Vannevar Labs
Mission Success Lead - Sensing
Job Summary
The Mission Success Lead role involves managing the deployment of defense technology products, particularly in RF and sensing domains, to support national security missions. The candidate will understand user needs, oversee delivery timelines, and coordinate cross-functional resources to ensure successful outcomes. Experience with defense, intelligence, or military environments, coupled with security clearance, is required. The role demands ownership, problem-solving skills, and the ability to operate effectively in ambiguous situations.
Required Skills
Job Description
Our mission is to be the technology backbone for strategic competition against peer adversaries. These missions – including intelligence, information operations, and special activities – are happening today and their success or failure will determine if we go to war tomorrow.
We've been on the front lines of these missions since 2019, and have grown to support a wide range of missions across all US service branches, multiple combatant commands, partner nations, and interagency stakeholders. We deploy both hardware and software products to support people on the front lines that span collection, planning / assessments, and effects.
We've grown from $3M in run-rate revenue in 2021 to $80M in run-rate revenue today. We've been profitable since 2022 and have raised $91M in venture capital funding through Series B. We're valued at $1.5B as of 2025.
About the role
We are looking for a Mission Success Lead to execute on our deployments and deliver great technology outcomes to our defense and national security partners at Vannevar. This position will embed in our Sensing Business Unit, Vannevar’s pioneering bet into hardware technology. This year’s objectives include launching foothold pilots, converting pilots into larger projects, and embedding those projects within existing programs or inventing new ones within the national security space.
We're looking for someone who brings experience and intuition to deploying new defense products aimed at the RF/EW mission with the Department of Defense. You are ideally a mission domain expert in RF / Sensing technology with mission user experience, intelligence domain knowledge, or military service. You understand our partners' needs and challenges because you lived them. You are a motivated problem solver who takes ownership, acts with urgency, and is comfortable with ambiguity. You like a challenge, and you don’t quit. As a Mission Success Lead, you will execute on the delivery strategy on our current deployments and new footholds as we develop them to deliver unit-changing mission outcomes.
What you'll do
- Own the delivery of capabilities outlined within contracted periods of performances (POPs); whether it be a 6-month pilot, 12-month period of performance, or multi-year program of record.
- Go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations, and over-deliver to the point where continuing to partner with us is a no-brainer.
- Deeply understand the mission sets and pain points of our users so that we can tackle their challenges using a combination of Vannevar’s capabilities.
- Go to where the users are. To best understand how Vannevar can provide value, we need to sit in the same spaces as our users.
- Help us build world-class software. While product and engineering teams speak with customers directly, mission success is often our eyes and ears for on-the-ground reality. You will bring this expertise back to the rest of the company to ensure we are developing disruptive capabilities for our user base.
- Direct resources as needed, whether that be onsite embedded personnel, product managers, engineers or other mission personnel. You will need to be able to influence cross-team members to direct the appropriate resources to customer objectives.
What we're looking for
- Background in RF analysis in a government context as a plus - you understand our partners' needs and challenges because you lived them.
- A motivated problem solver who takes ownership, acts with urgency, and is comfortable with ambiguity. You like a challenge, and you don’t quit.
- Previous experience owning customer renewal and expansion cycles
- U.S. Person status is required as this position will require the ability to access U.S. only data systems.
- Must have an active Top Secret Security Clearance or have held one previously. Ability to receive an SCI nomination is required
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.
Vannevar Labs
Vannevar Labs brings together a multi-disciplinary group of people with a wide range of experiences, over 40 years of military service, engineers from some of the top tech companies and startups, and a passion for delivering mission critical tools to support public servants on the front lines of the country's most important national security problems
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