Director, Business Development – Government & Defense

Location: Los Angeles, California, United States; on-site

On-target earnings: $250,000–$300,000; expected OTE: $250,000–$350,000 annually, plus equity and benefits.

Company

A startup developing flexible, high-performance RF products and services for demanding space, defense, communications, sensing, and embedded-systems missions.

What you will do

• Develop and execute go-to-market and sales strategies across defense, national security, civil space agencies, and government customers.
• Build senior-level relationships with government agencies, defense primes, program executives, contracting officers, mission planners, and technical leaders.
• Lead the full lifecycle of government opportunity capture, from pipeline development and qualification through proposals, negotiation, contract award, and post-award growth.
• Pursue opportunities through FAR-based contracts, OTAs, SBIR/STTR, IDIQs, and other acquisition mechanisms.
• Develop account and campaign strategies and negotiate teaming agreements, CRADAs, pilot programs, and multi-year engagements.
• Coordinate RFI, RFP, BAA, and solicitation responses while providing customer insights for product positioning and roadmap decisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical, engineering, or business-related discipline.
• At least 5 years of business development, capture management, or program-facing experience in U.S. government, defense, or aerospace.
• Proven success winning and managing complex government opportunities from early shaping through contract award.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. government acquisition processes, contracting vehicles, and budget cycles.
• Experience with defense primes, government agencies, or national security customers, along with qualified pipeline and growth-target management experience.
• Ability to travel up to approximately 50% within the United States and eligibility to obtain or current possession of TS/SCI clearance.

Nice to have

• Experience with space-based systems, RF communications, SATCOM, or related mission domains.
• Experience in high-growth startups or scaling organizations.
• Active U.S. security clearance.
• Familiarity with DoD and Intelligence Community mission sets, space architectures, and emerging defense technology trends.

Culture & Benefits

• Equity and benefits are included in the compensation package.
• Work alongside cloud computing, artificial intelligence, communications and sensing, and embedded-systems specialists.
• Equal employment opportunities and an accessible hiring process, including reasonable accommodation support.