Senior Director, Special Projects

Peraton is seeking an innovative and forward-thinking Senior Director, Special Projects to support the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in identifying, evaluating, and advancing emerging technologies that will shape the future of federal government missions. This highly visible role serves as a bridge between technology strategy, innovation, research, and practical implementation across the organization.

The Senior Director, Special Projects will be responsible for monitoring emerging technology trends, assessing capability gaps, conducting technology evaluations, developing prototypes, and supporting strategic initiatives that position Peraton and its customers for future success. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable discussing executive-level technology strategy, conducting market and competitive analysis, building proof-of-concept solutions, and driving innovation initiatives from concept through implementation.

This role requires a blend of technical expertise, business acumen, strategic thinking, creativity, and the ability to translate emerging technologies into actionable opportunities that support customer missions and business growth.

Location: Reston, Virginia. Must have the flexibility with travel to customer sites as needed.

Day to Day Roles and Responsibilities:

• Continuously scan the commercial technology landscape (startups, hyperscalers, open-source, academia) to identify technologies with near-term federal applicability; maintain a rolling technology radar for sector leadership.
• Lead hands-on pilot projects to validate emerging technologies in federal contexts — agentic AI, post-quantum cryptography, advanced zero trust, AIOps, edge computing, next-gen data platforms, and beyond.
• Partner with Peraton Labs to bridge R&D innovation and sector go-to-market needs; develop reusable demos, reference implementations, and artifacts the Principal Architect team can deploy in pursuits.
• Author technology position papers and strategic briefings that inform sector investment decisions, partnership strategies, and market positioning.
• Develop competitive technology intelligence - understanding how competitors and hyperscalers are positioning and identifying differentiation opportunities.
• Represent Peraton at industry conferences and customer engagements as a subject matter expert; build trusted advisor relationships that generate shaping opportunities.
• Identify and champion internal tools and capabilities that improve proposal quality, solution speed, or competitive positioning; conduct build-vs-buy analyses and lead pilot deployments.
• Serve as strategic advisor to the CTO on technology investments, partnerships, and organizational capability development; coordinate with corporate technology leadership and other sector CTOs.

Basic Qualifications:

• 18 years of experience, may have management experience
• Must be a U.S. Citizen; must have the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance
• 5+ years in a senior technology leadership role with responsibility for identifying, evaluating, and operationalizing emerging technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to operate across the full spectrum from strategic analysis to hands-on technical implementation - equally credible authoring strategy papers and building proof-of-concept prototypes.
• Deep technical fluency across at least four domains: AI/ML (including generative/agentic), cloud-native architectures, cybersecurity, PQC, edge/IoT, data platforms, DevSecOps, AIOps, enterprise integration, etc.
• Proven track record translating emerging technology trends into actionable prototypes or operational capabilities with measurable business impact.
• Experience with federal civilian agencies - understanding of federal technology adoption, compliance (FedRAMP, FISMA, NIST), and acquisition environment.
• Strong executive communication skills - ability to brief C-suite, federal executives, and technical audiences with equal effectiveness.
• Demonstrated thought leadership through published papers, conference presentations, patents, or industry contributions.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelors or Master's degree or PhD in CS, Engineering, Cybersecurity, AI/ML, or related field
• 10+ years in technology strategy, development, and deployment preferred.
• Experience in a technology strategy, innovation lab, applied R&D role at a large SI, hyperscaler, or technology organization.
• Hands-on experience with current-generation AI/ML frameworks, LLMs, and agentic AI development.
• Experience with post-quantum cryptography standards, migration planning, and crypto-agility architectures.
• Professional certifications: AWS SA Professional, Azure SA Expert, CISSP, or equivalent.
• Existing relationships with federal civilian technology leaders, hyperscaler partners, or emerging technology vendors.
• Experience managing R&D/innovation budgets and making build-vs-buy investment recommendations.

Peraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can’t be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we’re keeping people around the world safe and secure.