Senior Director, Business Development

About the role

The Senior Director of Business Development is a multifaceted leadership role responsible for maintaining industry awareness, generating leads, managing customer relationships, obtaining requests for proposals, and leading the Business Development team. The ideal candidate will possess a robust network of professional connections within the space industry.

This individual will collaborate with executives to develop and execute SEAKR's business development strategy through the pursuit of high-win-probability opportunities. The Director is also responsible for identifying new business opportunities and developing capture strategies to support executive management bid/no-bid decisions. To strategically position the company for future business opportunities, the Director is expected to provide clear input regarding future product offering needs as part of the IRAD planning and budgeting process.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate expertise in sales, negotiations, finance, and growth strategies while embodying an entrepreneurial mindset. This is a full-time exempt position that will serve as a key representative and "face of the company" within the industry. The Director is expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy and sound judgment while maintaining strong alignment with executive leadership, effectively leading the Business Development team, adhering to company policies and processes, and delivering measurable business results.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

Strategic Planning: Develop and execute business development strategies to drive growth and achieve company objectives. Collaborate with executives to develop, articulate, and execute a business development strategy with short-, mid-, and long-term goals by providing input from industry, market, and competitive analysis, customer needs assessments, customer feedback, product definition feedback, and future mission requirements.

Sales and Revenue Growth: Drive sales initiatives and achieve revenue targets through effective business development strategies. Coordinate with executives to define and execute strategies to grow product segment market share and profitability through market opportunity evaluation and segmentation, value proposition development, product positioning, pricing strategy, branding and channel strategy, and communications strategy development.

Client Relationships: Establish and maintain strong relationships with key clients, including government agencies, defense contractors, and commercial aerospace companies. Establish and nurture customer relationships to understand current and future needs and promote alignment of the company's current and future capabilities to meet those needs.

Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop members of the Business Development team to build a high-performing and accountable organization. Establish clear priorities, expectations, and ownership across the team; provide regular feedback and coaching; monitor performance and workload; and ensure team members have the direction, resources, and support necessary to successfully execute their responsibilities. Maintain an appropriate level of engagement and presence with the team to support collaboration, development, and effective execution of business development priorities.

Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with the leadership team, engineering, business capture, and product development teams to align business development efforts with company goals. Align with the capture team to define technical, strategic, and business insight for RFI, ROM, whitepaper, and proposal responses.

Market Analysis: Identify and analyze market trends, customer needs, and the competitive landscape to uncover new business opportunities. Supervise marketing execution, including content for SEAKR's website, product and marketing literature, trade show presence, trade journal articles, white papers, press releases, presentations, and datasheets. Represent the company at appropriate industry events, conferences, trade shows, and customer engagements to promote products and services.

Business Development Execution and Delegation: Establish clear ownership and accountability for business development activities across the team. Effectively delegate customer engagements, opportunity development, and other business development responsibilities to ensure appropriate coverage, develop team capabilities, and maximize organizational effectiveness. Maintain visibility into team activities, customer engagements, pipeline development, and key opportunities to ensure alignment with company priorities.

Policy and Expense Management: Demonstrate consistent compliance with company policies, procedures, and internal controls, including all Travel and Expense requirements. Utilize the company's designated travel and expense management system (Concur) for business travel booking and expense reporting, as required by company policy, and ensure expenses are accurately documented and submitted in a timely manner. As a people leader, reinforce these expectations with members of the Business Development team and model appropriate stewardship of company resources.

Travel: Must be available to travel for business approximately 30%-50% of the time based on customer, program, and business needs. Travel should be purposeful and aligned with business development priorities, customer engagement requirements, and company objectives, while maintaining appropriate availability and presence to effectively lead and support the Business Development team. The Director is expected to exercise sound judgment in determining when in-person travel is necessary and when business objectives can be effectively accomplished through other means.

Supervisory Duties

• Provide direct leadership and oversight of members of the Business Development team.
• Establish individual and team priorities, goals, and performance expectations aligned with company objectives.
• Provide ongoing coaching, feedback, performance management, and professional development to team members.
• Effectively delegate responsibilities and customer engagements to develop team capabilities, ensure appropriate coverage, and maximize organizational effectiveness.
• Monitor team performance, workload, customer engagement, and execution against business development priorities.
• Assess organizational capabilities and resource needs and support the continued development and growth of the Business Development function.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, communication, and compliance with company policies and processes.

Qualifications & Requirements

Education or Formal Training

• The ideal candidate will have a technical background and a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, with an emphasis in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• A Master's degree in Engineering Management or Program Management, or an MBA, is preferred.

Experience

• At least 15 years of technical business development experience, with demonstrated experience in the aerospace and/or space markets preferred.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing business development and growth strategies within a technical environment.
• Proven experience developing and maintaining relationships with government, defense, aerospace, and/or commercial space customers.
• Demonstrated leadership experience, including managing, coaching, developing, and holding team members accountable for performance and results.
• Experience managing multiple business development opportunities, customer engagements, and capture activities simultaneously.

Additional information

Security Clearance The candidate will either possess a TS/SCI with polygraph clearance or be capable of obtaining the required clearance.

Skills Demonstrate strong analytical, negotiation, leadership, and communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively under pressure.

Compensation

Base salary range is $225,000-275,000, depending on qualifications. SEAKR has very rich medical, dental and vision insurance plans, along with a generous 401(k) retirement plan. In addition to base salary, employees are eligible for a year-end bonus. SEAKR offers a variety of paid leave, such as vacation, sick, bereavement, and FMLA.

US Citizenship Required

Applications will be accepted until 11/20/26.