Senior Director of Business Development
Leads Shield AI’s defense business development and go-to-market strategy across Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, including major pursuits, partnerships, and government relationships. Requires 10+ years of regional defense or aerospace experience, complex program sales success, and strong stakeholder and cross-functional leadership.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Own and execute regional go-to-market strategy for Shield AI’s product portfolio across Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, including X-BAT, V-BAT, ViDAR, and Hivemind.
- Maintain responsibility for annual order targets, multi-year pipeline development, and order growth.
- Lead end-to-end capture and sales efforts from early engagement through contract award and follow-on growth.
- Engage senior military, government, and defense-industry stakeholders across the region.
- Differentiate Shield AI in competitive and regulated defense procurements.
- Provide market and customer intelligence to influence product roadmaps and international strategy.
- Work cross-functionally with product, legal, export compliance, and operations teams.
- Lead proposal and program development and complex product demonstrations.
- Structure and manage local partnerships, prime contractors, industrial participation, and offset strategies.
- Represent Shield AI at senior-level engagements, exhibitions, and industry forums.
Requirements
- 10+ years of business development experience in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, or the broader region within defense, aerospace, or national security.
- Prior defense or government-facing experience in Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan, with deep understanding of procurement processes, offset requirements, export sensitivities, local defense primes, and indigenization requirements.
- Fluency in English and preferably Japanese, written and spoken.
- Demonstrated success closing complex defense or government programs, ideally spanning hardware such as aircraft or UAS and software such as autonomy or AI.
- Technical experience with autonomy, UAVs, ISR, and advanced sensing technologies.
- Strong negotiation, relationship-building, and stakeholder-management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple concurrent pursuits involving technical products in ambiguous environments.
- Proven cross-functional leadership across operations, product, and business development teams.
- Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills.
- Willingness and ability to travel frequently within the region and internationally and work across multiple time zones.
- Based in Tokyo, Japan.
- Mastery of Microsoft Suite tools, including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, as well as LLMs.
- Experience forecasting, tracking, and managing deal cycles using Salesforce.
Preferred Qualifications
- Existing U.S. or allied security clearance.
- Prior military service or operational leadership experience in Japan, particularly related to UAS, autonomy, or fighter aircraft.
- Experience supporting foreign military sales through DSCA, engaging with SAF/IA, or working directly with foreign air forces.
- Direct experience with UAV operations, mission autonomy, or AI-enabled C2 systems.
Skills
Business Development, Defense Procurement, Aerospace, National Security, Uavs, Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence, Isr, Advanced Sensing, Salesforce, Microsoft Powerpoint, Excel, LLMs, Export Compliance, Foreign Military Sales
Similar jobs
Business Development jobs
Thyme Care
Remote
Leads Thyme Care’s inorganic growth strategy by identifying, evaluating, and executing acquisitions, investments, and strategic partnerships. The role requires 8+ years of transaction or strategic finance experience, strong modeling and valuation skills, and the ability to influence executives in a fast-moving health tech environment.
Hiya
Tokyo, Japan
Leads Hiya’s commercial growth, carrier partnerships, and market strategy in Japan, owning executive relationships, complex negotiations, new business, and account expansion. Requires 7+ years of relevant commercial experience, deep Japanese telecom expertise, senior stakeholder credibility, and fluency in Japanese and English.
Rokt
Tokyo, Japan
Own and grow partnership deals while building the Japanese advertiser pipeline for Rokt Ads. The role requires at least three years of relevant experience, strong performance marketing knowledge, native-level Japanese, business-level English, and frequent Tokyo office presence.
Protege
Remote
The Partnerships Business Development Representative will build an always-on pipeline of healthcare data partners through market mapping, outbound sourcing, discovery, qualification, and data-driven funnel management. The role suits an organized, metrics-oriented business development professional with healthcare data or partnership experience.
Flaglerhealth
Remote
The Business Development Representative will prospect and qualify musculoskeletal healthcare practices, create outbound engagement, and book well-qualified meetings for Account Executives. The role is designed for an early-career salesperson with at least one year of experience, strong communication skills, resilience, and comfort working remotely.