Hard Targets Project Lead

Project Lead Role Overview

Project Leads (PLs) in our work program are central to enabling sponsor mission success. They focus on sponsor decision-making, situational awareness, operational concepts, capability development, and mission management. As a Project Lead, you will be responsible for all facets of project execution, including:

• Leading and managing a multidisciplinary project team
• Shaping project and mission strategy in alignment with sponsor priorities
• Guiding sponsor development of new concepts, programs, and policies
• Helping sponsors identify, evaluate, and transition strategic capabilities from S&T organizations into operational cyber mission environments
• Overseeing the creation of deliverables, prototypes, and technical and programmatic strategies
• Serving as a key point of contact for Group Leads on staff performance, career development, and recognition for project contributors

Project Lead Responsibilities

Provide strategic and technical leadership as a trusted advisor to USCYBERCOM, shaping all tasks under the Hard Targets project.

Define and execute project objectives based on sponsor priorities, identifying where MITRE’s capabilities, cross-cutting initiatives, and external S&T investments can have the greatest mission impact.

Help sponsors transition advanced capabilities from S&T organizations into operational use by defining the desired operational end state, transition criteria, readiness measures, risks, gaps, dependencies, and required stakeholder actions.

Develop and apply repeatable decision tools and readiness assessment frameworks to help senior leaders determine whether cyber capabilities are ready to support specific campaigns, operational outcomes, or mission needs.

Translate project objectives into clear, actionable outcomes, deliverables, products, and transition plans.

Bridge the gap between emerging technology, operational needs, senior-leader decision-making, and executable transition plans.

Partner with sponsors to assess operational trade space, identify gaps, assign or recommend Offices of Primary Responsibility, and inform decisions for the USCYBERCOM mission.

Guide the integration of current and future Lines of Effort into a larger system-of-systems architecture that supports operational planning, execution, assessment, and mission management.

Select, lead, and mentor Task Leads; ensure effective staffing by partnering with MITRE resourcing organizations and executing mission engineering strategy.

Set clear expectations and goals for Task Leads and project team members, aligning work to impactful sponsor outcomes.

Identify and leverage MITRE research, internal innovation programs, and related enterprise efforts to strengthen project outcomes and accelerate mission impact.

Connect sponsor needs with relevant S&T, research, prototyping, experimentation, and transition activities across MITRE, government, academia, industry, and other mission partners.

Ensure technical and analytical quality through division quality practices, in-progress reviews, peer reviews, effective knowledge management, and regular program execution reviews.

Oversee core project administration, including financial management, Clarity entries, project pages, meeting coordination, status reporting, facility needs, and task tracking.

Serve as a key point of contact for Group Leads on staff performance, career development, and recognition for project contributors.

Basic Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering or related technical field; or 8 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 5 years’ experience, or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Self-starter with strong leadership and networking skills to reach back proactively into MITRE to identify and facilitate collaborative relationships in support of the program.
• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI U.S Government issued Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI w/Poly U.S. Government issued Security Clearance.
• This position requires a minimum of 4 days a week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep understanding of offensive cyberspace operations, target system analysis, and the intelligence lifecycle, with the ability to connect intelligence, targeting, capability development, execution, and assessment to operational cyber mission outcomes.
• Experience working with S&T organizations such as DARPA, IARPA, Service laboratories, government laboratories, FFRDCs, UARCs, academia, industry research organizations, or other advanced R&D entities.
• Demonstrated success transitioning strategic capabilities from research, prototype, experimentation, or demonstration environments into operational mission use.
• Experience developing transition strategies, operational end states, readiness criteria, capability roadmaps, risk assessments, and system-of-systems integration approaches.
• Ability to help sponsors determine whether cyber capabilities are ready to deploy, what gaps must be addressed, and what actions are required to transition capabilities into campaign-ready operational use.
• Exceptional communication, collaboration, organization, and leadership skills.
• Prioritized management of technical tasks and large engineering or multidisciplinary teams.
• Effective organizational skills and discipline to keep the project well-scoped and the team focused on accomplishing specific project objectives.
• Quickly respond to changing programmatic, operational, and political environments while keeping strategic focus intact.
• Strong understanding of how to move capabilities into an integrated enterprise, including identifying gaps, dependencies, responsible organizations, transition risks, and conditions required for operational adoption.
• Proven ability to develop a trusted advisor relationship with a DoD or government sponsor.
• Demonstrated success working across organizational boundaries to deliver results.
• Proven ability to connect operational cyber needs with emerging technologies, research investments, experimentation results, and transition opportunities.
• Strong understanding of how to move capabilities into an integrated enterprise, including identifying gaps, dependencies, responsible organizations, transition risks, and conditions required for operational adoption.