r/defensecontracting

Formed an IT/AI services LLC in Illinois this spring after ~6 years building payments infrastructure on AWS at a large bank. Solo for now. SAM registration in, CAGE finalizing, SDB self-certified, AWS SAA certified. Niche is cloud-native development — serverless, containers, and LLM/AI pipeline integration — which seems to be in demand on IT modernization task orders.

Current plan, in order: APEX Accelerator counseling, state/county MBE certifications (Illinois), DSBS profile + prime supplier portals, small commercial contracts to build reference-able past performance, then pursue subcontract/teaming with primes on unclassified task orders. 8(a) is a 2028 target.

For those of you who actually made the jump from "registered and credentialed but no govt past performance" to a first subcontract:

1. What was the actual mechanism of your first win — SBLO outreach, industry day, a relationship from a prior job, SubNet, something else?
2. As a solo technical founder, did primes take you seriously for 1-2 person task order roles, or did you need a teammate/bench first?
3. Anything in my sequence above you'd reorder or drop as a waste of time?
4. What do new subs consistently get wrong in their first year that you'd warn me off of?

Happy to share back what works as I go.

I'm not in defense contracting (I'm a fed) but with how bad the general swe job market is right now I see a lot of people in the industry talk about wanting to go into defense because clearance gives job security.

But it also seems like basically no one is sponsoring software/cybersecurity anymore. Are uncleared engineers actually getting hired into the industry anymore or is it pretty much just a closed loop at this point?

Hi everyone! I was interested in applying to be a provider for the Military OneSource program which has transitioned to Leidos QTC. I was contacted by a recruiter and did not respond because the email seemed like spam, asking for all required forms within 24 hours and asked for banking information to be provided in a separate form. I followed up by contacting Leidos' customer service for providers and spoke to someone who confirmed I was contacted by an actual Leidos employee and said they include the 24 hour line to encourage prompt responses. Even after confirming that this is legit Leidos, my gut is still saying something is sketchy. In the initial application they want me to include my bank information. I have never applied somewhere where on initial application they require bank information.

With all of that said, I wanted to see if anyone else has encountered this with them. Is this actually their process for bringing on providers or is this a scam?

I recently resigned from GardaWorld Federal Services after working on the WPS III contract in Ukraine, and it was one of the most disappointing professional experiences I’ve had.
The mission itself was rewarding, and I worked with some outstanding people. Supporting U.S. diplomatic operations in a war zone was something I took pride in. Unfortunately, the management culture overshadowed what could have been an excellent job.
Before accepting the position, I repeatedly asked what my day-to-day duties would actually be. The answer I consistently received was, “It’s classified.” That response made it sound as though the work was highly specialized and couldn’t be discussed beforehand. After arriving, I realized the overwhelming majority of the job consisted of driving personnel from one location to another for 12+ hours a day. While there are certainly security responsibilities involved, the reality was far different from what I had been led to expect. Had someone simply been upfront about what the job actually entailed, I could have made a fully informed decision before signing the contract.
Another major issue was how Mandatory Days Off (MDOs) were handled.
My regular schedule was six consecutive 12-hour shifts every week, Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday being my scheduled Mandatory Day Off. However, I was assigned train missions on my Monday MDO multiple times during my rotation. Each time, those assignments required me to work on what was supposed to be my scheduled day off.
After one of those train missions, I requested a compensatory day off because I believed I had worked my scheduled MDO.
The USC denied the request by arguing that my Mandatory Day Off had already occurred because of the time between my Sunday shift and my Monday train assignment. For example, if I finished my normal shift on Sunday at approximately 3:00 p.m. and wasn’t scheduled to report for the train until 6:00 p.m. on Monday, he counted that roughly 27-hour period as my 24-hour relief. In other words, rather than recognizing Monday as my scheduled Mandatory Day Off, he considered the hours immediately after I clocked out on Sunday to satisfy the 24-hour requirement—even though I was still required to report to work on my scheduled day off later that same Monday.
To me, that interpretation defeats the purpose of having a scheduled Mandatory Day Off. If employees are assigned a Tuesday through Sunday schedule with Monday designated as the MDO, it doesn’t make sense to retroactively redefine the MDO as beginning the moment Sunday’s shift ends simply because there happened to be more than 24 hours before the next assignment. I asked where that interpretation was defined in the WPS III contract, but I was never shown any language supporting it.
What made the situation even more frustrating was that I had coworkers who were given compensatory days off after working train missions on their scheduled Mandatory Days Off. From what I personally observed, the policy did not appear to be applied consistently. While some employees received compensatory MDOs after working their scheduled day off, my request was denied based on the interpretation that the hours between the end of my Sunday shift and the start of my Monday train assignment already satisfied the 24-hour MDO requirement. That inconsistency only added to the confusion and raised questions about how the policy was actually being administered.
After this happened, I spoke with a more senior coworker about the situation. He told me that, in his opinion, management was more likely to deny compensatory days to newer or junior employees because more senior employees would push back and create enough of an issue that management would rather approve the comp day than argue over it. I can’t verify whether that’s actually how decisions were made, but hearing that from someone with significantly more time on the contract, combined with seeing coworkers receive different treatment for similar situations, reinforced my perception that the policy was not being applied consistently. It was one of the reasons I continued asking management and HR to identify where these interpretations were actually supported by the WPS III contract.
This wasn’t an isolated issue. I personally worked train details on my scheduled Monday MDO multiple times, and I observed other employees also being required to work what should have been their Mandatory Days Off. Despite that, there was very little transparency regarding how those days were tracked, replaced, or compensated. Even after asking supervisors, HR, and the contracting office for clarification, I still haven’t been shown where these practices are authorized under the WPS III contract.
Communication from some supervisors was equally disappointing. Rather than addressing concerns directly with employees, issues were sometimes communicated through other coworkers instead of speaking to the employee face-to-face. It created an environment that felt passive-aggressive and unprofessional.
I also witnessed supervisors publicly embarrass employees over relatively minor issues instead of coaching them privately. One example involved a medic who was questioned in front of others about why he wasn’t carrying his second medical bag. The medic gave what I thought were reasonable explanations in response, but instead of ending the discussion, the supervisor continued presenting increasingly unlikely “what-if” scenarios to counter each answer. Eventually, the conversation ended with the medic being given an ultimatum: either carry the second medical bag at all times or everyone would be placed on 12-hour shifts. From my perspective, what could have been a simple coaching conversation became an unnecessary public confrontation that embarrassed the employee and negatively affected the rest of the team.
Overall, my biggest disappointment wasn’t the work—it was the leadership. There were good people on the team, and the mission itself was meaningful, but inconsistent management, lack of transparency, and questionable interpretations of policies made the experience far more frustrating than it needed to be.
I want to be clear that this reflects my personal experience. Other teams or locations may have different leadership and different experiences, but this is what I encountered during my time on this WPS III task order in Ukraine.
I’m sharing this because I wish someone had been honest with me before I accepted the position. My goal isn’t to attack anyone personally—it’s to give prospective applicants an honest account of what my experience was on this specific task order. I was extremely disappointed with how management handled employee concerns, Mandatory Days Off, communication, and overall leadership. Based on my experience, I would strongly encourage anyone considering GardaWorld Federal Services on this particular WPS III task order to carefully weigh their options, ask detailed questions before accepting an offer, and seriously reconsider whether this is the right contract for them. Had I known then what I know now, I would not have accepted the position.

Hi all! I am graduating this year with a Industrial Psych degree and want to pursue potential careers in this field. Any recommendations or tips on how I should organize my resume and experience, places or sites or events to look out for As well i have been pondering if it would be smart to potentially extend my bachelors to get a minor in something that could be beneficial in seeking employment if that is a good plan? While doing that getting an internship somewhere?

My end goal is to work in human factors and the psychological training of astronauts but to get there i need a ton of government, defense, experience and probably eventually get my PHD but I would like to enter the workforce and work towards that as I am not made of money to spend on schooling lol.

I am also interested in any groups i could join that could help me build a network in this field and maybe even a mentor :)

So, I put in my 2 weeks on Friday. They fast-forwarded the end date to be that day because I was going to do remote and they wouldn't go for that. Fine. At 4:30. I went into the office (with HR and CEO) to offboard and they had a bunch of papers for me to sign. One of them was called "Sensitive Compartmented Information Nondisclosure Agreement". I had already signed an NDA previously, so I was (and still am) confused as to why I should sign this thing. I wasn't informed of having to sign this document.

Anyway, I was told by them that I had to sign and they got aggressive when I asked questions. They also told me that not signing would be criminal. It felt off so I did not sign. Can anyone, particularly those who work(ed) in defense shed light on this? Thanks!

Edit: I should have mentioned that I have a top secret clearance and worked with classified information.

I accepted an offer from Northrop Grumman for an engineering role supporting the E-2D in Melbourne Florida (From what is available online, the E-2D seem like an active program with long term funding). The offer start date is contingent on program funding and my recruiter confirmed they have no visibility into the timeline.

I also have a competing offer with a guaranteed start date a month out from now that pays slightly more but is less aligned with my long term career goals.

Has anyone had a similar experience with a contingent offer at a DoD company? How long did the funding take to come through?

I'm asking because posts related to this topic in the NG sub reddit are pretty grim (with people reporting they waited years) and I'm hoping to get more data point on this topic both positive and negative.

I have been interested in transitioning into Defense/Aerospace/Space sector - I live in an area with a significant amount of companies in this space. However, my career has been primarily sales in marketing services industry.

I have an MBA and PMP but no technical degree and no specific experience within these industries. Additionally, I’d like to move out of sales and into project management/ops/people as those would be where I have the most transferable skills. My current role is more like a managing director where I manage cross functional teams, stakeholder management, manage budget for different internal projects and also responsible for revenue.

I don’t know anyone within the defense sector to talk through this with. Mainly just been talking with different LLMs to gauge transition viability but AI definitely has blind spots. Information online is ambiguous, many job listings are showing a preference of experience within industry although not necessarily a requirement however, there seems to be a strong preference in technical degrees.

What is the actual viability of a transition into the defense sector with no prior defense experience and no technical degree?

https://www.wsj.com/finance/banking/jamie-dimon-jpmorgan-investing-defense-091cfc4c?st=QANxxA&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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Focus on REalloys Board of Directors, Non-Executive Directors and Advisory Board Chair ---- absolute point of differentiation, competency, and authority.

These individuals are the who's who in the defense sector, no? Plus, the "cherry on top", Bob Foresman - the ex-Vice Chair of UBS. He's as legit as they come in the finance world.

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JPMorgan Chase is shifting toward a historic "merchant banking" model by investing $10 billion of its own capital directly into the stock of companies critical to national security and economic self-sufficiency.

The bank committed to a $1.5 trillion target by 2035 for traditional lending, financing, and advisory deals within national security, defense, and critical infrastructure sectors. It has already financed $150 billion in deals.

The initiative directly aligns with the Trump administration's focus on ramping up domestic military production. JPMorgan bankers meet weekly with officials from the Pentagon, Energy, and Commerce departments.

The bank defines national security broadly to include defense, AI, tech, pharmaceuticals, and mining. Early investments from the $10 billion fund include $75 million in Perpetua Resources (an Idaho antimony and gold mine) and an undisclosed stake in Databricks.

To source investment ideas, Dimon assembled an advisory council including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a former NSA cybersecurity head.

I’m a senior frontend software engineer with about 10 years of professional experience at a large tech company. Most of my experience is in JavaScript/TypeScript, React, frontend architecture (but I do work across the stack — just prefer the frontend), and leading projects.

I’m considering moving into defense or government contracting because I’m looking for more stability and better work-life balance as a father.

I have an Associate’s degree but no bachelor’s degree.

I have a few questions:
How much will not having a bachelor’s actually hurt me when applying to defense contractor software engineering positions?
Are there companies that care less if you have substantial experience?
Which contractors have the best benefits for growing families?

I’m especially interested in:
Paid parental leave
Good health insurance
401(k) match
PTO
Flexible schedules (9/80, 4/10, etc.)
Overall work-life balance

I’m also curious to hear from anyone who moved from commercial tech into defense contracting. Did you regret making the switch, or would you do it again?

I’m not chasing FAANG-level compensation anymore. I’d happily trade some salary for a stable career where I can spend more time with my family.

Any general advice or companies I should look into (or avoid)?

Thanks!

I received an offer from the federal government in 2023 through a virtual career fair, but when I left the government and took a contracting job I noticed the career fairs are not the same.

Have any of you attended one of the career fairs in the last 6-8 months? If so did it go anywhere?

I'm doing some research to better understand how capture teams actually build bid teams.

I've heard from several capture teams at defense contractors that one of the hardest parts of pursuing an opportunity is identifying people with the specific capabilities needed for that bid.

What I heard was that there's a massive demand for the most qualified people. And getting these SMEs is getting harder.

Is that your experience? Would love to hear some perspectives.

Have 2 great job options on the table. One for Company A and another for Company B.

Pay is identical, job is very similar as well, different locations though.

Company A is the prime on a contract I wish to get on in the next 18 or so months. I would apply now but I’m not qualified for that role.

Is it dumb to sign with company A then?

I’m an NH-03 Financial Analyst with 8-9 years of DoD civilian finance experience, most recently leading Finance for a large multi-site portfolio forecasting, budgeting, financial modeling, and managing a small team. I’ve also led initiatives that recovered significant prior-year/recoverable funds and supported enterprise-level funding decisions.

I’m looking to pivot to the contractor side for better comp, targeting lateral Senior Financial Analyst or Finance Manager roles, ideally remote (open to hybrid if local).

Base target is $125K+. I have an MBA (Cyber Security focus), FMVA certification, and DoD FM Level II.

A few things I’d appreciate input on:

•	Which primes/contractors are realistic targets for someone with NH-03-level DoD finance experience but no prior contractor-side experience?

•	Is $125K+ base realistic for a Senior FA/Finance Manager role coming from this background, or am I off on my market value?

•	What’s the NH-03 pay band roughly translate to on the contractor side and is there a rule of thumb people use?

•	Anything I should be doing differently in how I frame my DoD experience for contractor recruiters/ATS systems?

Appreciate any insight from people who’ve made a similar move.

So, was on a zoom call and was watching someone who, by all salary surveys and things, likely makes near, or over, 200K base salary a year. Also very likely has a company pension (news flash new employees, the old heads employed ~circa 2005 have big bombaclat nest eggs).

Anyways, they were clearly struggling with...I'm not sure how to say this without making boomers upset or just sounding like a typical "rant." I don't want to just "cook" inept employees, particularly senior, graying employees. I really don't. I just want to be sincere and share things that shock me. Things that anger me. Things that will galvanize objections, agreements, maybe "amens!", and most hopefully, explanations.

Confession: Anecdotes abound here, generalizations will be made without qualification or empirical evidence, yadda yadda, I'm just genuinely curious to hear what others in the company think. Alright, there's my 'brace for impact' speech.

So, back to what this post is about...

Watching "them" in Excel, like - there is no way they can do any analysis or perhaps more scarily, any fact check whatsoever on something sent to them. Like posit the question, "How many of product [X] did we deliver to the customer this month?" They obtain the answer by asking their assoc. director / sr. mgr direct report, who asks their guy, who asks their guy, etc. Time comes to report, the "leader" reports the answer with literally no substance behind it except source: trust me and my bros, bro.

Message servers - maybe that should be the title of this post. Some directors/assoc. dirs/sr. mgrs. and such seem to be nothing more than like, an LLM, just trying to ingest data from nodes (their direct reports and cross functional partners) and then they roll that information into a stinking ball of PowerPoint slides like a dung beetle and present it to VPs and SVPs.

Where is the expertise? Where is the savant? Where is the decision maker? Who has the balls to come in and say "Do this. Don't do that." I come from the cream corn (USMC) and one of the things that was, well really never noticed, because it was ubiquitous, was that a higher rank in the job you were in, not only knew how to do your job, but they were seasoned. They knew the edge cases, they knew the "how", but more importantly the "why." (Before you guffaw vets, yes some NCOs, SNCOs, Officers are bad and some are lat-movers, got it, check rog, now let me cook).

I'm speaking generally. What was special about this was that you had confidence in your leader's competence. What do I mean? Your boss knew how to do your job, and do it better than you. That's why they were the leader. Anyways, forget the military, it's just an example from personal experience. I've seen it in places in my professional career, even at Raytheon (a tiny bit).

So back to my complaint / observations of leadership behavior.

The first category I observe are "Charismatics." These middle/upper management folks compensate for a lack of fundamental competency in the domain they lead in (a data analytics senior manager who can't unzip a zipped file without 2 google searches) by exercising an above average ability to communicate and present facts. These leave you feeling good about what's going on. These are folks who you want in your meeting. They ask how your kids are doing. Their PowerPoint slides are CRISP. Their vocab is exceptional: synergy, ROI, Efficiency, CORE! Do they build solutions, solve real problems, commit to actions in spite of risk, etc.? Don't know and don't really care, they seem very smart, and eager to drive the mission, and they make me feel good.

Another group I observe is the "Loyalists." Their laurels are well-earned. Their most favorite and prominent one is: I've been working here since before you were born. To hell with the value they give or their current skill set being relevant to the needs of the business. Their blood (time-in-seat) sacrifice is worth their weight in frequent M6 rotations. To discuss laying-off one of these is akin to discussing cannibalism. It's unthinkable. Their only exit is a self-determined retirement or a RIF pronouncement from Mt. Olympus, where the executioner of active employment is so far removed, he's nameless and faceless like a pagan god. And in such cases, their departure is accompanied by feigned grief offered by a fresh MBA grad who is secretly happy to see them leave. Now real change can happen! But such occasions seem rare. (Don't worry about these "Loyalists", they have their nest eggs to keep them warm)

I want to take a short break and state that, if any of this sounds foreign. Ask yourself this question: have you ever attended a quarterly meeting, town hall, observed the plans leadership has, the promises they give, and think: "What the hell? Do these guys have any idea what is actually going on in this business?"

Yes, at these rare intervals when heavenly, executive transmissions descend like lightning to the serfs (like during town halls), the serfs say - I don't think this guy has ever seen a grain of wheat, yet he tells me how he's going to crush an entire field with the strength of a single man!

The last group I will arbitrarily note are the "Firefighters." It's said their beauty is so ephemeral, so stunning, that to look upon one, you will immediately gain 200+ RStars. Their appearances are rare, but who would be surprised? These heros stand resolute, program-branded oar in hand, ready to battle the nearest alligator to their EAC boat. There are 100s, nay 1000s of alligators. Are any of those reptiles your mid-year review? ROFL. Delegate, delegate, delegate, that is their creed. They know what problems need solved, and they know who to ask to solve them. Are they truly qualified to be making 200k+ a year? Ope! Too late. They are on an international flight to [X] country to fight the next prehistoric beast.

Wait, you have the once in a lifetime opportunity to catch them on a teams call? Amazing! You watch their black, faceless digital square with bated breath! But wait, as they speak you can't help but note that all they do is agree with statements that would be obvious to a freshman in a supply chain class at "Who gives a *" university. But it doesn't matter, they flee the meeting early, the next fire is surging elsewhere and threatens to overtake the entire program! Godspeed hero. Oh, what's that? You are skeptical about the real value they provide? Well, until I see your MS Team's icon set to green on Christmas day at 10am, shut your mouth and bask in their glorious rays.

It's at this point, I'm asking myself, what's the point of this post? Shout into the digital ether as an anon for upvotes, jeers, or the terrible realization "no one really cares?" [insert Jurassic Park meme here].

I share this because...well, for one thing, it's cathartic. I can speak with an honesty here I don't have the courage (or stupidity) to speak with at work. I will confess that I write this because deep down I care. I like Raytheon (please don't tell my friends - I won't sound cool anymore!) I really do, despite my constant jokes to the contrary. I'm exceedingly grateful for my employment and many of the people I've met in this company.

The problem I've stated with leadership is evident. I could have shared McKinsey and Company surveys to substantiate it (Gay) but no, just wanted to share my candid opinions (keep it real). I think the problem can be fixed. It's the "will" of those in power to do so, that concerns me. Consider this: isn't it a pretty freakin sweet deal to know, that there are multiple paths (see aforementioned categories) to the top of that sweet, big, delicious AIP, many of which DON'T require the years-long hard work of building competency in a particular domain until you are a true expert? Yeah, I thought so. I feel it too.

People (including me) respond to incentives. As long as I can climb the ladder / get paid alot despite lacking expertise, I'll friggen do it. Who decides what's possible? Leaders do. It starts at the top. I'm talking to you big C. Raytheon can be great, but it has to change. Show that leadership is earned, through the hard-fought-for expertise, over years, in specialized domains, which creates leaders who know processes, can improve processes, who can build, who can solve problems, who merit respect from subordinates not because of who they are, but because of what they know. Leaders who don't have to hide behind "risk-aversion" as a mask for incompetence. We need less "let's circle back later" and more "Share your screen and I'll show you what to do", and then watch the magic happen.

Alright, let's be corny and tie this out with a manifesto:

Building over broadcasting

Solving over 'statusing'

Credentials over credence

Value over vibes

Masters over messengers

"Share your screen and I'll show you" over "Let's Circle Back"

Question for capture managers at defense contractors:

You're leading a pursuit and realize you need someone with very specific operational experience (particular platform, program, mission area, etc.).

How do you actually go about finding that person?

It feels like LinkedIn is pretty terrible/not built for this at all.

Any views or advice on what the best process and systems are?

Since the beginning of 2026 I’ve noticed an uptick on SDVOSB requirements over 8(a), WOSB, and Hubzone set asides. Is this shift a result of the recent SBA audit the reviews direct award contracts to 8(a)s and especially to Super 8(a)s, or the Trump Administration focus on veteran owned businesses?

This apparent shift and recent CMMC requirements seem to indicate SDVOSBs with the right contracts (i.e., OASIS+ and Polaris) and already having a Final CMMC L2 (C3PAO) are best positioned in 2026 and 2027 to receive a favorable amount of new contract awards.

What are adjustments your companies are considering to align with the apparent shift?

I look forward to hearing from this group.

hey guys, I was thinking of establishing a defence startup but kinda unsure on how to proceed with it, attract clients and scale the company. the company is already registered.. and I’ll try to start marketing on LinkedIn. but how do I chase clients? anyone wanna join in helping me? im more on the tech side and so far, its just me