• The Defense Innovation Unit has named Jarred Conley as director of its autonomous warfare portfolio
• The DIU also appointed David Payne as director of its kill web portfolio
• Payne was the acting director of autonomous warfare until their confirmation to the new posts

The Defense Innovation Unit said Friday that it has appointed two new portfolio directors to oversee its autonomous warfare and kill web initiatives.

Jarred Conley has been named director of the DIU’s autonomous warfare portfolio, while David Payne has been selected as director of the unit’s kill web portfolio.

The DIU’s autonomous warfare portfolio is an area focused on scaling unmanned systems to give the U.S. military a numerical and tactical edge over adversaries. In his new role, Conley will work alongside the portfolio’s deputy requirements program manager to convert the Department of War’s operational requirements into deployable systems at speed.

Conley joins DIU with extensive experience fielding technology for both the organization and the Department of the Navy. Prior to his appointment, Conley was deputy director, and later principal director, of DIU’s maritime unit. He was also a program manager and systems engineer at the Department of War.

During his time with the Navy, Conley oversaw the development, procurement and deployment of systems across multiple domains, including surface warfare, anti-submarine operations, mine countermeasures and autonomous maritime platforms.

The Kill Web portfolio is centered on leveraging growth in the commercial space sector and advances in electronic technology to build a resilient, integrated fires network.

David Payne, who previously served as DIU’s acting director for autonomous warfare, will now be responsible for connecting U.S. commercial technology advances to operational needs of U.S. forces abroad.

Payne brings a background that spans government and industry, having worked as principal systems engineer at NASA. From 2020 to 2021, he served as electrical systems design and analysis engineer at Boeing. He was also part of Analytical Space, now Hedron, as vice president of government and regulatory affairs and later adviser to the company. He spent 11 months as board member of the Commercial Smallsat Spectrum Management Association, and two years as management consulting senior analyst at Accenture. Earlier in his career, Payne was an experience design researcher at Hewlett-Packard.