Director of Tampa Operations and SOCOM

Position Summary 

VES is seeking a senior leader to serve as the Director of Tampa Operations, SOCOM, DHS, &  Business Development. This position combines business development, site leadership, customer engagement, contract oversight, team management, and tactical experimentation operations execution. 

The Director will establish and lead VES's Tampa presence, serve as the company's senior representative to U.S. Special Operations Command and other regional and non-DoW government customers, and build a sustainable growth platform for VES products and engineering services. 

This role requires a leader who understands how government customers identify requirements, approve solutions, secure funding, award contracts, and evaluate contractor performance. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable meeting with senior government leaders, coaching technical teams, reviewing contract performance, resolving execution issues, developing industry partnerships, and converting customer needs into qualified revenue opportunities. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Tampa Site Leadership 
  • Establish, lead, and grow VES operations in the Tampa region. 
  • Serve as the senior VES representative for Tampa-based customers, partners, employees, and community stakeholders. 
  • Manage office operations, staffing priorities, workplace requirements, security coordination, and local administrative/logistics needs. 
  • Develop the Tampa office (TBD facility location) into a regional center for customer engagement, demonstrations, operational support, partner collaboration, and business development. 
  • Promote a professional, accountable, customer-focused culture aligned with VES values and business objectives. 
  • Coordinate Tampa activities with VES executive leadership, engineering, program management, contracts, finance, security, and business development teams. 
• SOCOM and Government Customer Engagement 
  • Serve as VES's primary relationship lead for USSOCOM and other assigned government organizations. 
  • Build and maintain relationships with operational users, acquisition professionals, program managers, contracting officers, technical leaders, budget personnel, and senior decision-makers. 
  • Develop a detailed understanding of customer missions, capability gaps, acquisition strategies, funding sources, schedules, and approval processes. 
  • Translate operational needs into actionable technical, contracting, and business development strategies. 
  • Coordinate customer meetings, demonstrations, technical exchanges, industry engagements, and executive-level briefings. 
  • Maintain regular customer contact throughout the opportunity, contract execution, and follow-on funding lifecycle. 
  • Ensure customer concerns, requirements, and emerging opportunities are communicated rapidly to the appropriate VES leaders. 
• Business Development and Market Expansion 
  • Develop and execute a Tampa and SOCOM growth strategy for VES products, engineering services, and integrated solutions. 
  • Identify new customers whose missions align with VES capabilities, intellectual property, technical expertise, and product portfolio. 
  • Build a qualified pipeline of new opportunities, contract expansions, follow-on work, product sales, and funded backlog. 
  • Qualify opportunities based on customer need, executive endorsement, funding availability, acquisition pathway, schedule, competition, and probability of award. 
  • Lead or support capture planning, customer shaping, opportunity reviews, proposal development, pricing inputs, presentations, demonstrations, and contract transition activities. 
  • Identify acquisition pathways including task orders, contract modifications, subcontracts, CSOs/Other Transaction Agreements, VULCAN / SOFWERX opportunities, reseller channels, and partner-led pursuits. 
  • Maintain accurate opportunity, customer, partner, and activity information in VES's CRM and internal reporting systems. 
  • Provide forecasts, pipeline updates, customer intelligence, and recommended actions to executive leadership. 
  • Create measurable expansion plans for adjacent defense, federal, state, local, and commercial customers. 
• Industry Partnership Development 
  • Identify and cultivate relationships with defense contractors, technology firms, integrators, small businesses, research organizations, and other complementary companies. 
  • Establish partnerships that increase VES access to customers, contract vehicles, technical capabilities, product channels, and competitive opportunities. 
  • Evaluate prospective partners for strategic alignment, technical compatibility, contract access, customer credibility, and financial value. 
  • Develop teaming arrangements, subcontracting relationships, reseller opportunities, joint demonstrations, and co-developed solutions. 
  • Coordinate partner activities with VES leadership, contracts, engineering, and legal personnel. 
  • Protect VES intellectual property, customer relationships, and strategic interests in all partnership discussions. 
• Contract and Program Oversight 
  • Provide senior oversight for assigned Tampa and SOCOM contracts (starting with JATF), task orders, projects, and customer commitments. 
  • Monitor contract scope, funding, deliverables, schedule, staffing, risks, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. 
  • Coordinate closely with program managers, technical leads, contracts personnel, finance, and executive leadership. 
  • Ensure teams understand contract requirements, customer priorities, performance standards, and expected outcomes. 
  • Identify and resolve execution issues before they affect customer trust, schedule, cost, or contract performance. 
  • Support funding modifications, option exercises, contract extensions, follow-on task orders, and scope expansion. 
  • Maintain awareness of contract ceilings, funded backlog, unfunded backlog, period of performance, burn rates, staffing needs, and projected revenue. 
  • Participate in program reviews, contract reviews, financial reviews, risk reviews, and customer status meetings. 
  • Ensure potential changes to scope, funding, schedule, or staffing are documented and elevated through appropriate governance channels. 
• Tactical Operations Execution Oversight 
  • Oversee the planning and execution of customer demonstrations, exercises, field events, technical evaluations, operational assessments, and product deployments. 
  • Ensure tactical activities are properly staffed, coordinated, resourced, and aligned with customer objectives. 
  • Confirm readiness of equipment, software, personnel, logistics, security, travel, documentation, and technical support. 
  • Establish clear roles, responsibilities, decision authorities, escalation paths, and success criteria for operational events. 
  • Monitor execution in real time and resolve operational, customer, technical, or resource issues. 
  • Lead or support after-action reviews and ensure lessons learned are converted into corrective actions, product improvements, customer follow-up, and future opportunities. 
  • Maintain a strong focus on safety, security, mission effectiveness, and customer confidence. 
• Team Leadership 
  • Lead, mentor, and develop Tampa-based personnel and assigned cross-functional teams. 
  • Establish clear priorities, accountability, performance expectations, and communication rhythms. 
  • Coordinate staffing plans with program management, engineering, human resources, and executive leadership. 
  • Support recruiting, onboarding, professional development, succession planning, and employee retention. 
  • Build effective teams across business development, operations, engineering, contracts, and program management functions. 
  • Encourage disciplined execution while maintaining the agility required to support operational customers. 
  • Resolve organizational barriers, clarify ownership, and ensure commitments are completed. 

Required Qualifications 

• Former U.S. Government civilian with at least 20 years of experience supporting government acquisition, program management, technical organizations, operations, or related mission areas. 
• Significant experience leading multidisciplinary technical, acquisition, program, or operational teams. 
• Expert knowledge of U.S. Government organizations, decision-making structures, acquisition processes, budgeting, appropriations, funding execution, and approval processes. 
• Demonstrated experience working with senior government leaders, acquisition executives, program offices, contracting organizations, operational users, and industry partners. 
• Strong understanding of government contract execution, task orders, funding modifications, contract options, deliverables, schedules, risk management, and contractor performance. 
• Demonstrated ability to translate government mission needs into executable technical and contracting approaches. 
• Experience managing customer relationships and resolving complex performance, funding, staffing, or execution issues. 
• Demonstrated success building partnerships across government and industry. 
• Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, briefing, and executive engagement skills. 
• Ability to operate independently, make sound decisions, and coordinate effectively across geographically dispersed teams. 
• Must reside in or relocate to the Tampa, Florida area. 

Desired Qualifications 

• Direct experience supporting USSOCOM, subordinate commands, Special Operations Forces, or associated program and acquisition organizations. 
• Existing professional relationships within the Tampa defense and national security community. 
• Experience with command-and-control systems, tactical software, mission systems, edge computing, tactical communications, data integration, or related defense technologies. 
• Experience supporting product demonstrations, operational evaluations, exercises, fielding activities, or rapid capability initiatives. 
• Experience with capture management, pipeline development, proposals, pricing, contract vehicles, and government-industry teaming. 
• Experience leading a regional office, business unit, program portfolio, or customer account. 
• Familiarity with CRM, ERP, project management, and financial management systems. 
• Project Management Professional certification, Defense Acquisition Workforce credentials, or equivalent government acquisition training. 
• Degree in business, engineering, acquisition, program management, national security, or related discipline. 

Benefits 

• Competitive salary 
• 401(k) plan with company match 
• Comprehensive health insurance 
• Up to 15 paid vacation days per year 
• 11 paid holidays 
• Tuition reimbursement 

Equal Opportunity Employer 

VES, LLC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law