# Senior Director of Business Development

**Company:** [Shield AI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/shield-ai)
**Location:** Tokyo, Japan
**Role:** Business Development
**Experience:** 10+ years
**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
**Posted:** 2026-04-21

> 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.

## Job Description

## 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.

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