Director of Discovery – Framing

Defense Unicorns

. Own, lead, and scale Discovery & Framing at Defense Unicorns .

Posted 9/16/2026full-timeRemote • United StatesLead💰 $204,000 - $276,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in leading Discovery & Framing methodologies, facilitating complex customer engagements, and quantifying mission impact. Proven ability to coach teams, develop strategic frameworks, and produce executive-level communications.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Discovery & Framing MethodologyExecutive CommunicationStakeholder MappingHypothesis-Led DiscoveryTeam Development

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Strategy ConsultingRoot-Cause AnalysisImpact QuantificationBusiness AnalysisMission AnalysisFive WhysIssue StructuringDiagnostic EngagementsFacilitationEngagement Process Management

Soft Skills

Respectful QuestioningClarity in CommunicationManaging Competing PerspectivesCoachingCollaboration

Tools & Technologies

Enterprise SoftwareDevSecOpsCloudCybersecurityPlatform EngineeringSoftware DeliveryMission Systems

Industry Keywords

ConsultingAdvisoryRegulated EnvironmentsAcquisitionContractingMission-Driven OrganizationsMEDDPICC

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudCyber Security

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own, lead, and scale Discovery & Framing at Defense Unicorns
Help customers identify and define mission problems, quantify impact, establish success criteria, and determine the right path forward
Lead high-priority, strategic, complex, or ambiguous customer engagements
Personally facilitate engagements with customer executives, mission leaders, operators, technical stakeholders, acquisition leaders, and other key participants
Establish the Discovery & Framing methodology, engagement model, playbook, question bank, templates, quality standards, and examples of excellence
Determine capacity requirements and build the Discovery & Framing team
Coach and develop Discovery & Framing practitioners
Prepare engagement hypotheses, unknowns, participants, and objectives with account teams
Discover root causes, constraints, workarounds, stakeholders, mission impact, and consequences of inaction
Frame clear, measurable customer-language problem definitions
Quantify impact and establish baselines
Define desired outcomes and success criteria
Map stakeholders, decision systems, buying processes, funding, acquisition, contracting, barriers, and evidence gaps
Produce concise, customer-ready executive readouts with agreed owners, dates, and mutual next steps
Maintain independent judgment about problem significance, fit, opportunity direction, and disqualification
Lead the five-stage engagement process: Prepare, Discover, Frame, Validate, and Mobilize
Own D&F methodology, facilitation, synthesis, outputs, quality standards, team development, and capacity

Requirements

What you’ll need

8+ years of experience in strategy consulting, management consulting, customer strategy, value advisory, or another highly structured client-facing problem-solving environment
Meaningful experience at firms such as McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, or a comparable strategy or advisory organization is highly valued
Strong record of personally leading executive interviews, workshops, diagnostic engagements, and cross-functional working sessions
Ability to ask difficult questions respectfully, challenge assumptions, manage competing perspectives, and help senior stakeholders arrive at clarity
Exceptional ability in hypothesis-led discovery, issue structuring, root-cause analysis, Five Whys, stakeholder mapping, impact quantification, business and mission analysis, synthesis, and executive communication
Ability to rapidly learn and operate within the customer's mission context
Ability to translate across mission, operational, acquisition, business, and technical perspectives
Outstanding written and verbal communication
Experience building, scaling, or leading a consulting, strategy, advisory, professional services, or customer-facing team
Experience working with complex, mission-driven organizations is especially valuable
Experience operating in regulated or highly secure environments is especially valuable
Acquisition and contracting fluency is especially valuable
Familiarity with enterprise software, DevSecOps, cloud, cybersecurity, platform engineering, software delivery, or mission systems is especially valuable
Experience connecting operational requirements to funding and acquisition is especially valuable
Familiarity with MEDDPICC or another rigorous enterprise qualification methodology is especially valuable

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical/Dental/Vision
Premiums are 100% Company Paid
Health Savings Account
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
401k Retirement Plan
Company Stock Options
Home Office Budget
Flexible Time Off (FTO)
Federal Holidays
One week for Thanksgiving
Two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
Paid Parental Leave
Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)