---
title: 'Security Authorization Lead at GovSignals'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/security-authorization-lead-govsignals-washington-7qd07tr3q1x0'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-15'
---

# Security Authorization Lead at GovSignals

- **Company:** GovSignals
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-28
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/govsignals/d5b37e89-08a4-4b4e-b9f8-f1d099dc13b2

## Job description

GovSignals is next-gen acquisition for the Department of War.

It can take the government longer to buy a capability than an adversary takes to field one, and we exist to close that gap.

We're the only startup managing government contract data with AI in both FedRAMP High and DoW Impact Level 5 environments. Our platform monitors 5,000+ live government data sources, 100,000+ federal and state agencies, and 2,000,000+ government contracts in real time. Our customers in government include offices like DIU and SOCOM, and our customers in industry range from small contractors to Fortune 500 primes with billions in annual awards.

Security Authorization Lead Washington, DC or New York, NY • Full-time • Hybrid (3+ days/week in office)

## ABOUT THE ROLE

We're hiring a Security Authorization Lead to get GovSignals deployments through government security approval and keep them approved. You'll work under the CISO with support from the CTO, and you'll be the first person here dedicated to this work full time. Our customers cannot use GovSignals until their own security office says yes. Every deployment brings a different boundary, a different set of reviewers, and a different list of questions about how their data is handled. You'll plan that path with the customer before work starts, write documentation that survives a line-by-line read, answer reviewers directly, carry findings to closure, and keep the evidence current afterward so the next deployment starts ahead of where the last one did. GovSignals operates at FedRAMP High and DoW IL5 today. Some deployments will require IL6. The work also covers CMMC Level 2, SOC 2, and whatever a specific customer asks for.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Plan the authorization path for each customer deployment: scope the boundary, work out which controls we inherit and which we answer for, and agree the steps with the customer's security office before work starts.
- Write and maintain what approval depends on: system security plans, control narratives, architecture diagrams, and the supporting artifacts reviewers ask for.
- Prepare for assessments and reviews, answer reviewer questions directly, and track findings and POA&M items until they close.
- Keep approvals in force once granted: continuous monitoring reporting, significant change requests, annual assessments, and the vulnerability and patch evidence behind them.
- Own customer security questionnaires and security reviews, and keep a response library so each one starts from the last.
- Work with engineering when a requirement has a technical consequence: say what the control means in the product, then follow it to done.

We deploy through Defense Unicorns, SecondFront GameWarden, and Palantir FedStart.

## WHAT YOU BRING

- You've personally taken a system through a DoW authorization and stayed with it through its ongoing obligations. What you did matters more than what your title was.
- Direct experience with government security reviewers, assessors, or an authorizing official's staff. You've been the one answering the questions.
- Working knowledge of NIST 800-53, RMF, and the DoW Cloud Computing SRG, including how control inheritance works when you run on an authorized platform.
- Writing that holds up under close reading. A vague answer in a package or a questionnaire can hold a deployment for weeks.
- Enough cloud fluency to read an architecture diagram, a Kubernetes manifest, or a CI configuration and ask the right question. You don't have to implement the control yourself.

Nice to have: CMMC Level 2 or SOC 2 experience; time inside a government program office, a 3PAO, or an assessment organization; a deployment you had to get approved more than once, in more than one place; familiarity with AWS GovCloud and Kubernetes. Clearance: not required. An active or previous clearance is a plus.

## THE TEAM

GovSignals was founded by four cofounders who lived with this problem from both sides (selling to the government and serving inside it) with backgrounds across the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Energy, Palantir, Amazon, federal contractors building for missiles, and state contractors building for prisons. You'll work directly with all four. Other team members at GovSignals have shipped to defense companies, scaled venture-backed startups, and founded companies of their own.

## HOW WE WORK

Design by HI (Human Intelligence), Work by AI (Artificial Intelligence). Human Intelligence takes responsibility for what we build and how we communicate to customers. Artificial Intelligence does much of the building. We provide unlimited Claude and ChatGPT credits for reasonable use, and we expect you to come in with extensive AI experience.

## HOW WE HIRE

- Intro conversation (30 min): your background and how you work.
- Working session (1 hr): real-world inspired security exercises.
- Co-founder conversations (15 min): meet the cofounders.
- Meet the team in person (45 min): time with the team at our Washington, DC or Brooklyn, NY office.
- Offer.

## COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

- Base Salary: $140,000 – $190,000
- Equity: Meaningful stake in a well-funded, fast-growing startup
- Benefits: medical, vision, and dental, unlimited PTO
- Hybrid in our Washington, DC or Brooklyn Navy Yard offices, 3+ days a week in person. The Yard built ships for the Navy from 1801 to 1966, now we build systems for Navy program offices.

Due to the nature of our government work, this role is open only to U.S. citizens and other U.S. Persons. GovSignals is an equal opportunity employer

## About GovSignals

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: GovSignals is the AI system of work for government contractors and agencies, providing an end-to-end platform for the full acquisition lifecycle from pre-award intelligence through post-award management.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed Stage)
- **Headquarters**: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Conner Aldrich, Jeremy Doochin, Derek Hoyt (Co-founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Government Technology (GovTech), Defense, AI-powered Acquisition Software
- **Target customers**: B2G — Federal and SLED government agencies (buy-side) and government contractors (sell-side), ranging from small 8(a) shops to Fortune 500 primes
- **Mission statement**: "Next-generation acquisition, without the red tape. A stronger America, built faster."

## Products & Services
- **GovSignals Platform (AI System of Work)**: A single, secure workspace covering the entire acquisition lifecycle. Includes a roster of AI agents that handle specific phases of the work — from market research and capture to proposal drafting, clause review, and post-award management. Built on a FedRAMP High + DoW IL5 authorized boundary.
- **Agent: Capture**: Win strategy, black-hat analysis, basis of estimates, vehicle modeling, and competitive intelligence.
- **Agent: Proposal Manager**: Drafts SF330s, compliance matrices, full proposal volumes, and one-click packages.
- **Agent: Market Intel**: Sources-sought synthesis, vendor landscape, teaming fit, and competitive pricing analysis.
- **Agent: Research**: Continuous scan of 5,000+ procurement signal sources (federal, 50 states, 3,000+ counties) scored against past performance.
- **Agent: Post-Award**: Clause review, CDRL tracking, modification drafting, and audit trail management.
- **Agent: BD & Market Analyst**: Opportunity discovery, incumbent analysis, teaming options, and pricing posture.
- **Proprietary Data**: Exclusive intelligence on OTA consortium membership, live teaming networks, and price-to-win benchmarks.
- **Security Infrastructure**: FedRAMP High + DoW IL5 + ITAR compliant boundary, U.S. persons only, U.S. regions, no public-cloud fallbacks, zero retention of tenant data (no model training on customer data).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $5.5 million (Seed Round, September 24, 2024)
- **Lead Investor**: Unusual Ventures (sole investor in seed round)
- **Key Metrics**: 13 employees (as of mid-2025), with +60% yearly headcount growth and +6.7% monthly growth
- **Notable Achievements**:
  - Multi-million dollar OTA with the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) (March 2025)
  - GSA MAS Schedule awarded (January 2026)
  - DoW IL5 authorization through Second Front Systems' Game Warden platform (February 2026) — the only AI acquisition platform with both FedRAMP High and IL5 authorization
  - Active engagements with Navy program offices and special operations commands
- **Growth Signals**: 12 active job postings; monthly job posting growth of +33.3%, quarterly growth of +200%, yearly growth of +71.4%; LinkedIn following of 7,539

## Competitive Advantages
- **Security Moat**: The only AI acquisition platform authorized at both FedRAMP High and DoW IL5, with an ITAR compliant boundary — a combination no competitor matches.
- **Data Moat**: Proprietary intelligence on OTA consortia, teaming networks, and price-to-win benchmarks that no other platform carries.
- **Dual-Sided Platform**: Serves both government buyers and contractors in a single, strictly isolated workspace, creating a unique network effect.
- **Full Lifecycle Coverage**: From pre-solicitation market research through post-award management — eliminating the need for multiple tools.
- **Defensible AI**: Every output is cited and auditable, designed to withstand government oversight and cost evaluation.
- **Founding Team**: Leadership with experience at Amazon, Palantir, Stanford, Harvard Business School, and senior levels of government.

## Strategic Focus
- **Security Expansion**: Building toward classified environments and deployments across military services and combatant commands.
- **Market Penetration**: Scaling across the Department of War, federal civilian agencies, and the SLED market (50 states, 3,000+ counties).
- **Platform Depth**: Continuing to add AI agents and capabilities across the full acquisition lifecycle.
- **Customer Base Growth**: Expanding from early defense customers to a broad base of contractors (A/E firms, defense, technology, professional services) and government agencies.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven Work**: "Rebuild how the United States buys what it needs to stay ahead" — direct impact on national security and government efficiency.
- **High-Growth Environment**: 60% yearly headcount growth, with aggressive hiring across engineering, sales, and operations.
- **Security-First Engineering**: Work on cutting-edge AI within the most stringent security environments (FedRAMP High, IL5, ITAR).
- **Small Team, Big Mandate**: 13 employees with an "outsized mandate" — opportunity for outsized impact and ownership.
- **Leadership Credibility**: Founders and leadership with experience at Palantir, Amazon, and senior government roles.
- **Open Roles (12 active)**: Federal Business Development Representative, Deployment Strategist, Head of Sales (Player-Coach), Founding GTM Lead, Compliance Operations Lead, Startup Enterprise Sales Executive (SaaS, New Business), Federal Operations Associate, Product Engineer (Forward Deployed), and more.
- **Work Location**: Headquarters in Washington, D.C. with presence in South Africa. Remote/hybrid policy not explicitly stated but likely flexible given the team's distribution.

## Sources
1. [govsignals.ai](https://www.govsignals.ai/)
2. [govsignals.ai/about](https://www.govsignals.ai/about/)
3. [LinkedIn - GovSignals](https://www.linkedin.com/company/govsignals)
4. [CBInsights - GovSignals](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/govsignals)
5. [Tracxn - GovSignals](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/govsignals/__p4F8fzAvTPVoIyWxhtMoK8vQ_2-gHFhIf20GKXFLPtg)
6. [Ashby Careers - GovSignals](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/govsignals)

## Other roles at GovSignals

- [Senior Federal Deployment Strategist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-federal-deployment-strategist-govsignals-new-york-krs3c39fc2a1) — New York, NY
- [Senior Federal Deployment Strategist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-federal-deployment-strategist-govsignals-washington-f53tdj24zfcm) — Washington, DC
- [Senior Federal Deployment Strategist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-federal-deployment-strategist-govsignals-san-antonio-g77jbj69c6ej) — San Antonio, TX
- [Product Engineer Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/product-engineer-intern-govsignals-remote-evzf24h08h9b)
- [Platform Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/platform-engineer-govsignals-new-york-wc7xhtg5nt4e) — New York, NY
- [Product Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-engineer-govsignals-new-york-mcc83nqxja5b) — New York, NY