Prior to joining Fidelis, Pickens served as a Director at Optiv where he managed the Global Threat Intelligence Center and lead research for managed security services. He spent the majority of his career within the United States military and various divisions of the Department of Defense and other U.S. Government organizations, working across the tactical, operational and strategic-levels of intelligence and cyber operations. He continues to serve in the U. S. Army Reserves as an intelligence team Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) where he supervises the preparation and dissemination of all-source intelligence products, intelligence summaries, forecasts, and assessments.