Vice President of Engineering

About Durandal

Durandal Inc. is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) supporting the U.S. Intelligence Community and DoD test commands. Our work spans four core technical areas:

• RF and EW simulation
• RF/EW emitter hardware
• EW systems engineering & design
• AI/ML-enabled signal processing

We are profitable, debt-free, and growing across multiple program lines. We are now actively hiring our first Vice President of Engineering to scale engineering operations, free the CEO to focus on company-level strategy, and drive Durandal's next phase of growth.

The Role

The Vice President of Engineering owns the engineering function end-to-end. This is full ownership across every aspect of engineering at Durandal, including:

• Operational leadership of the engineering organization; hiring, performance, promotion, delivery cadence, capacity, and headcount planning.
• Technical strategy across the company's program portfolio.
• Quality and output improvement on existing programs, including optimization of delivery, cost, and engineering rigor.
• Leadership of emerging engineering efforts as new programs and capability areas come online.
• Cross-functional alignment across overlapping technical areas to reduce duplication and maximize leverage between programs.
• Mentorship and engineering best practices across the entire technical organization.

The Vice President of Engineering reports directly to the CEO. The Chief Engineer retains existing technical authority and is a peer on the technical-authority axis; the Vice President of Engineering owns the engineering function as an operational and strategic matter.

Responsibilities

• Own engineering delivery across all active and emerging programs.
• Build the management layer. Promote and hire engineering managers and technical leads.
• Establish program review, IPR, hiring, and promotion processes. Implement written performance criteria across the engineering organization.
• Partner with the CEO and program leadership on capacity planning, headcount, and program selection.
• Represent engineering to customers, including IC sponsors, test command stakeholders, and prime contractors during teaming engagements.
• Own clearance pipeline strategy and recruiting in the cleared technical labor market.
• Spend the first 60–90 days assessing the organization before making major organizational and personnel decisions.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years in engineering leadership, with 5+ years at the director or VP level running multi-team organizations.
• Recent experience delivering DoD or IC programs, including familiarity with FAR/DFARS, CDRLs, IRADs, and milestone-driven government work.
• Active SECRET clearance. TS//SCI eligibility strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience delivering integrated hardware/software systems involving firmware, RF or other electrical hardware, and software.
• Track record of scaling engineering organizations in the 50-to-150-person range.
• Strong people judgment, with a record of making and executing difficult personnel decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Veteran or prior uniformed service.
• Background in RF systems, electronic warfare, radar, signal processing, or HF/ionospheric propagation.
• Experience with AFSIM, ITASE, ODESSA, NGTS, JSE, OneSAFE, EWPMT, IEWTPT, TENA, or other LVC/LVC-adjacent software architectures.
• Familiarity with Service training and test environments (JRTC, XCTC, NTC, JMRC).
• Prior experience at an small business/prime, or non-traditional defense contractor.
• Commercial industry experience in addition to defense, particularly relevant as Durandal explores expansion beyond the DoD and IC markets.

Compensation

• Base salary: $180,000 – $260,000, commensurate with experience.
• Equity: Meaningful equity participation.
• Benefits: Health/dental/vision, 401(k) with match, PTO, professional development budget, clearance maintenance.
• Location: Charlottesville, VA. This is an on-site role. Limited hybrid flexibility is available, but the Vice President of Engineering is expected to be physically present with the team on a regular basis. Travel to customer sites and ranges as required.
• Clearance: Active TS required. TS/SCI eligibility strongly preferred.

Durandal Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. SDVOSB.