The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is a Department of War (DoW) organization focused exclusively on accelerating the adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and growing the national security innovation base. As the Department’s gateway to leading technology companies across the country, DIU is focused on rapid prototyping, fielding, and scaling of commercial solutions that can save lives, lead to new operational concepts, increase efficiency, and save taxpayer dollars.
DIU has a variety of missions which bring academic and private sector solutions to national security problems. To accomplish this mission, we seek a wide variety of backgrounds including military experience, high technology product development and leadership, operations expertise, and general program management experience.
Technology Portfolio Director (Federal Civilian Position):
The Portfolio Director provides overarching strategic and technical leadership to bridge Department of War (DoW) capability gaps with cutting-edge commercial solutions. Leveraging extensive commercial and defense acquisition expertise, the Director drives the enterprise-level strategy across one of three critical technological domains: Autonomous Warfare (unmanned systems and the core autonomy stack), the Kill Chain (advanced sensors, networks, and decision systems), or 10x Technologies (energy, power, logistics and sustainment, biosecurity, infrastructure, and human systems). This critical role guides the development, assessment, and integration of advanced technologies—ranging from computer vision and counter-UAS to next-generation networking and resilient infrastructure. By fostering robust partnerships with senior government officials (including OSW, JCS, and Congress) and industry leaders, the Director aligns complex product strategies with DoW modernization priorities, negotiating critical agreements and advising project teams on systems engineering to maintain U.S. technological superiority.
In addition to executive stakeholder engagement, the Director oversees the rigorous quantitative assessment, testing, and operational integration of intricate hardware and software solutions tailored to their specific portfolio. By championing operations research, wargaming, and predictive analytics, the incumbent ensures that investments in these emerging technologies yield measurable, data-driven enhancements to military readiness and mission effectiveness. The Director educates senior DoW leadership on technological trade-offs and risk assessments, ensuring that analytical models and decision-support tools constantly align with overarching operational objectives.
As a senior leader, the Director exercises full supervisory responsibility over a diverse workforce of government personnel (civilian and military) and contractors, specifically directing the Program Managers and Project Managers who lead these technically complex programs. In this capacity, the incumbent proactively plans the work to be accomplished, sets and dynamically adjusts portfolio priorities to meet emerging mission demands, and evaluates the work performance of subordinates to ensure a high-performing team capable of delivering critical technologies to the warfighter.
This is an Administratively Determined (AD) position with a limited term appointment.
Positions may be located in Mountain View, CA, the National Capital Region or Austin, TX. The incumbent may be required to travel up to 30% away from the normal duty location.
This job posting will close at 11:59 PM EDT on Friday, May 15, 2026.
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