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Fractional contractWashington, D.C. preferred · U.S. remote possible

Fractional Federal Programs and Compliance Lead

Turn federal commitments into controlled delivery, evidence, invoicing, and operational execution.

Why this role

Federal delivery introduces obligations that do not belong in an engineer's spare time: contract flow-downs, deliverable calendars, invoicing, security evidence, and coordination with primes and contracting personnel.

This role creates lightweight operating discipline without building a management layer or separating compliance from engineering delivery.

How we hire

High Energy. High Intelligence. Low Ego.

H₂O is Aten's standard for enthusiasm, competence, and character. We look for people who create momentum, exercise sound judgment, and put truth and the mission ahead of credit.

Read our hiring philosophy

What you will own

  • Translate awards and subcontracts into delivery calendars, responsibility matrices, and evidence checklists.
  • Track deliverables, acceptance criteria, invoices, modifications, reporting, and customer actions.
  • Coordinate registrations, representations, supplier portals, and subcontract flow-downs.
  • Support technical RFI and RFP shaping while separating supported claims from proposed future work.
  • Coordinate NIST 800-171, CMMC, FIPS, SBOM, vulnerability-response, and ATO evidence when applicable.
  • Track prime-contractor dependencies, restricted-data boundaries, audit records, and contract closeout.
  • Escalate legal, accounting, export-control, facility-clearance, and personnel-clearance questions to qualified specialists.

Expected outcomes

Milestones, not activity theater.

First week

Review the governing agreements and deliver a sourced obligation register, delivery calendar, risk memo, evidence structure, and owner assignments.

Initial engagement

Bring one funded workstream to delivery and invoice readiness with accurate deadlines, accepted evidence, documented escalations, and a concise weekly exception report.

What we are looking for

  • Direct experience delivering DoD technology contracts as a prime or subcontractor, or comparable civilian federal software delivery.
  • Working knowledge of FAR and DFARS flow-downs, OT agreements, fixed-price delivery, invoicing, and subcontract management.
  • Experience with software, cybersecurity, AI, SBIR/STTR, CSO, OTA, or similar federal programs.
  • Ability to build lightweight operating controls suitable for an early-stage software company.
  • Strong written records, deadline management, and communication with contracting teams.
  • Enough technical fluency to map AWS and Terraform delivery evidence to contract obligations.

Useful experience

  • NAVWAR, Army, Air Force, intelligence-community, or federal health programs
  • Prime-contractor capture and subcontract administration
  • Security authorization, export-control, or classified-program coordination
  • Early-stage software or dual-use technology companies

Our working stack

  • Go, Python, Rust, and TypeScript product components
  • AWS and Terraform-managed infrastructure
  • Version-controlled compliance evidence and delivery records
  • Customer and prime-contractor procurement portals

How we evaluate

We use a hybrid process because the job requires both independent engineering judgment and effective use of AI. You should be able to reason without a model, then use one to move faster while reviewing its output critically.

  1. 1A focused introduction call about the engagement and your relevant work.
  2. 2A practical discussion or scoped exercise based on a representative deliverable.
  3. 3Agreement on outcomes, access boundaries, availability, and initial engagement timing.

Location and travel

Washington, D.C. preferred · U.S. remote possible

Periodic travel to government, prime-contractor, and team locations.