Rocio Bauer’s profile over at WashingtonExec is worth your time if you’re thinking about how technology leadership shows up in Army mission contexts. She’s spent her career at the intersection of engineering discipline and operational need — the kind of background that doesn’t translate neatly onto a résumé but becomes obvious in the first conversation.
When I map the market for senior technology roles supporting DoD, I’m looking for people who’ve done more than manage programs. They’ve had to make tradeoffs under constraint, build trust with uniformed stakeholders, and deliver capability that actually gets used downrange. That’s a narrow population, and it’s why passive candidate work matters. The best ones aren’t posting their clearance status on LinkedIn — they’re solving hard problems and need a reason to take the call.
If you’re a hiring authority trying to fill a role like this, start by getting honest about what the job actually requires. TS/SCI and a software pedigree won’t be enough if the mission demands someone who understands how the Army thinks, buys, and fields technology. That fit question comes first.