---
title: 'Air Force Lead at Tagup'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/air-force-lead-tagup-new-york-gx0prjr8ay7p'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-15'
---

# Air Force Lead at Tagup

- **Company:** Tagup
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-06-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/tagup/bc0f8dd3-b190-4380-bc2e-4bb999f52b0c

## Job description

## About Tagup

Tagup builds AI software for defense logistics and sustainment. Our platform, Manifest, helps operators turn maintenance, supply, and operational data into faster, better-informed decisions.

## The role

The Air Force Lead drives Tagup's growth across the U.S. Air Force and its sustainment and innovation enterprise. You will identify, shape, and capture opportunities in Air Force logistics, sustainment, predictive maintenance, and readiness, and carry them from first contact through award. The work spans program offices, sustainment commands, innovation units, and the operators who feel the readiness problem firsthand. You will work directly with our founders and leadership team, and you will build this function from the ground up.

## What you will do

Own Air Force business development end to end: opportunity identification, capture, proposal support, and award. Build and manage a qualified Air Force pipeline across major commands, program offices, sustainment organizations, and innovation units (for example AFMC, AFLCMC, and AFWERX). Build and sustain senior relationships with Air Force acquisition leaders, program offices, and operational end users. Match Air Force mission needs to Tagup's platform, and translate them into pursuits with measurable operational impact. Shape opportunities through RFIs, RFPs, OTAs, SBIR/STTR transitions, demonstrations, and pilots, with a clear path from prototype to program of record. Run capture: competitive analysis, probability-of-win, teaming strategy, win themes, pricing inputs, and proposal reviews. Work with product, engineering, and program leadership to align customer needs with the roadmap and delivery approach. Represent Tagup at Air Force-focused conferences, working groups, and customer engagements, and keep pipeline forecasts and reporting current.

## What you bring

10+ years in Air Force, defense acquisition, business development, capture, or program management. A working command of Air Force logistics, sustainment, maintenance, or readiness organizations and their mission priorities. Established relationships across Air Force program offices, major commands, or innovation organizations. Working knowledge of defense acquisition: FAR/DFARS, OTAs, SBIR/STTR, rapid prototyping, and transition pathways. The ability to connect a technical capability to a mission need, an acquisition strategy, and an operational outcome. Excellent writing and executive presence; you can brief a PEO and a squadron commander with equal command. Comfort in a fast-paced, ambiguous, growth-stage environment. Willingness to travel. Eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance. BA/BS required; advanced degree a plus.

## Compensation and benefits

The estimated salary range for this position is $145,000 to $175,000 annually, set against experience and qualifications. Every team member shares in the company's growth through our Employee Stock Option Plan. We also offer comprehensive health insurance, access to the company's 401(k), and regular company outings.

## Equal opportunity and work authorization

Tagup is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. for any employer. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time. We may use AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications and resumes. These tools assist our recruiting team and do not replace human judgment; final hiring decisions are made by people. Contact us for more information on how your data is processed.

## About Tagup

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Tagup provides an AI-powered logistics decision engine, Manifest, that helps defense and enterprise organizations simulate, optimize, and execute logistics courses of action under uncertainty.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped with grant funding)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, USA (with offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Somerville, MA)
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Jon Garrity (CEO) and Will Vega-Brown (CTO), affiliated with the MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Defense technology / AI-powered logistics for military and enterprise
- **Target Customers**: U.S. military branches (Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Navy), defense organizations, and enterprise logistics operations
- **Mission**: Deliver logistics decision advantage to sustain readiness in contested and degraded environments

## Products & Services
- **Manifest®**: An AI decision engine that simulates and optimizes logistics courses of action. It unifies data across systems of record, sensors, and telematics; builds a living world model of assets and rules; uses proprietary Generative Reinforcement Learning™ to simulate millions of possible scenarios; and autonomously implements optimized plans through existing systems. Includes Argus®, an LLM-based conversational interface for natural language mission input.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $215K (grants from ACRE and others in 2016 and 2017)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: U.S. Marine Corps (active contracts, including Marine Aircraft Group 39 and MARFORPAC), U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy; SOC 2 Type II, IL5, CMMC Level 2 compliant
- **Growth Signals**: 31 employees with +53.6% year-over-year headcount growth; 24 active job postings (+700% YoY); $2.1 million contract modification (Aug 2026) to expand Manifest for U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific; founded at MIT CSAIL

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-native logistics decision engine**: Proprietary Generative Reinforcement Learning explicitly reasons about uncertainty and tradeoffs under incomplete information, a capability traditional logistics tools lack.
- **Closed-loop execution**: Not just a dashboard—Manifest autonomously implements optimized courses of action within existing military systems of record, accelerating decision cycles.
- **Deep defense partnerships**: Trusted partner of the U.S. military with active contracts at tactical, operational, and theater levels, providing a strong moat in the defense tech space.
- **MIT CSAIL affiliation**: Founders and technology originate from a top-tier AI research lab, lending credibility in both technical and defense communities.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expand defense contracts**: Recently won a $2.1M expansion with MARFORPAC, moving from tactical to theater-level sustainment. Actively hiring business development leads (Director of Business Development, Air Force Lead, Foreign Military Sales Lead) to capture more Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps contracts.
- **Scale the team**: Rapid hiring (+700% YoY job postings) indicates aggressive scaling to meet contract demand and product development.
- **Product innovation**: Continued development of Manifest’s world model, Generative Reinforcement Learning, and Argus conversational interface, with a focus on contested and degraded environments where data is sparse.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven impact**: Directly contributes to U.S. military readiness and logistics decision advantage in critical theaters like the Indo-Pacific. The work has tangible national security implications.
- **Rapid growth trajectory**: 53.6% headcount growth YoY, 24 open roles, and significant contract wins signal a company on a steep upward trajectory—opportunity for career growth and impact.
- **Strong technical culture**: Founded at MIT CSAIL; tech stack includes Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Kubernetes, MLOps tools, and generative AI. Employs Lead ML Engineers and Data Scientists, indicating a deep engineering focus.
- **Office locations**: HQ in New York, with additional offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Somerville—offering geographic flexibility.
- **Current hiring focus**: Forward Deployed Industrial Engineer, Defense Logistics AI; Product Manager; Partnerships Lead; Air Force Lead; Director of Business Development—roles that combine technical depth with mission impact.

## Sources
1. [tagup.ai](https://tagup.ai)
2. [tagup.ai/about](https://tagup.ai/about)
3. [tagup.ai/careers](https://tagup.ai/careers)
4. [tagup.ai/platform](https://tagup.ai/platform)
5. [linkedin.com/company/tagup](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tagup)
6. [jobs.lever.co/tagup](https://jobs.lever.co/tagup)

## Other roles at Tagup

- [Senior Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-tagup-california-hdk4zedd0hjy) — California
- [Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-tagup-new-york-6eempemj3115) — New York, NY
- [Director of Business Development](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-business-development-tagup-new-york-4af7h4khpmtr) — New York, NY
- [Forward Deployed Industrial Engineer, Defense Logistics AI](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-industrial-engineer-defense-logistics-ai-tagup-salt-lake-city-8tnz1dnyy9yc) — Salt Lake City, UT