Contracts Manager, Government Programs

About Us

Quartermaster is building the world’s most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform. Our SmartMast™ system transforms commercial and civilian vessels into a persistent, distributed sensing network—combining HD video, AI, radar, RF sensing, and AIS to deliver real-time maritime domain awareness at global scale. With 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and more than 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS, we are setting a new standard for what ocean surveillance and safety can look like.

We are a mission-driven, high-velocity team building dual-use technology for defense agencies, coast guards, and commercial maritime operators. If you want to shape our growth efforts and how we scale across the government, this is the place.

The Role

We are hiring a Contracts Manager, Government Programs to own the government contract lifecycle end to end. Our growth owners find opportunities and carry the customer relationships, our proposal team writes the technical bids, and finance owns pricing and margin. This role owns the discipline that connects them: federal procurement rules, contract negotiation, and the post-award actions that keep work funded as requirements change.

You will be Quartermaster’s primary voice to U.S. Government contracting officers and to the prime contractors we subcontract under. As our contracts grow more complex, and as our transition path runs toward programs of record, this function becomes the difference between winning work and being able to execute and bill it.

This is our first dedicated contracts hire. You will carry the workload and establish the function at the same time.

What You'll Do

• Government Negotiation and Execution: Serve as Quartermaster’s primary interface with U.S. Government Contracting Officers (KOs/COs) and prime contractor counterparts, leading negotiations on terms, conditions, and pricing structures across fixed-price, cost-type, T&M/LOE, IDIQ, and Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) vehicles.

• Solicitation Review and Bid Compliance: Review RFPs, RFQs, BAAs, CSOs, SBIR topics, and OTA calls for compliance obligations, contract-type risk, and terms we cannot accept. Partner with the proposal team on the compliance matrix and Section L/M traceability so that our bids are responsive on the Government’s evaluation terms.

• Contract Lifecycle Management: Own pre- and post-award contract actions, including CLIN restructures, scope expansions, option exercises, incremental funding, no-cost extensions, and closeouts, so that additional scope is converted into funded work on a timeline that does not delay delivery.

• Teaming and Subcontract Administration: Negotiate NDAs, teaming agreements, and subcontracts; and hold prime contractors to the terms they flow down to us.

• Registrations and Certifications: Maintain SAM.gov registration, annual representations and certifications, size and socioeconomic status representations, and the recurring filings that determine our eligibility to compete.

• Finance and Billing Alignment: Support cost volumes, rate structures, and certified cost or pricing data where required, and keep deliverable schedules (CDRLs), billing milestones, and contract reporting consistent with what we invoice and what programs deliver.

• Data and Intellectual Property Rights: Own our position on technical data and software rights, so that government-funded work does not erode Quartermaster’s ownership of its core technology.

• Regulatory Oversight: Maintain adherence to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), DFARS, and agency supplements, and advise growth, proposal, and program teams on how acquisition rules shape what we can offer and when.

What We're Looking For

• 6+ years of experience in federal government contracting or acquisition, as a U.S. Government Warranted Contracting Officer or contract specialist, or as a senior contracts manager in the defense or intelligence industry.

• Contract Lifecycle Management: A direct, hands-on track record negotiating and executing contract actions, including awards, modifications, CLIN structures, option exercises, funding actions, and closeout.

• FAR/DFARS knowledge: Extensive knowledge of federal acquisition regulations, contract types (FFP, CPFF, T&M, OTAs), and government procurement workflows.

• Technical Acumen : Working knowledge of the systems being contracted for — enough to read a technical volume critically, translate engineering scope into CLINs and deliverables that match what we will build.

• Risk Judgment : The ability to distinguish terms that present material risk from those that are an acceptable cost of doing business, and to explain the difference to leadership.

• Written Communication: Ability to independently produce negotiation positions, contract correspondence, and modification requests.

• Cross-Team Collaboration: A proven ability to work effectively across growth, proposal, finance, and program teams while maintaining disciplined contract documentation and traceability.

• Startup Mindset: You are proactive, move fast, work independently, and build simple, repeatable contract processes.

Nice to Have

• Active Secret or TS/SCI clearance, or eligibility to obtain one.

• Former Warranted Contracting Officer experience (e.g., DoD, IC, DHS), including administrative or unlimited warrant authority.

• Subcontract administration under large prime contractors and experience supporting the transition of prototypes into programs of record.

• DAWIA certification, DAU coursework, or NCMA credentials (CFCM, CPCM, CCCM).

• Familiarity with Salesforce or a comparable CRM for maintaining contract and pipeline data.

Why this Role

• You will build the contracts function with real authority over how we do it.

• Your work is directly measurable in company outcomes: the actions you negotiate and execute determine what we can bill and what we retain.

• You will work at the center of growth, proposals, and finance rather than at the end of the process.

• Mission impact: safer mariners, more secure sea lanes, and an ocean that can no longer go dark.

Work Environment

• Hybrid, based in the DC/Northern Virginia area, with travel to customer and program offices as needed.

• Startup atmosphere with high ownership and autonomy.

• Competitive salary with comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits.