# Head of Business Development, Middle East

**Company:** [Shield AI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/shield-ai)
**Location:** Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
**Role:** Business Development
**Experience:** 10+ years
**Skills:** Business Development, Capture Management, Pipeline Development, Sales Forecasting, Government Relations, Defence Procurement, Foreign Military Sales, Isr, Autonomy, Unmanned Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Hivemind, V-Bat, X-Bat
**Posted:** 2026-07-07

> Leads Shield AI’s Middle East district strategy, defence sales growth, pipeline, and complex government opportunity execution across multiple markets. The role requires 10+ years in defence or international government relations, strong senior-stakeholder leadership, Arabic and English proficiency, and experience with advanced autonomous systems.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Serve as Shield AI’s senior District representative across the Middle East, engaging senior military, government, and industry stakeholders while ensuring operational and regulatory compliance.
- Develop and execute a unified Middle East District strategy across CENTCOM, the GCC (excluding Saudi Arabia), and bilateral frameworks.
- Own district quota and sales performance, including pipeline development, forecast accuracy, order intake, and opportunity execution from shaping through close.
- Direct and coordinate Country Business Development Leads across multiple markets.
- Drive district growth across V-BAT, X-BAT, ViDAR, and Hivemind.
- Coordinate Business Development, Government Relations, Program Management, Legal, Contracts, PX, Marketing, and Customer Operations teams.
- Oversee active district opportunities, maintaining accountability for performance, timelines, customer satisfaction, and strategic growth.
- Build a data-driven district pipeline and stakeholder engagement strategy.
- Develop and manage partnerships, resellers, and strategic industry relationships.
- Identify and mitigate political, procurement, operational, and strategic risks, providing executive visibility into performance and growth.

## Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in defence, military operations, business development, capture management, or international government relations.
- Deep technical and operational understanding of V-BAT, Hivemind, and X-BAT, including payload integration, training, sustainment, and deployed operations.
- Experience across multiple international defence, aerospace, or national security markets and complex government procurement environments.
- Ability to lead distributed, cross-functional teams across multiple countries and cultures.
- Executive presence with experience engaging senior military leadership, Ministries of Defence, U.S. Embassies/ODCs, CENTCOM/GCC stakeholders, and strategic industry partners.
- Track record of pipeline development, capture strategy, and closing complex, high-value defence opportunities.
- Arabic and English proficiency.
- Bachelor’s degree or relevant military education preferred.

## Nice-to-haves
- District leadership experience across allied defence markets, CENTCOM, the Middle East, or the GCC.
- Relationships with CENTCOM/GCC, Ministries of Defence, senior military leadership, defence procurement organizations, and strategic industry stakeholders.
- Experience leading international defence captures, Foreign Military Sales (FMS), or multinational procurement programs.
- Operational understanding of ISR, autonomy, unmanned systems, AI-enabled capabilities, and modern defence technology.
- Experience managing consultants, resellers, strategic partnerships, or industrial participation/offset initiatives.
- Familiarity with CENTCOM/GCC operational frameworks and allied capability development.
- Experience in high-growth, fast-paced, internationally distributed environments.
- Ability to attain or existing relevant national security clearance.
- Master’s degree in a relevant field.

## 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 on complex operational challenges.

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