About Gambit
Gambit is pioneering next-generation autonomous systems for national defense—developing advanced technologies that sense, decide, and act with unprecedented speed and precision. Our mission is to build intelligent systems that adapt, learn, and operate autonomously in complex, high-stakes environments. We blend cutting-edge research in AI, reinforcement learning, and robotics with real-world engineering discipline to deliver systems that work where reliability matters most.
About the Role
We’re seeking a Functional Lead to serve as one of the four cornerstone leaders of our engineering organization. Each Functional Lead owns one of Gambit’s four key engineering pillars— Sense, Comms, Forecast, or Effect—and is responsible for guiding a team of experts to deliver mission-critical components of our technology.
This is a pivotal and rotational leadership role you’ll periodically rotate across these functions, requiring both deep technical understanding and broad generalist adaptability. You’ll shape strategy, lead hands-on development, and ensure strong cross-functional integration across the engineering ecosystem.
Responsibilities
• Serve as the Responsible Engineer for one of four core functional areas—Sense, Comms, Forecast, or Effect—rotating leadership annually to build broad technical mastery.
• Direct full iteration cycles, from planning to delivery, managing pacing, prioritization, and quality of functional output.
• Lead and mentor ICs and managers within your function, ensuring team health, documentation rigor, and operational continuity.
• Participate in feedback-weighted resource allocation, helping prioritize engineering efforts across the organization.
• Develop forward-looking plans and oversee integration of new subsystems to advance Gambit’s capabilities.
• Ensure all functional outputs are properly coupled with other system inputs/outputs for seamless cross-functional operation.
• Champion communication and collaboration across teams to enhance robustness, efficiency, and reliability.
• Represent your function in executive and public technical forums, communicating progress and outcomes with clarity and confidence.
Qualifications
• Proven experience leading high-performing technical teams in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Deep understanding of reinforcement learning (RL) with practical experience deploying RL systems in production.
• Broad technical fluency across ML inference systems (vision, voice, control).
• Hands-on experience with edge computing hardware and cloud-based workflows
• Familiarity with UML, system modeling, and sequence diagramming for complex systems.
• Strong knowledge of networking principles and radio propagation
• Exceptional leadership and communication skills—able to motivate and guide experts outside your direct technical domain.
• Adaptability to lead multiple functional domains as organizational priorities evolve.
• Eligible and motivated to work on U.S. Department of Defense applications.
Why Join Gambit
• Lead one of the four defining pillars of a fast-moving autonomous systems company.
• Shape high-impact defense technologies at the intersection of AI, robotics, and real-world operations.
• Collaborate with some of the brightest minds in reinforcement learning, distributed systems, and edge autonomy.
• Competitive compensation, equity, and comprehensive benefits package.
• Join a mission-driven team building systems that safeguard national security and redefine technological frontiers.
If you’re a technically fluent leader who thrives in chaos, adapts fast, and can bridge disciplines with clarity and conviction, we want you at Gambit.
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