Principal Technical Director, National Security

Voyager is an innovative space, defense, and national security technology company committed to advancing and delivering transformative, mission-critical solutions. We tackle the most complex challenges to unlock new frontiers for human progress, fortify national security, and protect critical assets to lead in the race for technological and operational superiority from ground to space. Forge the Future: Join Voyager Technologies The future belongs to those who build it. At Voyager Technologies, we’re building technologies that protect lives, expand frontiers and prepare us for what’s next. And we’re doing that with people who are wired to solve, build, adapt and lead. These roles are not for the faint of heart. You’ll help lay the foundation for humanity's future. Join a culture where innovation thrives, curiosity is rewarded, and impact is real. We’re a company of doers, thinkers and builders, united by purpose and grounded in reality. If you want to put your skills to work where the stakes are real and the mission is bigger than any one person, forge the future with Voyager. The P rincipal Technical Director, National Security for our Technology and Advanced Development group is responsible for serving as the senior technical leader for our national security Advanced Programs portfolio. In this role, you will drive the technical vision for the future of emerging, high-impact space technologies, leading Voyager's investments in non-kinetic effects, space control, intelligence systems, edge computing, cyber, and multi-regime communications. We are looking for a passionate human who has deep familiarity with hardware, software, and algorithms across the space domain, and who can direct how novel technologies are incubated and applied across existing programs to reach deployed, mission-critical capability for the warfighter. You must be as comfortable defining and executing complex research and development programs as you are productizing outcomes into monetizable commercial motions. This is a high-impact leadership role that requires a rare blend of deep national security space expertise and the strategic ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams. You will not just be setting technical direction; you will be responsible for ensuring that our Advanced Programs investments translate into deployed capabilities for our government customers. The position reports to the Chief Technology Officer and is part of the Advanced Technology Group, based in either Long Beach, CA or Washington D.C. In this role, the essential functions are:

• Technical Leadership & Vision: Own the technology strategy for Voyager's national security Advanced Programs portfolio, serving as the ultimate technical authority across intelligence collection, non-kinetic effects, space control, cyber, autonomy, and multi-regime communications, and ensuring alignment with Defense & Intelligence growth objectives.
• R&D Execution: Lead the execution of complex, high-stakes R&D programs (CRAD/IRAD) for next-generation national security systems, managing the IRAD pipeline end to end and ensuring technical risks are managed and solutions delivered on schedule.
• End-to-End System Architecture: Architect end-to-end systems bridging hardware, software, and mission software across the Advanced Programs portfolio, ensuring seamless integration across both space and ground segments.
• Productization & Commercialization: Bridge the “valley of death” by guiding technologies from TRL 3–6 into robust, productized solutions ready for manufacturing and deployment, partnering with product and business teams to define commercialization strategies.
• Team Building & Mentorship: Build, inspire, and mentor a world-class, multidisciplinary engineering organization spanning advanced national security space disciplines.
• Growth & Business Development Support: Partner with Growth, Business Development, and Capture teams to refine customer requirements, shape solution spaces, and provide the technical grounding needed to win major government contracts.
• Corporate Development Support: Support due diligence and post-acquisition integration for inorganic growth opportunities that expand Voyager's national security technology portfolio. If your experience aligns with our basic qualifications and you are inspired by our mission, we’d like to connect. If you don’t see the right role right now, Join Our Talent Community and stay connected as we continue to build what’s next.
• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field
• Security Clearance: Must currently hold an active U.S. Top Secret / SCI Security Clearance; this is a hard requirement and candidates without an active clearance will not be considered.
• National Security Space Systems Expertise: Demonstrated background designing, developing, and deploying national security space systems, including intelligence collection, space control, and communications, with direct experience navigating space-environment constraints such as radiation hardening, thermal management, and long-duration mission reliability.
• Algorithm Development: Strong track record designing and developing complex algorithms across space digital systems domains, and applying modern compute and AI/ML techniques to national security engineering problems.
• R&D Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams through the full lifecycle of advanced R&D programs, from white paper to prototype to deployment.
• Domain Expertise: Demonstrated background fielding capability in one or more space technology domains, including space control, SIGINT, cyber, autonomy, networks, or non-kinetics.
• Programmatic Execution: Familiarity with the unique challenges of government R&D contracting, including experience delivering against technical milestones for customers such as DARPA, SCO, AFRL, NRO, or the Space Force.
• Proposal Development: Proven proposal development experience, including contributing to technical volumes and cost estimations for complex government solicitations. Preferred Qualifications
• Master's or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Background across Title 10 and Title 50 space systems and distributed operations.
• Technical domain experience in non-kinetic and kinetic effects, SIGINT/GEOINT, EW, cyber resilience, or space control.
• Direct experience with space-based technology programs for DoD or Intelligence Community customers, and a demonstrated history of leading winning national security proposals.
• Exposure to classified program offices, SAP portfolios, and associated budgets.
• Willingness to travel up to 25% to customer sites, test ranges, and Voyager locations. The good faith base salary range for this role is $225,000 - $300,000 at the time of this posting. Where you fall within the range depends on your experience, skills, and location. This range reflects base salary only and does not include benefits or bonus/incentive. This range may be adjusted in the future. Voyager offers a highly competitive total compensation package designed to support the well-being, growth, and success of our employees. Employees benefit from a flexible and comprehensive rewards program that supports both professional and personal well-being.
• Flexible Time Off (FTO), empowering employees to take the time they need to recharge and maintain a healthy work-life balance
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their families, with a significant portion of premiums covered by the company and many benefits paid at 100% for employees
• Flexible, affordable gym memberships with 12,700+ options nationwide, including 24 Hour Fitness, EoS Fitness, Crunch Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Blink Fitness, Chuze Fitness, and more!