Compliance Manager, Government Contracts, Trade and Corporate Compliance

Job description

**Position Overview:** Velo3D designs and manufactures metal additive manufacturing systems sold into aerospace, defense, space, and other regulated markets. The Compliance Manager owns the regulatory obligations that govern how those products are sold and how they move: federal procurement compliance under the FAR and DFARS, U.S. export controls under the ITAR and EAR, and the company's general compliance policy program. Reporting directly to the Chief Legal Officer, this role builds on Velo3D's existing compliance framework and extends it as the company's federal contracting and export obligations grow. The successful candidate will strengthen current policies, document processes that work in practice but are not yet formalized, and take ownership of the areas that currently have none. ### Responsibilities **Export controls — ITAR and EAR** - Own the day-to-day export compliance program covering hardware, software, technology, and technical data, including maintenance of the company's registration with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, license determinations and applications, exception and exemption use, and recordkeeping to applicable retention periods. - Perform and document product classification and maintain the classification matrix. Escalate jurisdiction questions and commodity jurisdiction determinations to the Chief Legal Officer and outside counsel in accordance with policy. - Manage deemed-export controls, including technology control plans and foreign-person access to controlled repositories and technical data, coordinating with Human Resources and IT on access provisioning. - Operate a pre-disclosure review process so that classification and authorization questions are resolved before controlled technology is disclosed to a customer, supplier, or partner. - Run restricted-party, sanctions, and end-use screening for customers, suppliers, partners, and visitors; document results and escalate matches. **Government contracts compliance — FAR and DFARS** - Review solicitations, prime contracts, subcontracts, and flowdown packages; identify applicable clauses and advise the business on the resulting obligations. - Maintain the clause flowdown matrix and ensure required clauses reach suppliers. - Administer priority-rated orders under the Defense Priorities and Allocations System, including acceptance and rejection timelines and coordination with operations. - Complete and maintain annual and event-driven representations and certifications; maintain federal registration and entity data. - Track and coordinate responses to government and prime-contractor compliance notices, certifications, and demands, escalating any that carry legal or contractual risk. - Support cybersecurity compliance obligations, including NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC, in partnership with IT, owning the contractual and documentation elements. Compliance policy program - Own the compliance policy library: drafting, approval routing, version control, publication, and the periodic review calendar. - Maintain the Code of Conduct and its annual certification cycle, the delegation of authority and signature policy, and the records retention schedule. - Maintain the company's acceptable-use policy for artificial intelligence tools, including the approved-tool list and the process by which the business requests approval of a new tool; track customer, prime contractor, and government restrictions on specific AI vendors and coordinate any required certification or attestation. Technical enforcement, including blocking, logging, and data loss prevention, is owned by Information Technology. - Administer third-party due diligence for intermediaries, agents, distributors, and resellers, escalating adverse findings and substantive anti-corruption questions. Training, monitoring, and reporting - Build and run the compliance training calendar, developing role-targeted training with the relevant subject-matter owner and tracking completion. - Maintain a consolidated compliance obligation and deadline calendar. - Monitor adherence to policies within scope, document findings, and escalate. Disciplinary action is administered by Human Resources and the responsible manager; this position identifies, documents, and escalates but does not impose consequences. - Report status, metrics, and material issues to the Chief Legal Officer and prepare compliance reporting for the Audit Committee as requested. Quality and supplier interface — coordination, not ownership - Coordinate with the Quality and Product Compliance Manager, who owns aerospace and additive manufacturing certification, accreditation, industry standards programs, and government-industry data exchange reporting. This role supports those programs on export, federal procurement, and contractual questions only. ### Qualifications **Required** - Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. - Seven or more years in export control and/or government contracts compliance in an aerospace, defense, or regulated manufacturing environment, including direct hands-on experience in both regimes. - Demonstrated working knowledge of the ITAR and EAR, including classification, licensing, deemed exports, and recordkeeping. - Demonstrated working knowledge of the FAR and DFARS, including clause flowdown practice. - Track record of drafting and implementing compliance policies and procedures from scratch, not solely administering inherited ones. - Sound independent judgment and a demonstrated instinct for when to escalate. - Strong written communication; able to reduce a regulation to a one-page instruction the shop floor will follow. - Comfort operating without precedent, prioritizing independently across unrelated subject areas, and stating plainly where the company is not yet compliant. **Preferred** - Experience serving as, or supporting, an Empowered Official. - Experience with priority-rated orders, NIST SP 800-171, CMMC, or supply chain cybersecurity flowdowns. - Experience with AI governance or technology risk assessment. - Experience in additive manufacturing, industrial capital equipment, or a combined hardware and software product environment. - Familiarity with aerospace quality management systems and audit processes. - Professional certification such as CUSECO, CPCM, or CCEP.