Contract Leadership Development Jobs in Reston, VA

Director, Federal Contracts ConsultingOwn the next stage of a high-demand GovCon advisory practice.

This is a senior leadership role for a hands‑on government contracts leader who wants real business ownership, not just another advisory seat. You will own a $4M-$5M federal contracts consulting book, lead a 10-15 person team, and help turn a highly respected defense‑focused advisory practice into a more scalable, repeatable, technology‑enabled business.

If you understand FAR/DFARS, know how to earn credibility with sophisticated defense contractor clients, and want the chance to shape how a growing professional services business is priced, staffed, delivered, and scaled, this is a rare opportunity.

The Opportunity

A growing GovCon advisory organization is hiring a Director, Federal Contracts Consulting to lead day‑to‑day strategy, client delivery, team performance, and operational execution for a dedicated government contracts consulting team.

The practice serves complex federal contractor clients, with a strong focus on defense‑oriented environments. You will inherit meaningful client and team responsibility from day one, while partnering with senior leadership to evolve the practice from a highly bespoke, time‑and‑materials delivery model into a more productized, scalable service line.

This role sits at the intersection of contracts expertise, client judgment, team leadership, pricing discipline, and business building. You do not need perfect structure to move quickly. You know how to bring order, accountability, and commercial judgment to a growing professional services business.

What You Will OwnPractice Leadership & Business Ownership

• Own day‑to‑day strategy and operational accountability for a 10-15 person team of government contracts experts and consulting professionals.
• Oversee, build, and drive outcomes for a $4M-$5M book of business.
• Partner with senior leadership on staffing, capacity planning, revenue planning, utilization, delivery quality, and practice growth.
• Help scale the practice while preserving or improving margin profile.
• Bring a business‑builder mindset to a service line with strong demand, deep client relationships, and meaningful room to evolve.

Client Delivery & Contract Strategy

• Lead complex client engagements for defense‑oriented GovCon clients.
• Advise prime contractors on FAR and DFARS contract interpretation, execution, and risk.
• Apply full lifecycle government contracts expertise across contract formation, execution, modifications, compliance, pricing, procurement, and delivery risk.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for contract strategy, client delivery, and execution matters.
• Review high‑risk deliverables before they go to clients.
• Build trust with senior stakeholders in services‑based federal contracting environments where contract judgment directly affects execution, compliance, and delivery outcomes.

Scalable Service Model & Operational Discipline

• Drive process improvement tied to delivery quality, pricing support, repeatability, and Firm Fixed Price execution.
• Help move the practice beyond highly customized, person‑dependent delivery toward repeatable, productized service offerings.
• Improve how work is priced, scoped, staffed, delivered, and measured.
• Support a technology‑minded approach to improving delivery efficiency, client experience, workflow, and practice operations.
• Help build the operational foundation for a larger, more scalable GovCon contracts advisory business.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, develop, and manage consultants, managers, and junior team members.
• Set clear expectations around quality, accountability, client outcomes, and commercial performance.
• Build the team and operating model needed for the next stage of growth.
• Earn credibility with experienced contracts professionals through real technical depth and practical execution experience.

What Makes You a Strong Fit

• Strong full lifecycle government contracts experience, ideally in defense contractor or defense‑oriented GovCon environments.
• Deep working knowledge of FAR and DFARS, with the ability to interpret and apply contract clauses in real‑world settings.
• Significant hands‑on contracts execution experience, not only high‑level advisory or legal review.
• Experience supporting or advising prime contractors; backgrounds focused mostly on subcontract administration are less aligned.
• Experience leading teams, managing delivery, and holding people accountable to outcomes.
• Ability to oversee a meaningful book of business, including client delivery, team utilization, quality, and commercial performance.
• Strong client‑facing judgment with the ability to advise senior stakeholders in complex federal contracting environments.
• Ability to build scalable processes, repeatable service models, and operational discipline inside a growing professional services business.
• At least 8 years of highly relevant GovCon contracts experience; stronger candidates may bring considerably more, but relevance and depth matter more than raw tenure.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments with multiple priorities.

Backgrounds That Tend to Stand Out

You may be especially well aligned if your experience includes several of the following:

• Defense contractor environments rather than primarily civilian agency, grants, or assistance‑based work.
• DFARS‑heavy contracts exposure rather than general FAR‑only exposure.
• Prime contractor contracts responsibility rather than primarily subcontract administration.
• Services‑based GovCon settings where contract judgment directly impacts execution, compliance, and delivery.
• Professional services or consulting environments where you owned both technical depth and client delivery outcomes.
• Leadership of a contracts, procurement, pricing, or GovCon advisory team through growth, operational complexity, or service expansion.
• Experience building, managing, or influencing P&L outcomes for a business unit, practice, service line, or book of business.

Nice‑to‑Haves

• Professional services, consulting, or multi‑client delivery experience.
• Experience owning or helping manage P&L outcomes for a business unit, practice, or book of business.
• Experience building repeatable or productized services.
• A technology‑minded approach to improving service delivery, workflow, or client outcomes.
• Experience with Firm Fixed Price contracts.
• Experience across both larger and smaller GovCon environments.
• Exposure to GovCon M&A, including diligence or post‑close integration.
• JD degree.

Compensation

The base salary range is $200,000-$225,000. With performance-based incentive compensation, total on‑target earnings are expected to be $275,000-$310,000.

Why This Role Is Different

This is not a maintenance role. The team, clients, and revenue base already exist. The next chapter is about scaling the business with more discipline, repeatability, and commercial leverage.

You will be joining at a point where your judgment can materially shape the future of the practice: how services are packaged, how work is priced, how teams are staffed, how clients experience delivery, and how a defense‑focused GovCon contracts offering can grow beyond a bespoke delivery model.

If you are a senior government contracts leader who wants a broader operating mandate, this is a rare opportunity to combine technical credibility with real practice‑building responsibility.

Equal Opportunity & Fair Review

At Urrly, fairness matters. We use AI to review every application against the same clear requirements for the role. This means every candidate is evaluated on job‑related factors like skills, certifications, and experience -- not on personal attributes such as gender, race, age, or background. Our goal is to create a more objective, consistent, and equal opportunity hiring process for all applicants.