Senior Technical Manager – Cloud Platform Engineering

Senior Technical Manager – Cloud Platform Engineering, DevOps, ITAR & FedRAMP
Location: Houston, TX (preferred) or U.S. Remote (Northern Virginia also considered)
Clearance: Active TS/SCI required; must be eligible and willing to obtain a CI Polygraph
Type: Full-Time
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About the Role
We are seeking a Senior Technical Manager to lead Cloud Platform Engineering, DevOps, and compliance-driven infrastructure initiatives supporting advanced analytics platforms operating in both commercial and classified environments.
This role sits at the intersection of platform engineering, cloud infrastructure, and national security, supporting mission-critical capabilities in maritime domain awareness, satellite imagery analytics, and AI-driven intelligence systems.
You will play a key role in enabling a major expansion into the classified space, including support for a high-visibility NGA QX (Quick Reaction) pilot in partnership with a leading defense contractor. This effort is expected to rapidly evolve into long-term deployment across secure government environments.
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What You’ll Own
This is not a narrow DevOps leadership role - you will act as the technical glue across the organization, owning platform engineering strategy and execution across all cloud environments.
Platform & Cloud Leadership
• Lead platform engineering and DevOps across ~95% GCP environments (with some AWS/Azure)
• Own architecture, scalability, reliability, and security of cloud infrastructure supporting all products
• Oversee CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code (Terraform), and automation strategy
• Drive improvements in observability, monitoring, and incident response
Compliance & Secure Environment Buildout
• Lead implementation of ITAR and FedRAMP controls across cloud environments
• Prepare systems for FedRAMP authorization and ongoing compliance
• Support expansion into classified (TS/SCI) environments, including high-side deployments
• Establish governance and security practices in a fast-moving, evolving environment
Team Leadership & Organizational Impact
• Manage and mentor a small but growing platform team (~4 direct reports initially)
• Support infrastructure needs across multiple product lines (maritime + energy platforms)
• Partner cross-functionally with engineering, security, product, and leadership teams
• Act as a decision-maker who can identify gaps, ask the right questions, and drive execution
Operational Excellence in a Startup Environment
• Build structure where needed - without slowing down delivery
• Operate effectively in an environment with limited formal processes but strong conventions
• Balance speed vs. perfection (often delivering at ~80% in response to mission needs)
• Handle shifting priorities driven by customer and mission requirements
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What Makes This Role Unique
• Direct impact on national security and intelligence missions
• Opportunity to shape platform engineering in a company transitioning from startup → scaled organization
• Work on cutting-edge capabilities:
o Satellite imagery analytics
o AI/ML and LLM-driven systems (including agentic AI and small language models in secure environments)
• High autonomy - you are trusted to figure things out and make things happen
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Required Qualifications
• Active TS/SCI clearance (CI Polygraph eligibility required)
• ~12+ years of experience in:
o Cloud Platform Engineering
o DevOps / SRE
o Infrastructure Engineering
• Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Proven experience implementing ITAR controls
• Experience supporting or preparing systems for FedRAMP compliance
• Strong understanding of:
o Cloud networking (VPCs, subnets, firewalls, VPNs, DNS, load balancing)
o CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
o Infrastructure as Code (Terraform preferred)
• Experience with observability tools (Grafana, Prometheus, ELK, Datadog, etc.)
• Scripting/programming experience (Python, Bash, Go, etc.)
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, fast-paced environments
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What They’re Really Looking For (From the Hiring Team)
• A senior technical leader, not a junior manager
• Someone comfortable not knowing everything - but knowing how to find answers
• Strong communicator who can bridge gaps across teams and disciplines
• Comfortable in startup environments with evolving processes
• Able to balance hands-on technical involvement with leadership responsibilities
• Pragmatic - understands when to push for perfection vs. when to ship and iterate
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Preferred Qualifications
• Experience with GCP services such as GKE, Cloud Run, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Cloud SQL
• Experience with classified or secure government environments
• Familiarity with CMMC, ISO 27001, or similar frameworks
• Experience supporting AI/ML or LLM-based systems
• Exposure to multi-cloud environments (AWS GovCloud, hybrid, on-prem)
• Prior experience leading platform or DevOps teams in high-growth environments
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Work Environment & Culture
• Fast-paced, high-growth company (~125 employees, scaling rapidly)
• Collaborative and highly autonomous culture
• Emphasis on likable, low-ego team members
• Heavy use of AI tools in day-to-day work (both operational and technical)
• Occasional off-hours work may be required for critical issues, but not a sustained “burnout” culture
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Compensation
• Base Salary + equity
• Strong upside with pre-Series A equity participation