Program Technical Lead

Orbis is looking for a Program Technical Lead to lead the technical delivery and engineering execution of a multi-year program deploying Orbis Catalyst and Pulse as a sovereign data fabric for an international government defense client. The program spans enterprise and tactical edge, integrates the client's full sensor and platform inventory across every warfighting domain, and runs under the client's sovereign authority.

The Program Technical Lead oversees engineering execution of remote deployed teams responsible for developing, integration, and deploying custom data adapters configuring and integrating off-the-shelf software, and integrating customer systems, sensors, and data sources - across air, land, maritime, air defense, space, and cyber domains - into the Catalyst platform. The team is accountable for full deployment of those integrations across customer environments, whether cloud-native, on-premises, or at the tactical edge. Beyond initial deployment, the team carries ongoing responsibility for operations, maintenance, and support of those systems.

This is a hands-on role. You will architect the solution, write code when it is the fastest way to unblock the team, and set the bar for what the build looks like from design to deployment.

You will lead a distributed technology integration team across multiple time zones, driving cadence in environments where handoffs, ambiguity, and competing priorities would stall a less disciplined group. You will push your engineers, and you will push yourself. You will hold the line on quality while making the delivery timeline real. You will drive clarity and visibility on a high-priority program across the organization.

The right person has fifteen years of building software and still wants to build, but is also capable of leading builders. You have led technical teams, shipped against contractual deadlines, and understand that the job is not finished when the code works in a dev environment. You bring rigor, hunger, demonstrated talent at working with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, and the kind of presence that makes engineers want to deliver.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Lead the program's technical solution. Drive architecture and design across data exchange, integration, identity, and deployment layers. Make the calls the team needs made, document them, and defend them.
• Lead a distributed team. Oversee three integration engineering teams as they rotate overseas, setting the pace for engineers spread across multiple time zones. Run the standups that matter, cut the ones that don't, and keep the team oriented on what ships next.
• Push for velocity and quality. Hold engineers accountable to clear, tight deliverables. Review code, challenge design choices, and surface weak work before the client does.
• Build, break, learn, and fix. Stay hands-on. Prototype hard problems, pressure-test the solution from an adversarial angle, and find the failure modes before deployment does - this is defense infrastructure, and the adversary is real.
• Apply AI as leverage. Use modern AI tooling (Claude, Copilot, Cursor, and similar) to accelerate the team's work. Know when to trust the output, when to verify, and how to make AI a force multiplier rather than a crutch.
• Deliver against contractual milestones. Translate contractual acceptance criteria into engineering work. Own the technical evidence that proves we met the bar.
• Partner with the Program Manager. Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the program to convert engineering reality into client-ready commitments. Flag risk early and clearly and understand the tradeoffs that come with resourcing to mitigate those risks.
• Engage the client technical exchanges. Sit in technical working groups and translate engineering detail into language non-technical decision-makers can act on.
• Grow the engineers. Raise the technical bar of the team. Mentor through code review, pairing, and direct feedback. Retain the ones worth retaining.

Required Skills/Abilities

• 10 - 15 years building production software, with a substantial portion of that career in hands-on development roles.
• 5+ years leading and growing technical teams, including engineers you did not personally hire.
• Proven track record leading distributed engineering teams across multiple time zones (8+ hours of differential).
• Experience being accountable for the technical solution on milestone-based or outcomes-based contracts with defined acceptance criteria.
• Strong architectural fluency across cloud-native systems, APIs, identity (OAuth, SSO, JWT), and data integration patterns.
• Working knowledge of containerized deployments, CI/CD, and modern SaaS architectures.
• Fluency with AI-assisted development tooling (Claude, Copilot, Cursor, or equivalents) as part of daily engineering practice.
• Ability to read, write, and review code in at least one modern language currently in production use.
• Strong communication skills, including direct engagement with senior client stakeholders.
• Experience working with international clients and demonstrated cross-cultural competence.

Desired Skills/Abilities

• U.S. Federal, State, or international government engineering experience, particularly in defense or national security.
• Experience with data exchange, federation, or cross-domain integration patterns.
• Adversarial or red-team perspective on the systems you build, whether formal (security background) or informal (habitual).
• Experience with Kubernetes, Cloudflare, Azure AD / Entra ID, or equivalent modern cloud, identity and edge platforms.
• Technical education or content development experience (courses, documentation, public writing, conference talks).
• Familiarity with defense capability maturity models (IOC/FMC) and associated technical documentation.
• Language skills beyond English (advantageous, not required).

Who You Are

Beyond the resume, we're looking for someone who brings:

• Hunger. Fifteen-plus years in and you still want to build. You are not here to manage from a distance.
• Backbone. You push your team, you push peers, and you push up. You disagree professionally and commit once the decision is made.
• Rigor. You treat ambiguity as a problem to solve, not a reason to wait. You turn fuzzy problems into architecture diagrams, tickets, and code.
• Builder-breaker instinct. You ship and you pressure-test. You know where your own work is most likely to fail, and you find it before anyone else does.
• Comfort with discomfort. You operate well in fast-moving, cross-cultural, time-zone-stretched environments where sleep is a variable.
• Mission focus. You care that the team ships. You do not care who gets credit.
• Follow-through. When you commit to something, it lands.

What We Offer

• A technically ambitious program with real mission impact and a client that treats engineering as the center of gravity.
• A distributed team of strong engineers who want to be pushed.
• Opportunity to travel internationally, including regular engagement in the Middle East and Gulf region.
• Competitive compensation and benefits.
• Flexible work environment.
• A leadership team that will back you publicly and empower you to drive results.

Physical Requirements

• Mobility: Ability to travel internationally up to 75% of the time, including long-haul flights, navigating crowded airports, and traversing uneven terrain, stairs, or industrial job sites in the Middle East. Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Lifting/Carrying: Ability to lift and carry professional equipment (e.g., laptops, test devices, tools) weighing up to 25 lbs. frequently.
  
  Environmental Stamina: Ability to work in varying, extreme weather conditions (intense heat/sun) in the Middle East and maintain focus during long, irregular working hours across multiple time zones.
  
  Communication: Ability to see (with or without lenses) to read technical drawings and monitor equipment, and hear/speak to communicate in noisy environments or via remote conferencing.

Orbis Operations is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Orbis Operations is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace where all employees are valued and respected. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals, including those from underrepresented groups.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Orbis Operations will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process. If you require an accommodation, please contact us at hr@orbisops.com.