Mission Lead - Minneapolis (Clearance Required)

Posted 24 Days Ago
Be an Early Applicant
Minneapolis, MN, USA
In-Office
Entry level
Artificial Intelligence • Machine Learning • Software • Defense
Vannevar builds AI systems to solve America's hardest national security challenges.
The Role
Forward-deployed Mission Lead embedded with Department of War customers. Builds user trust, translates ambiguous mission problems into testable workflows, configures and troubleshoots AI-enabled software, onboards users, and partners with engineering and product teams to improve deployed systems. The role operates independently in secure environments, represents the company with government customers, develops new user groups, and requires approximately 75% out-of-state travel from a Minneapolis base.
Summary Generated by Built In

Vannevar builds AI systems for the Department of War's most consequential missions. We have 125 deployments across every branch and combatant command spanning our core platform and five distinct products. An an example of how we work, when major combat operations started with Iran, we fielded a new product supporting 24/7 operations and 9,000+ users in three months.
How we build is our advantage: we deploy forward with the people who own the mission. Our engineers, product team, and CTO deploy forward to the point of friction, including visiting units in Ukraine. We focus on embedding directly with operational units supporting great power competition with China, combat operations with Iran, and counter-narcotics missions.

About the role

We’re hiring a forward deployed Mission Lead to embed directly with our Department of War (DOW) customers across the United States. You’ll work as part of a mission-focused team of engineers and other mission leads to deploy software against challenging problems.  While this role requires frequent travel, we’re committed to hiring locally and strengthening Vannevar’s presence in communities—like Minnesota—that our team members already call home.  

You will travel onsite, sit alongside uniformed service members and civilian operators alike. Your job is to earn trust by creating value: understanding what users are trying to accomplish, decomposing ambiguous problems into specific mission hypotheses, testing those hypotheses through workflows in our products, and onboarding users when those workflows prove useful. 

This is not a traditional customer success, solutions, or product role. Your role is to solve complex and ambiguous problems. You will configure product workflows, test and troubleshoot new releases, triage issues, and work closely with product and engineering to make our products more effective for the people using them in the field. Some of this work will be gritty. Configurations may take hours and multiple iterations each day to get right. Expect complex problems, murky answers, and moving targets – the payoff is work that directly shapes outcomes for our users. 

You will partner with the Mission team to cultivate relationships with new user groups on site, generate wins with those users, and translate those wins into the stories that help Vannevar sustain and expand deployments. You will be the face of Vannevar for many of our users and customers. 

You will often operate independently on site. You will have support from product, engineering, mission development, and leadership, but you will be responsible for deciding where to focus and how to maximize mission impact. Roles like this are how we grow outside of traditional defense hubs, investing in innovative environments across America. 

U.S. Persons status with at least a current Top Secret clearance in required. This is a customer-facing role required to be based in Minneapolis. Work will require time in secure or classified environments and periodic travel.

What you’ll do
  • Embed with users. Sit on site with DOW customer groups and build deep intuition for their mission. 
  • Build trust. Earn credibility by understanding user problems and helping solve them over time. 
  • Turn ambiguity into hypotheses. Break complex mission problems into specific workflows that can be tested. 
  • Configure product workflows. Set up high-value workflows for users through creative, iterative configuration. 
  • Test and troubleshoot releases. Debug product issues on deployed DOW systems and work with engineering to resolve them. 
  • Generate mission wins. Identify what works, onboard users, and translate wins into evidence of impact. 
  • Develop new user groups. Build relationships with additional teams on site and identify where Vannevar can create value. 
  • Operate independently. Set priorities on site and push work through without waiting for perfect direction. 
  • Represent Vannevar. Be the face of the company with DOW users and customers. 
What we’re looking for
  • Active TS clearance. 
  • This role is based in Minnesota, and includes about 75% time travel out-of-state to sit side-by-side with users across the United States. 
  • Comfort in the field. You can build trust with users in operational environments. 
  • High ownership. You take responsibility for outcomes and operate independently. 
  • Grit and persistence. You work through ambiguity, iteration, and friction until you get to impact. 
  • Strong mission judgment. You can identify which user problems matter and where product can create value. 
  • Technical intuition. You can reason about how software systems, work, break, and how to improve them, creating real value for users. 
  • Curiosity about agentic AI. You are excited to understand, configure, and apply AI-enabled systems to create mission impact for the warfighter. 
  • Professional presence. You show up in high-stakes government environments as a trusted technical partner—not a vendor.  

What we offer
We’re proud to offer competitive benefits that support our employees. Some key highlights of our benefits package include:
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Remote friendly with WeWork access
  • Unlimited PTO, shared downtime during the federal holiday calendar, and company-wide off time at the end of each year
  • 401(k) match
  • Lifestyle & wellbeing stipends
  • Salary top-up during military reserve duty
  • Fully paid parental leave
  • Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
Vannevar is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.
 
We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, even if you don't feel like you're a perfect fit. If you're passionate about contributing to our mission, we'd love to hear from you!
 
IMPORTANT NOTICE
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.

Skills Required

  • U.S. Person status
  • Current active Top Secret security clearance
  • Must be based in Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis
  • Approximately 75% out-of-state travel
  • Ability to build trust with users in operational environments
  • Ability to operate independently and take ownership of outcomes
  • Ability to work through ambiguity, iteration, and friction
  • Strong mission judgment
  • Technical intuition regarding software systems and troubleshooting
  • Curiosity about agentic AI
  • Professional presence in high-stakes government environments

What the Team is Saying

Kainoa
Vince
Katie
Ann
Scott
Harrison

Vannevar Compensation & Benefits Highlights

  • Healthcare Strength — Healthcare is described as top-tier medical, dental, and vision coverage, with comprehensive support that includes mental-health resources. This area is repeatedly highlighted as one of the strongest parts of the package.
  • Retirement Support — Retirement support includes a 401(k) with company match (100% up to 3%, and 50% from 3–5%), indicating meaningful employer contribution to long-term savings. This structure is prominently emphasized across company materials.
  • Parental & Family Support — Parental leave and family support include fully paid 12-week leave for all new parents plus four extra weeks for new mothers, alongside family-planning assistance and caregiving stipends. Child and pet care reimbursement during required travel further expands coverage for families.

Vannevar Insights

Am I A Good Fit?
beta
Get Personalized Job Insights.
Our AI-powered fit analysis compares your resume with a job listing so you know if your skills & experience align.

The Company
Arlington, Virginia
225 Employees
Year Founded: 2019

What We Do

Vannevar combines Silicon Valley innovation with former special operators to build AI for real-world national security outcomes. Since our founding in 2019, Vannevar has deployed its technology across 125 missions, safeguarding our service members and improving our country's deterrence. We believe our military service members and intelligence officers deserve access to the best technology American innovation can offer, and we are mobilizing frontier technology for this mission. Our founders have 30 years of combined experience across AI labs, national security strategy, intelligence agencies and special operations. We're supported by a number of leading VCs, including Felicis, DFJ Growth, Point72, Costanoa, and General Catalyst. Vannevar is one of the most capital efficient defense tech companies, reaching early profitability and becoming a defense tech unicorn in 2024.

Why Work With Us

We pride ourselves on being a team of passionate, low-ego professionals who share a commitment to engineering excellence and a genuine concern for the people and AI agents we deliver. Vannevar is a company that truly cares about its people and one of our core principles is "put your wellbeing first". ​

Gallery

Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery
Gallery

Vannevar Offices

Remote Workspace

Employees work remotely.

We are distributed across the map, but united by the mission. We go where the mission takes us and deliver where others can’t. Honolulu, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York. You decide what's next.

Typical time on-site:
Company Office Image
Arlington, Virginia
Company Office Image
Honolulu, Hawaii
Company Office Image
New York, NY
Company Office Image
San Diego, California
Company Office Image
San Francisco, California
Company Office Image
Seattle, Washington
Learn more

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account