STEM Technical Leaders at NSA have vision and passion for solving unique problems to protect our Nation. These leaders have experience with advanced technologies, teams' collaboration, and moving ideas from requirements to implementation. They drive technical decisions, architectural design discussions, and systems integration within the context of their technical specialties coming from a full spectrum of backgrounds such as software development, systems engineering, architecture, electrical engineering, networking, and many more. They use their deep experience leading advancements in technology, which may be at a project or organizational level, to influence technical direction. While technical, these leaders possess skills to mediate alternative Course of Action discussions, and negotiate strategic direction across a variety of levels. These leaders know how to interpret senior leadership guidance and direction, and translate it into actionable plans, requirements, and strategies. They have proven experience delegating resources and tasks, and transforming ideas into operational capabilities.

STEM Technical Leaders may or may not serve in a supervisory role, but they all have the opportunity to mentor junior technical colleagues. They lead by example. In vertical or horizontal teams, STEM Technical Leaders push frontiers to advance NSA mission to gather signals intelligence and protect our Nation's Defense Industrial Base and critical infrastructure. These leaders are adept at working across organizations with competing priorities to build consensus to achieve mission outcomes.