Director, Rapid Innovation Strategy (Job ID:4310)

Director of Rapid Innovation Strategy Purpose: Valkyrie Enterprises is seeking a strategic, mission‑driven leader to serve as Director of Rapid Innovation Strategy. This director‑level role will drive the strategic direction, external positioning, and senior‑government engagement efforts that accelerate transition pathways for emerging capabilities within the Frontier Innovation Response (FNR) ecosystem. This opportunity is REMOTE. Job Description: The Director of Rapid Innovation Strategy leads the design and execution of enterprise‑level innovation strategy for FNR. This role shapes FNR’s long‑range roadmap by identifying market gaps and capability seams across the Department of Warfighter (DoW) community; developing transition, insertion, and commercialization pathways; and cultivating senior‑government, prime contractor, and innovation‑directorate relationships that translate early‑stage concepts into funded programs of record. Responsibilities include guiding opportunity prioritization across prototyping, experimentation, and rapid‑fielding sponsors; crafting customer‑facing narratives and external brand identity for FNR’s product portfolio; driving go‑to‑market strategies for productized solutions; and serving as the principal liaison between FNR and DoW program offices, primes, and service experimentation organizations. The role partners closely with the Director of Rapid Innovation Engineering to ensure synchronized strategy‑engineering execution and leads the build‑out of FNR’s strategy function as the organization scales. Qualifications: Must have a Bachelor’s degree and equivalent operational experience and at least 12 years in defense innovation, technology transition, rapid‑fielding, or related mission‑focused roles, with documented government‑side experience in DoW prototyping, experimentation, or rapid‑fielding organizations at the level of direct senior‑leadership engagement. Must have a demonstrated proven track record of senior‑stakeholder engagement across DoW program offices, primes, and innovation directorates; experience leading capture and commercialization of productized defense solutions. Must have a strong capability in identifying operational gaps, guiding transition strategies, and translating opportunity pipelines into funded work. Desired Qualifications: Preferred experience includes a Master’s degree in business, engineering, public policy, or a related field; senior or executive leadership experience within a defense technology organization; and direct experience with rapid‑fielding acquisition mechanisms such as OTAs, Cooperative Agreements, BAAs, IDIQs, QRTC/CTEIP, or SBIR Phase III. Additional preference for backgrounds in joint operational planning, wargaming, military utility assessment, warfighter integration, and established relationships across DoW innovation directorates and service experimentation organizations, preferred. Security Requirements: Must be able to obtain and maintain all required clearances and comply with all applicable federal security protocols. Travel Requirements: Moderate travel; approximately 20% or less. Candidates must possess valid and compliant identification credentials to access federal and military facilities as required. If position requires travel by domestic flight or access to secure federal facilities/military bases, candidate must be able to obtain (by start of position) and maintain appropriate identification credentials, such as REAL ID. (More information regarding REAL ID can be found: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id) Physical Requirements: Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periods Able to sit and work on a computer for long periods of time Moving about to accomplish tasks or moving from one worksite to another Communicating with others to exchange information Light work that includes moving objects up to 20 pounds Valkyrie strictly adheres to a policy of equal employment opportunity. This policy is based on Valkyrie’s commitment to hire and retain qualified employees consistent with position requirements; and to seek, employ, promote and treat all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth, physical disability, mental disability, age, military status or protected veteran status, marital status, registered domestic partner or civil union status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity or expression), medical condition, genetic information or sexual orientation or other protected characteristics Additionally, Valkyrie Enterprises provides a variety of benefits to eligible employees to support your best health, wellness, and future, to include medical/dental/vision options, company paid life and disability insurances, 401k with match, education reimbursement, as well as company paid holidays and paid time off (PTO) Apply To This Job