A transitioning Air Force engineer might spend a career working on systems that look strikingly similar once they join HX5, just approached now from the contractor side of the table rather than the uniformed one. CEO Margarita Howard has pointed to this kind of continuity as a central reason veterans fit well into HX5’s work supporting Department of Defense and NASA programs.

HX5’s contract work spans advanced weapons research, production readiness reviews for sensor systems and modeling and simulation for defense and space programs, tasks that often build directly on training service members received in uniform. Howard has described parts of this work as unmatched anywhere else, a claim she connects to why meaningful assignments help retain talent as much as compensation does.

Mission Focus Carries Over

Veterans accustomed to mission-driven military service often look for similar purpose in civilian jobs, and Margarita Howard has said HX5’s project mix gives many of them that continuity. Rather than starting over in an unfamiliar field, a fellow or new hire can apply specialized technical training almost immediately while learning how contractors interface with government program offices.

That continuity also helps with retention once a fellowship ends, since new hires who already see a clear line between their service and their assignment tend to settle in faster than those adjusting to entirely new subject matter.

This alignment between military background and HX5‘s mission set also shapes how Margarita Howard approaches the Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program, which the company has supported since 2021 with two fellows annually. She has emphasized hiring people with prior Department of Defense or NASA experience specifically because it maps so closely onto the agency-facing work HX5 performs daily.

For Howard, the connection runs both directions: HX5 benefits from hires who already understand government operations, and veterans get to keep contributing to missions similar to the ones they served under, just from a different vantage point within a service-disabled veteran-owned company of roughly 1,000 employees. See related link for more information.

Learn more about Margarita Howard on https://ritzherald.com/ceo-margarita-howards-background-shapes-hx5-approach-to-veteran-employment/