Business Development Lead
Leads Shield AI’s defence business development and territory growth across Central Europe, owning pipeline strategy, strategic accounts, partnerships, and quota-carrying opportunity execution. Requires 6+ years in defence, aerospace, national security, or advanced technology markets, with strong stakeholder, procurement, and technical credibility.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Own and execute Shield AI’s go-to-market strategy across assigned Central European markets.
- Build and grow a pipeline across autonomy, aircraft, ISR, and mission-system opportunities.
- Lead end-to-end deal closure, including account planning, customer shaping, competitive positioning, proposal leadership, negotiation, and contract close.
- Engage senior military leaders, Ministries of Defence, procurement authorities, sovereign stakeholders, and strategic industry partners.
- Represent and differentiate Shield AI’s autonomy and aircraft portfolio, including V-BAT, X-BAT, ViDAR-enabled ISR capabilities, and Hivemind autonomy software.
- Develop and manage regional partnerships, consultants, industrial participation structures, and offset-aligned strategies.
- Coordinate cross-functional teams across Business Development, Product, Engineering, Government Relations, Legal, Contracts, Export Compliance, Operations, and Customer teams.
- Maintain forecasting, pipeline management, opportunity tracking, and campaign reporting.
- Provide regional market intelligence on competitors, customer demand, and political or operational risks.
- Support executive customer engagement after award, follow-on growth, and long-term account expansion.
Requirements
- 6+ years of experience in business development, capture, sales, strategic engagement, account management, or related customer-facing roles in defence, aerospace, national security, or advanced technology.
- Experience operating across international defence, government, or regulated markets and navigating complex stakeholder and procurement environments.
- Demonstrated success identifying, shaping, and advancing complex opportunities involving long sales cycles, senior stakeholders, and technically differentiated solutions.
- Strong executive presence and credibility with military, government, industry, and strategic partner stakeholders.
- Technical aptitude and operational understanding of autonomous systems, ISR, mission systems, AI-enabled capabilities, or related defence technologies.
- Strong communication, negotiation, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Willingness and ability to travel frequently throughout the territory and internationally.
- Based within the region or willing to relocate to a strategic location within the assigned territory.
- Fluency in English and relevant regional languages.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional, military, or operational experience preferred.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with UAS, autonomy, ISR, mission systems, aerospace, or AI-enabled operational capabilities.
- Existing relationships across defence ministries, military organizations, procurement authorities, or strategic industry partners in the assigned territory.
- Experience supporting direct commercial sales, Foreign Military Sales (FMS), or international government procurement programs.
- Prior military, operational defence, government, or national security experience.
Benefits
- Opportunity to work at the forefront of AI, autonomy, and next-generation defence systems.
- Mission-driven, entrepreneurial environment.
- Direct impact on international growth and strategic defence partnerships.
- Collaboration with teams solving complex operational challenges.
Skills
Business Development, Sales, Account Management, Go-to-Market Strategy, Pipeline Management, Contract Negotiation, Strategic Partnerships, Foreign Military Sales, Uas, Autonomous Systems, Isr, Mission Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Export Compliance, Forecasting
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