Vice President, Mission Assurance

Overview

The Vice President of Mission Assurance is the senior-most executive accountable for the strategic and operational leadership of the Mission Assurance function across a $17B portfolio. This role owns the direction, execution, and continuous evolution of assurance practices that directly impact national security, multi-billion dollar program performance, and the integrity of global corporate credentials. Operating through a tiered leadership structure of Senior Directors and Directors, the VP sets the multi-year strategy, resolves high-consequence cross-enterprise issues, and serves as the principal advocate to executive stakeholders for modern, risk-based assurance models.

• Functional Ownership:
  Lead the strategic direction of the Mission Assurance function for the Leidos enterprise, ensuring alignment between quality operations and long-term corporate business objectives.
• Enterprise Strategy Translation:
  Convert corporate-level goals into executable assurance plans across diverse business sectors (e.g., Defense, Homeland, Intelligence).
• High-Level Resource Optimization:
  Establish workforce strategies to ensure the portfolio is supported by a technically elite and appropriately scaled assurance organization.
• Final Decision Authority:
  Serve as the executive authority for Mission Assurance matters affecting $1B+ programs, multi-sector portfolios, and critical delivery milestones.
• High-Consequence
  
  Risk Management:
  
  Lead initiatives with significant impact on corporate financial performance, delivery confidence, and the defensibility of corporate credentials.
• Strategic Trade Decisions:
  Address highly complex, ambiguous issues requiring expert judgment and enterprise-level trade decisions between schedule, cost, and mission integrity.
• Enterprise Influence:
  Influence Sector Leadership, Growth Officers, and Program Management teams to adopt and fund modern assurance concepts and operating models.
• Strategic Stakeholder Engagement:
  Manage the corporation’s interface with external certification bodies and government regulators to ensure enterprise certifications (AS9100, CMMI, ISO) support mission success.
• Executive Decision Forums:
  Lead briefings and forums involving the organization's most sensitive and high-value program portfolios.
• Lifecycle Integrity:
  Ensure the assurance of critical engineering and program products that drive downstream cost and performance for the nation’s most complex systems.
• Enterprise Governance:
  Oversee governance of quality plans, global audit systems, and corrective action frameworks.
• Systemic Resolution:
  Drive resolution of difficult, multi-year systemic issues spanning multiple programs, global sites, or international customers.
• Global Credential Management:
  Maintain enterprise-wide compliance and certification integrity for AS9100, ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 20000-1, CMMI-DEV, and CMMI-SVC.
• Modernization of Compliance:
  Lead the digital transformation of compliance execution to increase defensibility and efficiency across the Leidos portfolio.
• Tiered Leadership Management:
  Direct an expansive Mission Assurance organization managed through Senior Directors and Directors across multiple geographic regions.
• Executive Talent Development:
  Exercise full hiring, promotion, and reward authority, focusing on building a pipeline of future leaders in Mission Assurance.

• Tier-1 Executive
  
  Experience:
  
  15+ years in the Aerospace & Defense industry with a proven track record of managing a complex, global function within a $10B–$20B+ environment.
• Proven Strategic Impact:
  Demonstrated success in leading strategy and operations with enterprise-level impact on multi-billion dollar programs.
• Influencing at the Highest Levels:
  Proven ability to influence Executive leadership and lead through extreme ambiguity and high-stakes conflict.

• Large-Scale Modernization:
  Experience modernizing legacy quality/assurance operating models within a Tier-1 Defense Prime.
• Complex Program Support:
  Direct experience supporting "Program of Record" deliveries for major DOD or Intelligence Community customers.
• Security Clearance:
  Active Top Secret (TS/SCI) is…