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Government-Facing Roles (for TS/SCI+)

If you have a TS/SCI clearance, getting into an organization that supports government work is a great way to get a foothold. The technical bar isn’t always as high, your ability to liaise with customers is valued, and few candidates have a TS/SCI so its a smaller pool for competition. TS/SCI with full scope polygraph > TS/SCI with CI polygraph > TS/SCI. Any recruiter should be able to tell you upfront how the company compensates employees for clearances, it’s generally not negotiable.

  1. Who: Public Sector Organizations of Cloud at AWS/Google/Azure

    1. What:

      1. These organizations typically have SWE, TPM, and professional services (technical consultant / solution architect) roles for people with TS/SCI clearances

      2. Often more client-facing, travel involved. Will likely need to be in a hub (e.g., Washington DC for the intelligence community, Los Angeles for Navy-facing roles that work out of San Diego)

    2. How:

      1. Interview practices should be similar, compensation might be similar

    3. Benefit:

      1. Getting into these orgs can be a great “side door” to get into big tech. You may not want to stay in a government role for too long (or else be professionally considered a government-only person) but you can stay for a year or two then try to move internally to a commercial facing team

      2. I’ve heard Azure and AWS give some kind of bonus (e.g., 10-15% of base salary) for having a clearance in a cleared role

  2. Who: Digital Practices of Consulting Organizations (McKinsey, Booz Allen)

    1. What: 

      1. These companies have defense/intelligence client bases that require TS/SCI + SWE or Data Science skills. Technical bar won’t always be as high. Great for people looking to stay in Washington D.C.

      2. Problem solving skills + customer facing abilities + technical skills are quite valued here

      3. You may not work on the most advanced tech stacks, but sometimes you can touch really cool government mission sets

    2. Warnings:

      1. You won’t be a management consultant (e.g., at McKinsey, Bain, BCG), so you’re not the driving force in the organization and may not have the career growth opportunities

      2. For e.g., McKinsey, the government practice is small relative to the private sector practice. That limits opportunities

    3. How:

      1. You will be expected to pass some form of case interviews + technical screenings for these roles

    4. Examples

      1. McKinsey has a defense and Intel / analytics practice that has previously looked for TS/SCI-cleared data science candidates at the equivalent level of engagement manager (mid-senior role) for ~$240k

      2. Booz Allen had fully remote ML engineering roles in late 2022 for ~$180k. Current job postings for ML Engineers have a top range of $212k  and NLP Engineering Leads with TS/SCI go as high as $275k

  3. Large Defense Tech Companies

    1. Who: Palantir, Anduril

    2. What: These are successful companies viewed pretty well by the tech industry. They hire talented ex mil-tech folks. Not an easy / automatic interview process by any means. Palantir actually does a significant amount of non-government work and is public (stock is liquid). Anduril is still private (so do you believe the valuation?). Business margins for Palantir seem lower so compensation is good for tech but not ultra-high from what I’ve seen

  4. A note on C3

    1. I have some very capable friends who work at C3. However, I’ve heard the culture isn’t great (so do your research) and it’s viewed as a solutions implementation company. This means if you get a job there then try to transition to pure tech / product work you may have a harder time. “Solutions” isn’t looked at kindly by high-margin SaaS companies but it’s a very real business model!

  5. Small Defense Tech Startups

    1. Who: 

      1. Rebellion Defense, Second Front Systems, Vannevar Labs, Defense Unicorns

    2. What:

      1. Companies without huge revenues but maybe large tech valuations

    3. Warning:

      1. Defense Tech was very hot in 2021/2022. Companies raised a lot of money but a lot didn’t pan out. Government sales cycles are super slow so be circumspect about what their actual revenues are (not what’s in the pipeline). They may be great companies, but it’s a hard market. Palantir and Anduril have had success so I exclude them here

      2. Warning tale on Rebellion Defense