Job Description
Job DescriptionDirector of Innovation Position Description
The Director of Innovation is responsible for establishing and leading the strategy and operational execution of innovations at Zermount, with a focus on the development of technical solutions through visualization, automation, and orchestration. This role ensures cross-functional support to current federal clients (TSA, LOC, USPTO, etc.), new or potential customers, and corporate initiatives (as approved by executive leadership). You will play a role in shaping the firm's innovation strategy, supporting business development, operations, and clients promoting and the adoption of emerging technologies and methodologies. This role requires a balance of hands-on delivery, strategic foresight, and operational excellence.
Duties & Responsibilities
Client-Facing Delivery (100% Billable)
- Lead the design and implementation of innovative solutions for federal clients, ensuring alignment with contract requirements, mission objectives and compliant with governance.
- Serve as a senior technical leader embedded within federal client engagements, delivering transformative solutions that align with agency missions.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to government clients, stakeholders, and contract PM's, translating complex challenges into actionable strategies.
- Drive adoption of emerging technologies (e.g., Zero Trust, Automated ATO's, SOAR, SIEM, AI/ML, Cloud, data analytics, etc.) within client environments.
- Provide subject matter expertise in delivering contract requirement and deliverables
- Coordination with program teams to align innovation priorities with billable work, deliverable, strategic vision and mission outcomes.
Drive development of automation, orchestration, and visualization solutions
- Deliver solutions that meet requirements (based on contract deliverable and schedule) reusable dashboards, templates, or automation scripts annually.
KPI Standards:
§ 90% QA pass rate at initial delivery for solutions.
§ 100% of deliverables meet deadlines and approved schedule timelines.
Stand up and manage Zermount's innovation function
- Complete charter, Agile SOPs, and Innovation governance structure
- Formalize team stand-up and hold recurring syncs with SMS, Security Architects and Management Teams weekly.
KPI Standards:
§ Complete charter, Agile SOPs, and governance structure within 60 days.
§ Formalize team stand-up and hold recurring syncs with EA and PMO weekly.
Innovation Lab Development and Management
The Director of Innovation will establish and oversee the Zermount Corporate Innovation Lab as a hub for testing, visualizing, and automating advanced solutions and capabilities. The Lab will drive client-focused innovation, align with corporate strategy, and incorporate sustainable and secure practices.
- Strategic Planning & Stand-Up: Lead the design, roadmap, and launch of the Innovation Lab to align with corporate and client priorities.
- Security & Compliance: Ensure the Lab meets all federal cybersecurity and compliance requirements with strong governance and access controls.
- Innovation & Sustainability: Direct the development of client-aligned prototypes and use cases while embedding sustainable, scalable practices.
- Operations & Maintenance (O&M): Oversee efficient day-to-day operations, system resilience, and lifecycle management of Lab infrastructure.
- Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing: Drive cross-functional engagement and showcase Lab outputs through executive briefings, client demos, and corporate knowledge repositories.
KPI Standards:
§ Infrastructure: Lab fully operational within 180 days with approved plan and cost analysis.
§ Sustainability: Full compliance with efficiency and sustainability standards (CMMC and NIST).
§ Innovation: Deliver at least 1 client-aligned prototype per quarter.
§ Knowledge Sharing: Provide quarterly executive demos and one cross-functional workshop.
§ O&M: Maintain 85% uptime with all systems updated and patched.
§ Adoption: Achieve 75% program/BD integration of Lab tools and resources within year one.
Ensure innovation projects are billable and aligned to active client requirements
- Establish and promote best practices in delivery, innovation, and client engagement across the organization.
- Mentor and develop junior staff, driving a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
- Interface with corporate leadership to align innovation efforts with strategic goals and growth targets.
KPI Standards:
§ Maintain ≥85% innovation output aligned to client-defined tasks or SOW deliverables.
§ Client satisfaction meets or exceeds a very good (ensuring solutions are a benefit to the government / client) throughout each POP.
Coordinate delivery using Agile practices
- Operate within an Agile delivery framework, responsible for managing backlog refinement, sprint planning, retrospectives, and showcasing innovations across the organization.
- Ensure all efforts are captured in an Agile Sprint-based schedule.
- Maintain bi-weekly sprint cycle with retrospectives and backlog grooming.
- The Director will operate within an Agile delivery framework, responsible for managing backlog refinement, sprint planning, retrospectives, and showcasing innovations across the organization.
- Coordination with program teams to align innovation priorities with billable work, deliverable, strategic vision and mission outcomes.
KPI Standards:
§ Deliver 95% of sprint commitments per Agile cycle.
§ Maintain bi-weekly sprint cycle with retrospectives and backlog grooming.
Corporate Growth and Proposals
- Support proposal development, including technical solutioning and writing, win themes, color team reviews, and discriminators for new and recompete opportunities.
- Collaborate with capture and BD teams to shape innovation narratives and align solutions with agency priorities.
KPI Standards:
§ 90% Delivery of support for proposals assigned
Collaboration and Team Structure
The Director of Innovation will establish and lead Zermount's innovation practice by working closely with Executives, Directors, Managers, and cross-functional teams to include: (Technical Project Lead (TPL), Quality Assurance Engineer (QAE), HOH fellowship/skill-bridge and internship programs).
Innovation Showcases / Demonstration & Communication
- Deliver monthly innovation showcases to internal and external stakeholders, highlighting emerging capabilities, technologies, environment/infrastructure, automation or visualization tools aligned to customer and contract priorities, solicit feedback and ensure requirements are scheduled in the backlog.
- Provide briefing decks and live demonstrations to executives, CORs, and federal clients and stakeholders to increase adoption of innovative solutions, driving efficiencies and improve effectiveness of our solutions and operations.
- Promote reusable solutions and shared practices
- Maintain a Zermount secure repository of reusable innovation briefs, dashboards, and proof-of-concept (POC) assets.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Success in this role will be measured using the following KPIs:
§ At least one (1) of billable innovative initiatives launched per quarter
§ 90%+ Percentage of innovative initiatives mapped to active client deliverables
§ Conduct monthly showcases to demonstrate active innovation and solicit feedback.
§ Monthly innovation showcase sessions
§ Time-to-value of implemented innovation from prototype to client usage (Target: <45 days - or in accordance with Sprint schedule)
§ Number of reusable innovative capabilities or solutions made available across programs (Target: 4+ per year)
§ Deliver at least one innovation demo each quarter to exec/COR audience. Client feedback or adoption rate of implemented innovations (Target: >90% satisfaction)
§ Number of Agile sprints completed with validated innovation deliverables (Target: Bi-weekly sprint cadence).
§ Cross-program adoption of at least 1 innovation outputs annually.
§ QA pass rate of new solutions at first release (Target: 90%+)
Qualifications
- 10+ years in technical delivery, innovation leadership, and federal contracting/consulting.
- Proven success in leading client engagements and delivering mission-aligned solutions.
- Strong understanding of federal acquisition, compliance, and technology trends.
- Proven experience with emerging technologies and automation platforms such as Splunk, Swimlane, ServiceNow, or similar tools.
- Strong understanding of cybersecurity practices, frameworks and major federal government initiatives, project management tools, and GRC frameworks.
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams and deliver operational technical solutions.
- Familiarity with federal innovation frameworks (e.g., Zero Trust; TMF; DevSecOps; NIST RMF, and CSF; FedRAMP, CMMC, etc.).
- Experience with agile delivery, human-centered design, and digital transformation.
- Experience supporting federal proposals and capturing efforts.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related Technical field. Years of experience may be substituted in lieu of a degree.
Certifications
- At least one of the following certifications is required: Expert level certification in technologies or frameworks such as Splunk, ServiceNow, Palo Alto, ITIL, Lean Six Sigma, Cloud Security Solutions Architect (AWS, Azure, Google), TOGAF, SAFe Agilist or Scrum Master, CISSP, CISM, or similar (as approved by Executive Leadership).
Clearance
- Minimum of active Secret but Top Secret preferred).
Work Location
- Primary location is Zermount HQ, located at 2111 Wilson Blvd. Ste 200, Arlington, VA 22201. Remote work is authorized with occasional onsite support at either Zermount HQ or any of our client sites (e.g., TSA, LOC, USPTO, etc.).