Nalej

Sr. Director, Platform Engineering Location: Arlington, VA (On-site/Hybrid) Clearance: Active TS/SCI Preferred (Ability to Obtain) Employment Type: Full-Time About NALEJ NALEJ is a defense technology company focused on artificial intelligence, advanced cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, and operational technology that supports critical national security missions. We partner with organizations across the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Federal Civilian agencies to deliver scalable, mission-driven capabilities. As we continue our rapid growth, we are investing heavily in world-class technical leadership to drive our transformation from a services-based organization into a premier, technology-driven product and platform company. Position Overview NALEJ is seeking a visionary Senior Director of Platform Engineering to define and execute the company’s enterprise technical strategy. In this pivotal executive role, you will coordinate complex development activities across Platform Engineering, Product Engineering, Cloud Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity. Your mandate is to establish a robust enterprise technology strategy, build out scalable engineering organizations, and drive the development of proprietary technologies that differentiate NALEJ in the defense market. You will collaborate closely with Business Development, Program Management, Finance, and the executive leadership team to guarantee technical excellence across all customer programs while rapidly accelerating our long-term product and platform roadmap. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership: Develop and execute NALEJ’s enterprise technology strategy, architecture governance, and multi-year technical roadmap. Organizational Scaling: Build, mentor, and lead high-performing teams across Platform Engineering, Software Engineering, AI Engineering, Cloud Engineering, DevSecOps, and Cybersecurity. Architecture & Infrastructure: Architect and deploy secure, scalable cloud and platform environments supporting both classified and unclassified operations. Product Innovation: Drive the development of proprietary AI-enabled products, enterprise-grade platforms, and highly reusable software capabilities. Security & Compliance: Ensure strict compliance with DoD cybersecurity requirements, embedding RMF and Zero Trust principles, and paving the way for Continuous Authorization to Operate (cATO) across our platforms. Operational Excellence: Optimize engineering execution, platform reliability, deployment automation (CI/CD), and infrastructure cost efficiency while establishing measurable performance metrics. Growth & Capture: Partner with Business Development and Capture teams to architect compelling technical solutions, support high-stakes proposals, and lead customer engagements. Technology Evaluation: Continuously evaluate emerging technologies, identifying strategic opportunities for automation, hardened system configurations, and competitive differentiation. Required Qualifications Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field. Experience: 15+ years of progressive engineering and technology leadership experience, with at least 7+ years directing enterprise-scale engineering or platform organizations. Domain Expertise: Demonstrated success developing secure, cloud-native platforms and enterprise software solutions, specifically supporting Department of Defense or Intelligence Community customers. Technical Acumen: Deep expertise in Kubernetes, cloud platforms, advanced DevSecOps pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and modern cloud-native (CNCF) software architectures. Leadership: Proven track record of building, scaling, and mentoring engineering organizations within high-growth technology companies. Clearance: Active TS/SCI clearance preferred, or the uninhibited ability to obtain and maintain one. Preferred Qualifications Advanced Degree: Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related discipline. Specialized Tech: Hands-on leadership experience with AI/ML, data platforms, or autonomous systems initiatives. Cloud Environments: Extensive experience delivering products within AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud (GCP) environments. Modern Tooling: Strong familiarity with Platform One, OpenShift, Rancher, GitLab, Terraform, and the broader modern DevSecOps ecosystem. Business Transformation: Proven experience transforming government services organizations into highly scalable, product-driven technology companies. Executive Strategy: Prior executive leadership experience supporting strategic growth, capture, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), or corporate technology strategy.