Venture Capital & Private Equity, National Security, Healthcare, Technology

Contract Specialist

Mclean, VAOnsiteContract$110,000–$150,000 /yrPosted 12 days agoVisa sponsorship available

Is this role right for you?

Upload your resume and get a skill-by-skill breakdown — see exactly where you match, where you're close, and what to highlight. Not a mystery percentage.

Get a tailored resume highlighting what this role needs.

Required skills

Contract Administration
Lifecycle Management
Contracting Officers
Prime Contractor
Prime Contracts
Subcontracts
NDAs
Teaming Agreements
CRADAs
Other Transaction Agreements

Nice to have

Defense Technology Company
Startup
Early-stage Team
DoD
Intelligence Community
DHS

Role summary

This role is for a Contract Specialist with a focus on government contracting, particularly within the defense technology sector. The specialist will manage the full lifecycle of various agreements, including prime contracts, subcontracts, and non-traditional agreements like OTAs and SBIRs. Key responsibilities include drafting, reviewing, and administering contracts, leading negotiations, identifying and mitigating risks, protecting intellectual property, and managing pricing and cost strategies. The role also involves ensuring compliance with FAR, DFARS, and other government regulations, and supporting proposal development. A minimum of 7 years in government contracts, with 3 years in management, and a deep understanding of FAR/DFARS are required. An active Secret clearance and willingness to work hybrid in the Tysons Corner office are also necessary.

About Us

Red Cell Partners is an incubation firm building and investing in rapidly scalable technology-led companies that are bringing revolutionary advancements to market in three distinct practice areas: healthcare, cyber, and national security. United by a shared sense of duty and deep belief in the power of innovation, Red Cell is developing powerful tools and solutions to address our Nation’s most pressing problems.

What You'll Work On

Contract Administration & Lifecycle Management

Serve as the primary point of contact for Contracting Officers, Contracting Officer's Representatives, and prime contractor counterparts across the portfolio.

Draft, review, and administer the full range of agreements: prime contracts, subcontracts, NDAs, teaming agreements, CRADAs, Other Transaction Agreements and OT follow-on production agreements, consulting agreements, and IP and data rights terms.

Manage contract vehicles and award types end to end — FFP, T&M, CPFF, CPIF, IDIQ and task order, BPA, GSA MAS, NASA SEWP, OTA consortium awards, SBIR/STTR Phase I–III, and Commercial Solutions Openings.

Lead negotiation of terms and conditions, flowdowns, and modifications; identify and mitigate risk in indemnification, limitation of liability, termination, warranty, and intellectual property clauses.

Protect company IP and data rights — assert and defend SBIR data rights, limited rights in technical data, and restricted rights in noncommercial software, and prevent inadvertent grants of unlimited rights.

Maintain the contracts repository, obligation and funding trackers, CDRL schedules, option exercise calendars, and the closeout pipeline so nothing lapses, overruns, or goes unbilled.

Pricing & Cost Strategy

Develop and maintain the company's provisional and forward pricing rate structure — fringe, overhead, G&A, and where applicable material handling — in partnership with Finance.

Participate price-to-win analysis and competitive pricing strategy; model trade-offs between price, scope, risk posture, and margin, and give leadership a clear recommendation rather than a spreadsheet.

Review certified cost or pricing data submissions and support Truthful Cost or Pricing Data (TINA) compliance, commercial product and commercial service determinations, and price reasonableness justifications.

Capture & Proposal Support

Own all contractual and administrative volumes — representations and certifications, past performance, small business subcontracting plans, OCI mitigation plans, and any exceptions taken to terms.

Support teaming strategy: evaluate prime versus subcontractor positioning, negotiate work share and exclusivity, and paper the relationships early enough to matter.

Participate in bid/no-bid point of view. You should be comfortable advising the team when a pursuit is not worth the capture dollars.

Compliance & Government Accounting

Track FAR, DFARS, and agency supplement compliance across the portfolio, and translate regulatory requirements into workflows that engineers and program managers will actually follow.

Serve as the primary interface for DCAA and DCMA on incurred cost submissions, provisional billing rate proposals, floor checks, and business system reviews.

Advise on Cost Accounting Standards applicability and disclosure statement requirements, and on allowability, allocability, and reasonableness determinations under FAR Part 31.

Track compliance with CMMC and DFARS 252.204-7012 safeguarding requirements, export controls (ITAR and EAR), organizational conflict of interest rules, Procurement Integrity Act obligations, and small business and socioeconomic program requirements.

What You Bring

Required

7+ years in government contracts, including at least 3 years at a management level owning a portfolio or a function.

Deep working command of the FAR and DFARS — not reference-level familiarity, but the ability to negotiate from them under time pressure.

Demonstrated experience across the full lifecycle: pre-award capture support, pricing and proposal development, negotiation, post-award administration, and closeout.

Experience with both traditional FAR-based procurement and non-traditional pathways such as OTAs, CSOs, SBIR Phase III, and consortium awards.

Active Secret clearance at minimum, with eligibility and willingness to upgrade to TS/SCI.

Based in, or willing to relocate to, the Washington, DC metro area, with hybrid on-site presence expected. We are looking for someone who can work in our Tysons Corneroffice at least 2 days per week.

Strongly Preferred

Experience at a defense technology company, whether a prime or a startup.

Experience on an early-stage team, such as a new vertical within a company or at a startup.

Experience with DoD, Intelligence Community, DHS, or federal law enforcement customers, and familiarity with classified contracting and DD Form 254 requirements.

Software, AI/ML, autonomy, or hardware-intensive product contracting experience, including commercial product determinations and software data rights strategy.

Location & Travel

Washington, DC metro area preferred with the ability to be in office 2x per week.

Minimal travel required for customer engagement, partner coordination, and cross-functional work.

Salary Range: $110,000-$150,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience, skills, and other factors.

Our Red Cell Partners Benefits (may differ for each incubation):

For full-time roles

Career track opportunity with potential for rapid advancement with strong performance as the firm grows

100% employer paid, comprehensive health care including medical, dental, and vision for you and your family.

Paid maternity and paternity for 14 weeks at employees' normal pay.

Unlimited PTO, with management approval.

Opportunities for professional development and continued learning.

Optional 401K, FSA, and equity incentives available.

Mental health benefits are available through Tara Mind.

Cost effective GLP-1 solutions available through Crux.

We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer: You’ll receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability.

Applicant Data Disclosure

By submitting an application, you acknowledge that Red Cell Partners, LLC ("Red Cell") uses third-party service providers to facilitate its recruitment and hiring processes. These providers include applicant tracking systems, candidate verification platforms, and fraud detection tools (collectively, "Hiring Platforms"). Your application materials, including your résumé, cover letter, work samples, responses to application questions, and any other information you submit, may be transmitted to and processed by these Hiring Platforms for the following purposes:

Managing and administering your application throughout the hiring process;

Verifying the accuracy and authenticity of application materials, including by cross-referencing information you provide against publicly available sources and proprietary databases;

Identifying indicators of potentially fraudulent, fabricated, or materially misleading application content, including but not limited to discrepancies between submitted materials and publicly available professional profiles, geographic anomalies, and fabricated work histories.

Applications that are flagged through this process as containing indicators of fraud or material misrepresentation may be declined from further consideration. If you have questions about the status of your application or the evaluation process, please contact talent@redcellpartners.com.

Red Cell requires its Hiring Platform providers to process your information solely for the purposes described above and in accordance with applicable law. Your information will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill these purposes and any applicable legal obligations, after which it will be deleted in accordance with Red Cell's data retention policies.

For more information about how your data is used, please refer to our Privacy Policy and Applicant Privacy Notice.

Ready to apply?

You'll be redirected to Red Cell Partners's application page.