Forward Deployed Strategist

Summary: Bridge Defense is seeking a full-time Forward Deployed Strategist (FDS) to lead customer engagements across our software and engineering portfolio.

This role sits at the intersection of business strategy, mission operations, data, and product development. You will own the customer relationship, identify opportunities to expand our impact, shape the capabilities we deliver, and drive the success of the engagement.

You will work alongside a Technical Lead and a team of engineers. The Technical Lead owns whether the system is built right. You own whether the mission improves and the engagement succeeds.

Success requires understanding the customer's mission, identifying where technology can create value, navigating organizational and acquisition challenges, and translating that understanding into software the customer actually needs.

This is not a traditional business development or program management role. You must be equally comfortable navigating senior customer relationships, examining underlying data, and working with engineers to shape software products.

We don't expect you to write production software. We do expect you to understand data and software well enough to independently reason through technical problems, challenge assumptions, and help determine what should be built.

What You Will Own

Customer Strategy & Business Outcomes

• Own the success of assigned customer engagements, including mission impact, customer relationships, and opportunities for growth.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer missions, priorities, organizational dynamics, acquisition pathways, and funding.
• Build trusted relationships with end users, program leadership, technical stakeholders, and senior decision-makers.
• Identify new opportunities to deliver value, expand existing capabilities, and grow the engagement.
• Navigate competing priorities, contracting constraints, and organizational obstacles to move opportunities into execution.

Mission Understanding & Product Strategy

• Discover how customers actually operate, identify underlying problems, and distinguish meaningful requirements from stated preferences.
• Translate operational challenges into product opportunities, scoped capabilities, and engineering priorities.
• Exercise judgment about what should be built, what should not, and where development resources will create the greatest value.
• Work with engineering teams to develop, deploy, and iterate on software that improves operational workflows and decision-making.
• Use customer feedback and evidence to evaluate outcomes and redirect the effort when necessary.

Data & Technical Problem Solving

• Independently investigate how operational information is structured, connected, and used across disparate systems.
• Understand data models, entities, relationships, identifiers, and the limitations of available datasets.
• Work directly with data to validate assumptions, identify gaps, and determine what information is required to solve an operational problem.
• Collaborate with engineers on data integration, application workflows, and technical approaches.
• Translate between operational requirements, underlying data, and software capabilities.

Required Qualifications:

We value demonstrated capability and ownership over specific job titles, employers, or years of experience.

• Customer and Business Leadership: Proven ability to own complex customer engagements, develop relationships, navigate stakeholders, and drive meaningful business or mission outcomes.
• Strategic & Product Judgment: Ability to identify customer needs, translate ambiguous problems into product opportunities, prioritize capabilities, and make sound decisions about what software should do.
• Data Literacy & Intuition: Strong practical understanding of how real-world operations are represented in data, including entities, relationships, identifiers, data structures, and analytical limitations. Must be able to independently reason through data problems without relying on engineers or analysts to structure the problem.
• Technical Fluency: Working understanding of modern software development, data integration, and application workflows, with the ability to collaborate effectively with technical teams.
• Execution & Ownership: Demonstrated history of solving difficult problems, overcoming obstacles outside formal authority, and delivering results in complex environments.
• Government Environment: Understanding of government missions, acquisition, budgeting, and contracting processes, or the ability to develop that understanding quickly.
• Security Clearance: Active Secret clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain TS/SCI.

Preferred Experience:

• Deployment Strategist, Engagement Manager, Technical Product Manager, Forward-Deployed Engineer, Solutions Architect, or comparable customer-facing technology role.
• Experience developing and expanding relationships with DoD, Intelligence Community, or other federal customers.
• Prior military or government service, particularly in operational, intelligence, or mission-planning environments.
• Hands-on experience with Palantir Foundry, enterprise data platforms, SQL, data modeling, or operational analytics.
• Experience shaping and delivering software products directly with customers and engineering teams.
• Familiarity with classified software environments, modern development practices, and DevSecOps.

Who Succeeds Here:

The strongest candidates combine business judgment, operational understanding, and technical intuition.

They can build credibility with a senior government leader, understand an unfamiliar mission, recognize opportunities to create meaningful business and operational value, and work with engineers to turn those opportunities into real software.

They naturally think about how people, processes, systems, and data connect. They know how to distinguish what the data establishes from what it cannot support, and they can envision how software might change an operational workflow rather than simply report on it.

They are comfortable with ambiguity, take ownership of difficult outcomes, and know how to turn a successful deployment into a lasting customer relationship.

Experience managing technical programs or consuming analytical products is not a substitute for hands-on data intuition and product judgment. Both are essential to this role.

 Additional Requirements:

• Full-time, hybrid position based in Washington, D.C. or Tampa, FL.
• Ability to work on-site with government customers in classified or secure environments.
• Travel up to 40%, with occasional extended hours based on mission requirements.
• No relocation assistance.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
• Employment is contingent on applicable background investigations, employment verification, clearance eligibility, and customer approval.

Clearance: Active Secret security clearance is required at the time of hire. Active TS/SCI is strongly preferred. Candidates must be able to obtain and maintain TS/SCI.

Location: Hybrid, Washington, D.C. or Tampa, Florida

Salary Range: $150,000–$185,000 annually. Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, education, security clearance and certifications.

Benefits: Bridge Defense offers a comprehensive benefits package that may include medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off, paid holidays, life insurance and disability coverage.

General Factors:

• Depending on project requirements, may be required to work within a compressed schedule; overtime should be expected when schedules demand it
• Hybrid remote and office, up to 40% travel
• Willing to travel, when needed
• No Relocation
  
  

Work Authorization:

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of applicable background investigations, verification of employment eligibility, customer approval, and the ability to obtain and maintain required security clearances.

Online applications, please.

When we review candidates' information, we are looking for the best matches for the position based on the qualifications listed in the job posting. If your skills and experience appear to match an open position, a recruitment service professional or a hiring manager may contact you.

Bridge Defense is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. It is the policy of the company to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, national origin or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. If you are a qualified disabled veteran or individual with a disability and need reasonable accommodation to use or access our online system, please contact us at 202-436-9222.