work across programs spanning RF sensing, AI/ML software, embedded systems, tactical edge deployments, government customers, subcontractors, primes, and field demonstrations. Your job is to turn customer intent and technical work into executable program reality: requirements, deliverables, schedules, risks, decision points, customer communication, partner accountability, and internal alignment. The right person knows what good defense program execution looks like across multiple company sizes and program types and is still tactical enough to do the work directly while the function is being built.

Responsibilities

• Own execution for one or more complex defense programs, including schedule, milestones, deliverables, risk, budget inputs, subcontractor dependencies, and customer communication.
• Lead programs from late-stage opportunity handoff through requirements definition, contract shaping, execution planning, delivery, acceptance, and follow-on expansion.
• Serve as the primary day-to-day program interface with government customers, contracting stakeholders, primes, subcontractors, and mission partners.
• Confidently push customers, partners, and subcontractors toward the outcomes DS needs during both contract negotiations and execution, pulling in technical or BD support when needed.
• Build and maintain integrated master schedules, program baselines, risk registers, action trackers, deliverable trackers, and executive reporting rhythms.
• Establish DS's lightweight program operating cadence: program reviews, milestone readiness reviews, risk/issue reviews, customer updates, executive updates, and escalation paths.
• Partner with Growth/BD, Engineering, Product, Mission Operations, Contracts, Finance, Security, and founders to translate customer intent into clear internal execution plans.
• Identify schedule, technical, contractual, operational, staffing, and partner risks early; drive mitigation plans; and escalate clearly when leadership tradeoffs are required.
• Ensure major programs remain aligned with DS's technical roadmap and business strategy, not just customer-by-customer requests.
• Identify and champion in-account growth opportunities, contract follow-ons, and expansion paths that emerge through program execution.
• Lead preparation for demonstrations, field tests, operational evaluations, acceptance events, and customer reviews.
• Coordinate subcontractor and vendor execution, including dependencies, deliverables, communication cadence, and performance against commitments.
• Support capture and proposal efforts with realistic execution plans, schedules, staffing assumptions, cost/schedule/risk inputs, and lessons learned.
• Define how the Programs function should scale, including what should remain with the Director and what should move into future PM / TPM roles.
• Hire, mentor, and eventually lead junior PM / TPM talent underneath the operating system you build.

Requirements

• You have significant experience leading complex defense, aerospace, autonomy, mission systems, RF/EW, ISR, UAS/UAV, embedded systems, or hardware/software integration programs.
• You have owned customer-facing program execution across cost, schedule, risk, deliverables, subcontractors, and technical milestones.
• You have seen multiple progr

Additional Information

DS creates systems that power the next generation of radio spectrum intelligence. We collect radio data from all over the world, train neural networks to decipher it, and run them on the smallest chips we can. We're solving a new, technically hard problem where nothing from other fields works out of the box, and along the way, we've built our own stack from scratch, including entirely new embedding model architectures, custom GPU kernels, and much more. Joining DS means owning major parts of a fast-growing AI research organization, joining a collaborative, talent-dense team with decades of experience in probabilistic ML, accelerated computing, embedded systems, and signal theory, and growing your career in the areas that interest you. You'll fit in if you want to come to work for the problem itself and don't want to choose between technical rigor, business value, and real-world impact. We work with high ownership and trust, and we do it together in the office 5 days/week.

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