Senior Operations Manager, Innovation Academia

Overview

Job specifications are intended to present a descriptive list of the range of duties performed by employees. Specifications are not intended to reflect all duties performed within the job.

The Senior Operations Manager will serve as a senior operational advisor and execution lead supporting the Innovation with Academia (IWA) Portfolio Director. This role is intended for a highly capable, experienced operator who can help translate portfolio strategy into disciplined execution across multiple programs, contractors, university partners, internal government stakeholders, and external mission partners.

The Senior Operations Manager will function as the Portfolio Director’s primary operational support lead for day-to‑day execution. The role requires someone who can manage complexity, drive accountability, resolve cross‑team friction, improve operational processes, enforce data discipline, and ensure portfolio activities remain aligned to DIU, Department of War priorities, and broader national security objectives.

This individual must be comfortable working across government, contractor, academic, and defense innovation environments. They must be able to identify gaps, impose structure, ensure follow‑through, and make decisions, risks, metrics, dependencies, and contractor performance visible to the Portfolio Director before issues become execution failures.

This is not an administrative support role. The Senior Operations Manager is expected to operate as a senior integrator and execution manager who can bring order to a complex portfolio with multiple moving parts.

The Senior Operations Manager will support the Innovation with Academia portfolio, including activities related to university engagement, problem sourcing and curation, IWA programming, research translation, commercialization fellowship activities, contractor coordination, portfolio reporting, and operational process improvement.

The position will support the Portfolio Director in ensuring the portfolio functions as an integrated university‑to‑capability pathway. The Senior Operations Manager will help ensure that inputs, outputs, handoffs, reporting, and accountability mechanisms are clear across each stage of the portfolio.

• Lead day‑to‑day operational coordination across the Innovation with Academia portfolio.
• Translate the Portfolio Director’s strategic priorities into executable work plans, operating rhythms, decision points, and measurable outcomes. Assist the IWA Director in the development of the team’s long‑term strategies.
• Maintain visibility across portfolio activities, milestones, risks, dependencies, contractor deliverables, and decision timelines.
• Develop and manage portfolio‑level operating tools, including action trackers, risk registers, decision logs, reporting calendars, meeting cadences, milestone dashboards, and scorecards.
• Prepare the Portfolio Director for key meetings, contractor engagements, leadership updates, and decision points by ensuring relevant background, data, recommendations, and options are available in advance.
• Drive execution follow‑through after meetings by documenting decisions, assigning owners, tracking deadlines, and escalating issues when progress stalls.

• Serve as the primary operational integrator across multiple contractors and delivery partners supporting the portfolio.
• Ensure contractors understand their roles, remain aligned to government priorities, and work constructively across shared portfolio functions.
• Identify and resolve operational friction, duplication, gaps, or conflict across contractor teams, especially where work overlaps across problem sourcing, university engagement, student support, data reporting, program evaluation, and transition pathways.
• Track contractor performance against deliverables, timelines, quality expectations, reporting requirements, and portfolio outcomes. Support contractor transitions by ensuring continuity of knowledge, documentation, data, relationships, and program execution.

• Drive portfolio‑wide data discipline…