---
title: 'Technical Director, AI Decision Systems at DEFCON AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/technical-director-ai-decision-systems-defcon-ai-united-states-86dmt45tm7rm'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Technical Director, AI Decision Systems at DEFCON AI

- **Company:** DEFCON AI
- **Location:** United States
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-08-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/defcon/jobs/5224629007

## Job description

## ABOUT DEFCON AI

RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF DISRUPTION. DEFCON AI is an insights company that leverages artificial intelligence, mathematical optimization, data analytics, and software engineering for resilient optimization of complex systems. In today’s dynamically changing world, DEFCON AI’s technology aligns outcomes with operational goals, better decision making, and empowers customers to anticipate assess, and mitigate the impacts of disruptions.

## About the Role

DEFCON AI is seeking a Technical Director, AI Decision Systems to lead the cross-functional team delivering a new AI-enabled decision-support capability for the federal government. The team spans product and design, software engineering, data architecture, applied analytics, AI solutioning, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, quality engineering, and technical transition.

This is a zero-to-one leadership role for a proven technical practitioner ready to broaden their scope. You may come from engineering, data, AI, product, design, platform, or another technical discipline. We do not expect you to be the deepest expert in every vertical. We do expect you to recognize excellent work, ask hard questions, create clarity across disciplines, and hold the system together.

You will turn mission needs, product direction, technical constraints, and delivery commitments into one coherent execution plan. You will establish technical priorities, resolve seams between teams, build an effective operating rhythm, and ensure that separate workstreams converge into a secure, explainable, and operational capability.

The right person is entrepreneurial, resourceful, and energized by the first mile. You enjoy incomplete information, emerging workflows, consequential decisions, and the opportunity to build both the system and the team delivering it. You move quickly, but you know when speed must be reinforced by testing, documentation, security, and repeatable delivery.

This is remote-first with occasional travel (up to 25% at times) to DEFCON AI HQ, customer sites, and vendor facilities as required.

## Key Responsibilities

- Lead the cross-functional delivery team spanning product, design, engineering, data, AI, analytics, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, and quality.
- Own technical strategy, architecture, execution, and delivery from discovery through operational deployment.
- Translate mission needs and product priorities into clear technical plans, release objectives, and engineering decisions.
- Align software, data, AI, infrastructure, security, and quality into one integrated system.
- Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing technical organization.
- Make architecture, integration, tooling, and delivery decisions that balance speed, security, quality, and maintainability.
- Identify and resolve technical risks, dependencies, and ambiguity before they impact delivery.
- Partner effectively with customers, product leadership, and external stakeholders.
- Remain technically hands-on enough to challenge assumptions, review designs, and solve hard problems.
- Significant accomplishment in software engineering, AI/ML, data systems, analytics, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, product technology, or a comparable technical discipline.
- Experience leading complex technical efforts across multiple teams and specialties.
- Demonstrated ability to turn ambiguity into working systems and measurable outcomes.
- Strong systems thinking, communication skills, and leadership judgment.
- Experience delivering cloud-native software from concept through deployment and operations.
- US Citizenship Required.
- In scope US Secret clearance.
- Elevated security requirements apply to portions of this work and are discussed during the interview process.
- Willingness to travel up to 25% to customer sites, DEFCON AI HQ, and vendor facilities as required.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Clearance: Active Top Secret.
- Experience leading a zero-to-one product, platform, or mission capability.
- Experience delivering technology in defense, intelligence, federal, or similarly regulated environments.
- Experience with AWS GovCloud, DevSecOps, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and secure cloud delivery.
- Experience supporting RMF, ATO, accreditation, or comparable security processes.
- Experience with AI/ML, large language models, analytics, graph technologies, or data-intensive systems.
- Experience building human-in-the-loop decision-support systems and explainable AI capabilities.
- Experience partnering closely with product and design teams to deliver user-centered software.
- Experience hiring, mentoring, and organizing technical teams during rapid growth.
- Experience integrating third-party, partner, or subcontractor-delivered capabilities into a unified solution.

A Note to Candidates

You do not need to have held this exact title before to be a strong candidate. We encourage accomplished practitioners from software engineering, data, AI, analytics, product technology, DevSecOps, cybersecurity, design, or quality engineering who are ready to lead across disciplines and grow a team around an important mission.

A thoughtful cover letter will materially strengthen your application. Tell us what you have built, where your technical depth comes from, why you are ready to lead beyond your primary discipline, and how you approach a zero-to-one effort where the team, architecture, and operating model are all taking shape. Applications without a cover letter will still receive consideration, but the letter is the best opportunity to show us the judgment, motivation, and leadership potential that a résumé alone may not capture.

What Success Looks Like

- One team, one architecture, one release objective.
- Fast decisions, visible risks, and disciplined execution.
- Integrated, secure, and operational releases delivered with confidence.
- Product vision translated into real capability without losing user intent.
- Technical leaders who grow stronger and more autonomous over time.
- A system the customer can trust, operate, and sustain.

What We Offer:

- A fully remote, results-based environment
- Competitive salary, bonus, and equity package
- 100% employer paid, comprehensive health insurance including medical, dental, and vision for you and your family
- Unlimited PTO, with your manager’s approval
- Flexible work environment where you manage your work day
- 14 weeks of fully-paid parental leave

Salary Range: $220,000-$260,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience, skills, and other factors.

We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer: You’ll receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability.

Applicant Data Disclosure

By submitting an application, you acknowledge that Defcon AI uses third-party service providers to facilitate its recruitment and hiring processes. These providers include applicant tracking systems, candidate verification platforms, and fraud detection tools (collectively, "Hiring Platforms"). Your application materials, including your résumé, cover letter, work samples, responses to application questions, and any other information you submit, may be transmitted to and processed by these Hiring Platforms for the following purposes:

- Managing and administering your application throughout the hiring process;
- Verifying the accuracy and authenticity of application materials, including by cross-referencing information you provide against publicly available sources and proprietary databases;
- Identifying indicators of potentially fraudulent, fabricated, or materially misleading application content, including but not limited to discrepancies between submitted materials and publicly available professional profiles, geographic anomalies, and fabricated work histories.

Applications that are flagged through this process as containing indicators of fraud or material misrepresentation may be declined from further consideration. If you have questions about the status of your application or the evaluation process, please contact recruiting@defconai.com.

Defcon AI requires its Hiring Platform providers to process your information solely for the purposes described above and in accordance with applicable law. Your information will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill these purposes and any applicable legal obligations, after which it will be deleted in accordance with Defcon AI's data retention policies.

For more information about how your data is used, please refer to our Privacy Policy and [Applicant Privacy Notice](https://nam09.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcellpartners.com%2Fapplicant-privacy-policy%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ckat.creamer%40redcellpartners.com%7Cc0f94f3daed94dc7503108de8b61955e%7Cf861de501a2a42359dbf28afd57d1d97%7C0%7C0%7C639101448841578570%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=WoPiBMZqQyPPK5N4E1sCagkbMY2S8P3aSRSoy7T4los%3D&reserved=0).

## About DEFCON AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: DEFCON AI builds AI-powered decision-augmentation platforms that optimize complex operations under uncertainty for national security, manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare organizations.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; raised $44M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: McLean, Virginia, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Yisroel Brumer (Co-Founder & CEO) and Grant Verstandig (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: National Security/Defense, Manufacturing, Logistics & Transportation, Healthcare
- **Target customers**: B2B — primarily U.S. Department of Defense and other government agencies, as well as large commercial enterprises in manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare.
- **Mission or purpose**: To deliver decision-augmentation capabilities that help organizations anticipate disruption, evaluate alternatives in real time, and make confident decisions before disruptions cascade.

## Products & Services
- **ARTIV Air**: Cloud-native optimization platform for airlift planners to rapidly generate and evaluate multiple mission scenarios, balancing effectiveness, efficiency, and resiliency for routing mission-critical cargo and personnel.
- **R-ALIGN**: Enables logistics planners to model and evaluate global multimodal operations (air, sea, rail, road) using time-sensitive optimization in contested and dynamic environments.
- **FlightForge**: AI-driven tool that delivers mission-ready flight schedules in seconds, balancing key factors for accuracy and efficiency with real-time crew-to-sortie visibility.
- **DockForge**: Optimizes ship maintenance scheduling by assigning jobs across dry docks and shipyards, maximizing throughput and allowing planners to explore trade-offs.
- **R-IMS (Resilient Infrastructure Management System)**: Provides real-time view of capacity, dependencies, and schedule risk through simulation and scenario analysis for infrastructure and program teams.
- **HelioNet**: Helps enterprises design resilient, cost-efficient global logistics networks through advanced modeling and long-horizon optimization (warehouse/hub location, tariff/disruption scenarios).
- **SimSource**: Advanced optimization, simulation, and forecasting platform for managing complex, nested scheduling demands under uncertainty in manufacturing.
- **Synapse Scheduler**: Uses optimization, ML, and LLMs to generate workforce schedules that meet staffing needs and individual preferences (targeting healthcare).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$44.0M** (Seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners in August 2024; earlier venture round in October 2022).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Bessemer Venture Partners (lead), Red Cell Partners, and other undisclosed investors. The company was founded in response to a direct request from the U.S. Department of War.
- **Growth Signals**: Rapid transition from concept to mission-ready platform since founding in 2022; growing network of partners; expansion into commercial sectors (manufacturing, healthcare, logistics) beyond initial defense focus. LinkedIn shows 3,361 followers (+33.4% yearly).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep domain expertise**: The team combines senior defense leaders, algorithm developers, and operators, bridging theory and real-world execution.
- **Proven government pedigree**: Founded to meet a direct need from the Department of War, giving it strong credibility and an existing customer base in national security.
- **Cross-industry applicability**: Core optimization technology is platform-agnostic and has been adapted to manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics — not just defense.
- **Focus on uncertainty**: Unlike traditional static planning tools, the entire product suite is built to handle contested, dynamic, and uncertain environments.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scaling the platform across multiple industries (defense, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare) and deepening capabilities in resilient optimization.
- **Direction for growth**: Expanding the partner network, continuing to win government contracts, and building out commercial applications for complex scheduling and supply chain resilience.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: Mission-focused team of world-class AI engineers, data scientists, and mathematics experts working on pressing national challenges. Emphasis on collaboration, transparent communication, and operational impact.
- **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: **Remote-first** — ability to work fully remote within the United States. Certain roles may have in-office requirements.
- **Notable perks**: 100% employer-paid health insurance (medical, dental, vision) for employee and family; Unlimited PTO with management approval (all federal holidays observed); 14 weeks paid parental leave (maternity and paternity) at normal pay; 401K and FSA available; professional development and continued learning opportunities.
- **Engineering culture**: Building with bleeding-edge AI, mathematical optimization, and mission-grade software engineering. The team values rapid iteration and real-world deployment over theoretical work.

## Sources
1. [defconai.com](https://www.defconai.com/)
2. [defconai.com/careers](https://www.defconai.com/careers)
3. [defconai.com/about](https://www.defconai.com/about)
4. [boards.greenhouse.io/defcon](https://boards.greenhouse.io/defcon)
5. [linkedin.com/company/defcon-ai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/defcon-ai)

## Other roles at DEFCON AI

- [VP of Defense Solutions & Growth - Clearance Required](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-of-defense-solutions-growth-clearance-required-defcon-ai-washington-vxknjzce6jqk) — Washington, DC
- [Cloud Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/cloud-systems-engineer-defcon-ai-united-states-aqftgccjd4j4) — United States
- [QA Engineer - Clearance Required](https://feeny.ai/job/qa-engineer-clearance-required-defcon-ai-united-states-8ftxc8xawcbs) — United States
- [Data & ML Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/data-ml-engineer-defcon-ai-united-states-41fshj0wx0pq) — United States
- [Software Project Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/software-project-lead-defcon-ai-united-states-nx0h45w8ztys) — United States
- [Technical Director, AI Decision Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-director-ai-decision-systems-red-cell-partners-united-states-6hzf4ykaag7p) — United States