Technical Product Engineering Lead

About the role

Two Six Technologies is looking for a Technical Product Engineering Lead to join our team in Arlington, Virginia. This person will serve as the technical team lead for one of our hardware security products, owning the end-to-end technical vision and design decisions that span hardware, FPGA, embedded firmware, and software. In addition to setting technical direction, you will be a hands-on team member working alongside other passionate, motivated engineers across hardware, FPGA, and software disciplines to rapidly transition new prototype products to larger-scale production in service of important national security missions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical team lead, owning the end-to-end system architecture and technical roadmap across hardware, FPGA, embedded firmware, and software.
• Lead the engineering team through key architectural and design tradeoff decisions across hardware/FPGA/embedded/software boundaries, ensuring a cohesive, secure system design.
• Act as the primary technical point of contact and decision-maker for the product.
• Lead the planning and execution of a group of tasks associated with one or more technical projects or functions, managing task prioritization and schedule management.
• Provide technical guidance, direction, and mentorship to engineering team members.
• Mature proof-of-concept R&D technology to operational fieldable solutions.
• Develop testing strategies and lead the implementation of unit, integration, and hardware-in-loop test regimens to ensure high reliability and resilience in delivered products.
• Lead the effort to minimize maintenance overhead of a growing product suite by applying scalable and modular design methodologies.
• Engage in technical exchanges with transition partners and key stakeholders.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer/Electrical Engineering, or related technical domain.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience with two or more of the following modern programming languages: Python, C, C++, Embedded C, Rust, Go.
• Strong experience with Embedded Linux, including Yocto-based build systems.
• Linux kernel development experience (drivers, subsystems, or kernel-space debugging).
• Experience working alongside FPGA and hardware teams.
• Experience with testing, CI/CD pipelines, and virtual machine test ranges.
• Experience deploying secure systems (e.g., secure boot, disk encryption, key management).
• Familiarity applying classical cryptographic algorithms (RSA, ECDSA, AES, SHA).
• Strong leadership and project management skills, with the ability to mentor junior engineers and drive technical execution.
• Ability to work on-site when required for hardware work in Arlington, VA.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain a DoD clearance up to Top Secret level.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing and/or customizing bootloaders such as WolfBoot, implementing secure firmware update using digital signatures.
• Hands-on experience with PCIe (device drivers, enumeration, or hardware bring-up).
• Experience shipping and iterating on production software in customers' hands.
• Graduate degree in Computer Science, Computer/Electrical Engineering, or related Scientific Domain.
• Familiarity with validation and/or certification frameworks such as FIPS 140-3, NIAP, CSfC, or others.
• Familiarity with post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and their trade-offs in their applications.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Life and disability insurance.
• Retirement benefits.
• Paid leave.
• Tuition assistance and professional development.

Pay

Salary Range: $189,353 - $245,000 USD (annualized). This is a general guideline and not a guarantee of salary. The specific salary offered is determined by various factors, including education, experience, knowledge, skills, geographic location, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements.