Technology Advancement Group (TAG) is a veteran-owned systems integrator in Ashburn, Virginia. We design, build and integrate assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) hardware and software for the Department of Defense and the companies that build for it. Our products include anti-jam CRPA antennas, horizon-nulling antennas and a miniature M-code GPS receiver. All of them are shipping today, with test data behind them, and our engineers integrate them into the systems our customers already run.
We're hiring a Technical Director to own the technical solution for our PNT product line end to end: the architecture, the design and the controlled design record. You'll report to our Chief Operating Officer and lead our electrical, mechanical, systems, software and test engineering teams. You'll turn customer and program requirements into specifications and test procedures, deliver designs that earn Production's release-readiness approval, and set the technology roadmap and IRAD direction. You'll work on-site in Ashburn. At a company our size, the Technical Director is also a hands-on technical lead, supporting Sales during capture and Programs during execution.
On an average day you'll handle some combination of the following. You'll own product design and every technical decision on system architecture, hardware, firmware and software. You'll convert customer and program requirements into the specification, with acceptance parameters and a clear definition of success. You'll author the verification and validation procedures and parameters that Production runs on built units; the first article is a production step. You'll own the technical data package and the design baseline, run configuration management, and release technical documentation for prototypes and customer deliverables. You'll own engineering BOMs and engineering work orders and direct engineering-internal development and bench testing, borrowing technicians when engineer-directed test or assembly work needs them. You'll bring manufacturability and documentation quality into design reviews, and you'll set priorities for the engineering teams, work with program managers and reorganize the team when delivery calls for it.
You'll be accountable for the functionality, suitability and technical performance of our solutions; for production-bound designs that pass Production's readiness approval on schedule; for a complete, current technical data package and configuration baseline; for test procedures and acceptance parameters delivered ahead of production V&V; and for on-schedule design milestones on every program.
Who You Are
You're an engineering leader who wants to own the whole technical solution, and you still know your way around a bench.
You carry the Pioneering Spirit. You're one of the most innovative people in any room. You push your team to take calculated risks and improve performance, and you make sure the lessons learned get written down and used. That's how a team builds mastery, another of our core values.
You make the call. Architecture and technical decisions are yours. You decide with incomplete information, explain why, and change course when the data says so.
You design for the people who build it. A design isn't done until Production can build it, test it and release it. You bring manufacturability and clean documentation into every design review.
You hold the baseline. A technical data package nobody trusts is worse than none. You keep the design record complete and current, and you hold the line on configuration control.
You build teams. You set clear priorities, develop your engineers and reorganize when delivery needs it. Your team gets better because you lead it.
You care who's on the other end. Our products go to warfighters who need to know where they are when GPS is jammed or spoofed. Every design you release ends up in their hands. You take that seriously, and it shows in your work.
Required Experience
Technical ownership of a product line. You've owned the technical solution for hardware products that shipped: the architecture, the design decisions across hardware, firmware and software, and the trade-offs between them. Pick a product and you can walk us through the decisions you made and the ones you'd change.
Requirements to specifications and test. You've turned customer and program requirements into specifications with clear acceptance criteria, and you've written or owned the verification and validation procedures that proved them.
Technical data package and configuration management. You've owned a design baseline and technical data package under configuration control, including engineering BOMs, and released documentation for prototypes and customer deliverables.
Design for production. You've taken designs through design reviews and into production, and you know what manufacturability and documentation quality look like to the people who have to build and test the product.
Leading engineering teams. You've led multidisciplinary engineering teams across electrical, mechanical, systems, software and test: setting priorities, working with program managers and reorganizing when delivery required it. You can tell us about engineers you developed.
Technical credibility with customers. You've been the technical lead in front of customers during capture and program execution, and you can explain a complex design in plain language.
U.S. person status. This position requires access to technical data controlled under U.S. export control laws. Applicants must be U.S. persons as defined in the ITAR (22 CFR 120.62): U.S. citizens and nationals, lawful permanent residents, and persons admitted as refugees or granted asylum.
Clearance eligibility. You must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship.
Nice to Haves
PNT and GNSS. You've led design work on GNSS receivers, CRPA or anti-jam antennas, inertial systems or other assured-PNT products, ideally including military receivers.
Defense programs. You've delivered to DoD customers or primes, including CDRLs, formal design reviews and first article inspection.
Roadmaps and IRAD. You've set a technology roadmap and run an IRAD portfolio, choosing where to place calculated bets and when to stop.
Quality systems. You've worked in an ISO 9001 or AS9100 quality system.
Active clearance. You already hold a current U.S. government security clearance, at any level.
