Vice President of Defense & Security

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

Since launching several years ago, our team has grown rapidly. We find ourselves in an exciting position to further deepen our partnerships within the government contracting space, to continue to attract and retain amazing teammates, and to scale our capacity to make an even bigger difference in the world.

Currently, our company is organized into three main groups: Executive Office (sets and operationalizes the strategic direction of the company), Federal Health & Civilian (focused on federal health and civilian missions), and Defense & Security (focused on defense, national security, and public safety missions).

As the Vice President (VP) of Defense & Security, you’ll own the overall success of Skylight’s defense & security business — including full accountability for profit and loss (P&L), strategic growth, and exceptional client outcomes. This portfolio includes U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) components and security-mission agencies, for example the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

What you’ll do

• Own and expand Skylight’s portfolio of work with defense and security customers, managing it as an independent business.
• Research and interpret key market drivers (such as policy shifts, mission priorities, funding patterns, and evolving threat landscapes), and proactively understand each defense and security customer’s goals, challenges, and requirements
• Translate market insights and customer feedback into innovative or enhanced service offerings, aligned with Skylight’s strategy and core capabilities
• Build strategic relationships with government stakeholders, mission leadership (military and civilian), change agents, and vendor partners to identify and pursue new business opportunities
• Lead and oversee bid & proposal processes to successfully secure client engagements
• Transform each client’s objectives and constraints into customized engagement strategies, delivering unique experiences and impactful results efficiently
• Assemble and manage multi-disciplinary teams — leveraging talent sourcing and subcontracting with vendor partners — to ensure successful client outcomes
• Provide transparent oversight and ongoing visibility into the status, health, and effectiveness of each client engagement
• Facilitate open retrospectives with clients and Skylight teams to assess effectiveness, identify improvement areas, and implement actionable changes
• Step in with hands-on client delivery support whenever necessary to maintain high-quality outcomes
• Oversee and support core operational functions, including human resource management, to enable team success and organizational effectiveness

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Experience in defense, homeland security, or justice mission environments
• Ability to manage a multi-million-dollar profit & loss business, including multiple client engagements with multiple subcontractors
• Ability to sustain and grow a professional services business through business development, opportunity capture, and bid & proposal
• Strong understanding of how a professional services and government contracting business works
• Startup mentality, including a high degree of entrepreneurialism and resourcefulness
• Excellent general management and leadership skills
• Outstanding organizational skills, including attention to detail
• Excellent people management skills
• Experience building and managing high-performing teams
• Relentless commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Collaborative, supportive leadership style
• Excellent interpersonal and problem-solving skills
• Strong business acumen
• Superb written and oral communication skills
• Relentless commitment to excellence and quality in everything we do
• Strong understanding of business functions such as people ops, finance, marketing, business development, etc.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and derive actionable insights from financial, operational, and performance data
• Ability to serve as a coach/mentor to other leaders and managers
• Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)
• Passionate about creating better public outcomes through great government services
• A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values
• Ability to travel for work from time to time

Nice-to-have qualifications

• Prior experience working in the civic tech space
• Experience working in a remote-team environment