# Managing Director, Government Relations - Defense Budgeting at Hadrian

- Company: Hadrian
- What the company does: Hadrian is rebuilding America’s industrial strength, rapidly scaling our country’s manufacturing output through advanced software, automation, and human skill. Backed by a16z, Founders Fund and Lux.
- Company website: https://www.hadrian.co
- Type: Startups (AI role)
- Level: Principal and up
- Location: Washington, DC
- Work setup: On-site
- Pay: $224K to $260K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-09-29
- Apply by: 2026-11-23
- Apply: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/hadrian-automation/3c50017e-c443-4433-9bde-661eb6e66b75?utm_source=1752vc&utm_medium=careers
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/hadrian-managing-director-government-relations-defense-budgeting/

## About the role

This is a dual-front role built for someone with 15-20+ years inside the defense budget process. The core of the job is shaping the budget build inside the Pentagon and OMB, and engaging the process by which Congress sets the defense topline — a process driven heavily by congressional leadership, Armed Services Committee leaders, and the Budget Committees. This role also requires close fluency in how funding is actually spent once it's appropriated — apportionment, allocation, obligation, and execution. Found on 1752vc Careers, the job board for startup and VC roles.

## What they're looking for

- 15+ years alternating between the legislative and executive branches of the defense budget process, as well as an understanding of how these processes influence the defense industries’ business decisions and legislative engagement
- A track record of driving institutional change that only works with sustained relationships across the Pentagon and the Hill — the kind of multi-year advocacy that, for example, helped push the Department toward audit readiness
- A level of recognized subject-matter authority such that outside institutional reviews of the defense budget process — for example, the PPBE Reform Commission — have sought your input directly
- Experience translating a defense contractor's long-range business plan into federal fiscal-policy advocacy
- A track record of being the person budget staff, defense committee staff, and financial managers call first — someone whose read of the budget, the policy, and the politics behind it is trusted at face value on both sides of the branch divide
- Deep, working familiarity with the congressional budget committees, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and how their analysis shapes appropriations and NDAA outcomes

Tags: GTM

Source: 1752vc Careers, https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/hadrian-managing-director-government-relations-defense-budgeting/