Associate Project Leader, Naval Digital Infrastructure & Services

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The MITRE Expeditionary and Asymmetric Operations Department (N233) is seeking a strategic, technically accomplished, and sponsor-focused Naval Digital Infrastructure & Services Associate Project Leader. The selected candidate will serve as deputy to the Project Leader for an approximately 26-FTE work program in FY2027 supporting the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Mission Systems (PAE MS), Digital Infrastructure & Services Portfolio. The project comprises three separate but related tasks: Naval Enterprise Networks (NEN), Marine Corps Enterprise Networks (MCEN), and Manpower IT Systems Modernization (MITSM).

The Associate Project Leader will support the Project Leader in shaping and executing the work program, integrating outcomes across the three tasks, coordinating major strategic and operational activities, and ensuring disciplined delivery of MITRE's commitments. The Associate Project Leader will maintain continuity of leadership across the project and will function as the Project Leader when the Project Leader is unavailable or when authority is otherwise delegated.

The Associate Project Leader will play a critical role in strengthening MITRE's position as a trusted partner in naval digital modernization, enterprise network and service delivery, secure data architecture and resilience, and manpower IT modernization. The position will help align MITRE's defense acquisition, systems engineering, enterprise IT, cybersecurity, architecture, data analytics, and artificial intelligence expertise with sponsor priorities to deliver robust mission outcomes for PAE MS and its Navy and Marine Corps warfighting customers.

As a senior member of the N233 project leadership team, the Associate Project Leader will collaborate closely with the Project Leader, NEN, MCEN, and MITSM Task Leaders, department and division leadership, technical leaders, people leaders, and geographically distributed staff across the corporation. The selected candidate will help integrate project outcomes, resolve cross-task dependencies, align staffing and resources, monitor project health, and ensure that MITRE brings an objective, technically rigorous Federally Funded Research and Development Center perspective to the sponsor's most consequential challenges. The role requires a leader who can move effectively between sponsor-facing strategy and detailed project execution, exercise sound independent judgment, and credibly represent the project with senior internal and external stakeholders.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Serve as deputy and principal advisor to the Naval Digital Infrastructure & Services Project Leader. Support the Project Leader in setting project direction, shaping the work program, managing sponsor relationships, integrating technical outcomes, and executing the project's strategic and operational priorities.
• Function as the Project Leader during the Project Leader's absence or when authority is delegated. Maintain continuity of project leadership and exercise appropriate authority for sponsor engagement, project decisions, risk escalation, staffing coordination, financial oversight, technical delivery, and communication with department and division leadership.
• Support strategic, technical, acquisition, and operational leadership for the Digital Infrastructure & Services project, helping integrate NEN, MCEN, and MITSM into a coherent work program aligned with PAE MS priorities and warfighter needs.
• Maintain a deep understanding of PAE MS's mission, portfolio structure, acquisition environment, technical priorities, and customer needs, including the relationships among enterprise networks, digital services, data, cybersecurity, manpower systems, and operational readiness.
• Work alongside the Project Leader and senior Navy and Marine Corps sponsors to identify the right problems, define desired outcomes, shape project tasks, and establish technically sound deliverables that create measurable mission impact. Independently lead sponsor engagements and project activities when assigned or delegated by the Project Leader.
• Coordinate execution through the NEN, MCEN, and MITSM Task Leaders. Help establish cross-project priorities; synchronize outcomes, staffing, budgets, schedules, and shared technical resources; manage dependencies; track commitments; and ensure timely resolution of issues affecting integrated delivery.
• Lead cross-cutting initiatives, planning activities, technical reviews, project execution reviews, and special assignments that span multiple tasks or require coordinated action across the project. Ensure decisions, action items, dependencies, and risks are documented, assigned, and carried through to closure.
• Connect technical products and recommendations to acquisition decisions, investment priorities, portfolio governance, and operational effects. Help ensure clear and consistent communication of project status, findings, risks, recommendations, decisions needed, and emerging opportunities.
• Develop and sustain trusted relationships with senior military and civilian sponsors, program managers, technical directors, and other stakeholders. Represent the project in sponsor and MITRE leadership forums and provide an informed, integrated project perspective.
• Support the Project Leader in building, leading, and shaping a cohesive, geographically distributed, multidisciplinary team of approximately 26 FTEs. Reinforce clear expectations for Task Leaders and staff regarding roles, sponsor engagement, technical quality, deliverable content, schedules, collaboration, and professional development.
• Coordinate with Task Leaders and people leaders to understand skill demand, define resource requests, assign staff with the appropriate skills and development needs, balance resources across tasks, address staffing gaps, and maintain accurate staffing plans and forecasts.
• Partner with the Department Chief Engineer and other technical leaders to ensure project approaches, technical reviews, and deliverables are objective, data-driven, traceable, technically rigorous, and consistent with MITRE quality standards.
• Leverage MITRE's enterprise-wide projects, technical expertise, laboratories, independent research, and bodies of knowledge. Engage industry, academia, government laboratories, other FFRDCs, and external partners when doing so accelerates sponsor outcomes or strengthens the project's technical foundation.
• Support delivery of high-quality technical products and actionable recommendations on time and within budget. Monitor execution across the three tasks, identify emerging risks and performance concerns, develop mitigation plans with the appropriate leaders, and help ensure the project meets contractual commitments for cost, schedule, and performance.
• Perform and oversee project administration, contract and task-order management, staffing forecasts, budget development, financial planning, risk management, performance monitoring, and project reporting. Support program execution reviews and provide the Project Leader and MITRE leadership with accurate, timely insight into project health, outcomes, risks, and decisions requiring attention.
• Provide timely performance observations and feedback to staff and their people leaders. Support effective onboarding, staff development, succession planning, and the development of future Task Leaders and project leaders. Foster a collaborative, adaptable, respectful, accountable, and high-performing project environment.
• Support the Project Leader in anticipating emerging PAE MS needs, shaping future work, connecting sponsor challenges with MITRE capabilities, and developing enduring FFRDC opportunities that create meaningful impact for PAE MS and its warfighting customers.

Basic Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 8 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years' experience; or an equivalent combination of related education and work experience.

• Bachelor's degree in systems engineering, engineering, computer science, information systems, cybersecurity, data science, operations research, business or acquisition management, or a related technical field.

• Demonstrated Department of War acquisition experience, including work with acquisition organizations and technical stakeholders to translate mission needs into acquisition strategies, requirements, architectures, technical plans, investment decisions, or other decision-quality recommendations.

• Demonstrated systems engineering experience across complex programs or enterprises, including requirements analysis, architecture, integration, technical risk management, trade-space analysis, and development of technically rigorous recommendations for senior decision-makers.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multifaceted technical projects, major workstreams, or work programs with multiple concurrent tasks, multidisciplinary teams, interdependent outcomes, and significant sponsor visibility. This includes experience managing or directly supporting the management of project scope, schedule, staffing, technical quality, risk, budget, contractual commitments, and sponsor expectations.

• Demonstrated ability to serve as a trusted deputy or delegated leader, exercise sound judgment on behalf of a senior project or program leader, maintain continuity of operations, and assume broader project leadership responsibilities when required.

• Experience coordinating execution through Task Leaders, workstream leads, technical leads, or other subordinate or peer leaders. Demonstrated ability to integrate activities across organizational boundaries, resolve competing priorities, manage dependencies, and drive commitments to closure.

• Knowledge of enterprise IT and digital infrastructure and services, including one or more of the following: enterprise networks, cloud or platform services, cybersecurity, data architecture and governance, digital service delivery, enterprise applications, or IT modernization.

• Experience partnering with senior military and civilian leaders to identify mission needs, shape work, define outcomes, and deliver technical products or recommendations that support acquisition, portfolio, or operational decisions.

• Experience supporting project operations, including staffing and resource planning, budget or financial management, schedule and milestone management, risk and issue management, performance monitoring, contract or task-order execution, and leadership reporting.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical, acquisition, and project execution matters to senior leaders and stakeholders with varying levels of technical expertise.

• Demonstrated ability to build trusted sponsor relationships, lead geographically distributed teams, collaborate across organizational boundaries, handle sensitive or consequential issues with discretion, and represent a senior leader or project organization credibly.

• This position is based in Quantico, Virginia, with McLean, Virginia, as an alternate work location. The selected candidate must be able to travel approximately 20% within the National Capital Region and to other Naval sites throughout the continental United States.

• Must possess an active Secret U.S. Government security clearance and be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information. Per the U.S. Government's eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.

• This position requires a minimum of 4 days a week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in systems engineering, engineering, computer science, information systems, cybersecurity, data science, operations research, business or acquisition management, or a related field.
• Direct experience supporting PAE MS, the Digital Infrastructure & Services Portfolio, NEN, MCEN, MITSM, or other Navy and Marine Corps acquisition organizations responsible for enterprise digital, network, or manpower systems.
• Experience serving as deputy, integration lead, Associate Project Leader, Task Leader, or senior technical leader for a work program comparable in scale to approximately 26 FTEs, including substantial responsibility for staffing, financial performance, technical quality, risk management, and integrated delivery through multiple task or workstream leaders.
• Experience acting on behalf of a project or program leader, representing the organization with senior sponsors, making decisions within delegated authority, and maintaining leadership continuity during periods of transition or absence.
• Experience applying enterprise Agile practices, Agile acquisition, Lean Portfolio Management, value-stream budgeting, performance measurement, organizational change, or IT service management at portfolio scale.
• Experience with secure data architecture and governance, cyber resilience engineering, risk analysis, enterprise interoperability, or continuity-of-operations planning.
• Experience applying enterprise architecture, Model-Based Systems Engineering, System-of-Systems Engineering, digital engineering, mission engineering, or the Unified Architecture Framework to large-scale modernization efforts.
• Experience evaluating or adopting artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, data analytics, predictive decision support, or responsible AI practices in mission or enterprise settings.
• Prior experience as a MITRE Associate Project Leader, Project Leader, Task Leader, Outcome Leader, Chief Engineer, or in a comparable technical program or deputy leadership role.
• Experience shaping and sustaining high-value FFRDC work programs, identifying future sponsor needs, developing task concepts and deliverables, and connecting sponsor challenges with capabilities from across MITRE.
• Demonstrated record of mentoring staff, developing future technical and project leaders, providing meaningful performance feedback, and building inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing teams.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

Secret

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

Top Secret

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$162,400 - $203,000 - $243,600 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.

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