Strategy & Partnerships Lead - Canada

Arondite; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Arondite is expanding into Canada with Ottawa as the base for strategic growth in defence and public sector engagement. You will lead early business development, build trusted relationships with DND, DRDC, IDEaS and Canadian partners, and help establish Arondite as a credible participant in the Canadian defence ecosystem.

You will translate customer needs into market insights, shape partnerships, and contribute to roadmap and go-to-market plans while operating in a dynamic, ambiguity-tolerant

Qualifications

• Experience winning enterprise software, defence technology or complex public-sector deals in the Canadian defence or national security environment.
• Strong understanding of Canadian defence procurement, innovation funding and stakeholder engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead Arondite's early business development and strategic engagement activity in Canada
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders across DND, DRDC, IDEaS, federal innovation programs and adjacent public-sector organisations
• Develop relationships with Canadian primes, technology partners and other organisations that can accelerate market access
• Identify, qualify and progress commercial opportunities relevant to Cobalt and Arondite's wider offering
• Run structured customer discovery to test demand, refine positioning and surface priority use cases
• Work with internal teams to translate market signals into product insight, roadmap input and go-to-market recommendations
• Support partnership structuring, pricing discussions, proposal development and commercial negotiations
• Represent Arondite credibly in meetings, events and external conversations with senior decision-makers, and indeed as a spokesperson for media and governmental affairs
• Help shape Arondite's long-term Canadian presence, including hiring insights, ecosystem mapping and local growth priorities

Skills

Enterprise software

Defence technology

Public sector deals

Stakeholder management

Partnerships

Business development

Job description

Arondite is a defence technology company building the foundational software and AI to power the autonomous age. Our aim is to revolutionise the way organisations collaborate with robots, sensors and autonomous systems and use the data they generate. We are driven by our determination to help defend our collective democratic values and by our strong belief that an elite group of engineers can make a big difference. We are ambitious, well-funded and building for the long-term. You will join Arondite at a pivotal moment in the company's journey. Our company is being built by exceptional engineers - people who find high-impact and technically challenging work engaging and exciting, and who consistently deliver outsized impact. You will collaborate with other brilliant minds to solve some of the world's hardest and most important problems. You will have ownership and autonomy from Day One. There is no corporate ladder at Arondite. From your first day, you will directly influence the design, functionality, and direction of Arondite's product offering. We hire the best people and give them extremely high levels of autonomy; the sky is the limit for an individual with the right ambition. If you are motivated by our mission and if you want to be part of a growing team of outstanding people, then we want to hear from you.

About the role

We are expanding into Canada as part of our next phase of growth. Ottawa is the proposed base for this effort because of its proximity to the Department of National Defence (DND), DRDC, federal government stakeholders and the wider public‑sector ecosystem. Our initial objective is to establish a small, locally embedded team that can build trusted relationships and create an early go‑to‑market motion for Cobalt before growing into a broader Canadian office. Our Strategy & Partnerships team creates the relationships that bring our technology from concept to deployment. In Ottawa, you will lead that effort on the ground. You will identify high‑value problems for us to solve, build relationships with defence and public‑sector stakeholders, develop partnerships with Canadian organisations, and help establish Arondite as a credible and trusted participant in the Canadian defence and innovation ecosystem. This is a strategic and hands‑on role. You will help define Arondite's Canadian market approach while also executing the day‑to‑day work needed to build pipeline, qualify opportunities and move conversations forward. You should be comfortable operating in ambiguity, working independently and representing the company with senior stakeholders across government, industry and partner networks. Canada is a relationship‑led market, and we see local presence as essential. This role is therefore intended to be Ottawa‑based, with a strong focus on in‑person engagement with DND, DRDC, IDEaS, relevant federal agencies and Canadian prime contractors. You will work closely with product and engineering teams in order to translate customer needs into product insight. The problems we are solving are technically ambitious, so you do not need to build the product yourself, but you do need to understand complex technical ideas, communicate them clearly and contribute meaningfully to discussions about roadmap, product positioning and deployment priorities.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Lead Arondite's early business development and strategic engagement activity in Canada
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders across DND, DRDC, IDEaS, federal innovation programs and adjacent public‑sector organisations
• Develop relationships with Canadian primes, technology partners and other organisations that can accelerate market access
• Identify, qualify and progress commercial opportunities relevant to Cobalt and Arondite's wider offering
• Run structured customer discovery to test demand, refine positioning and surface priority use cases
• Work with internal teams to translate market signals into product insight, roadmap input and go‑to‑market recommendations
• Support partnership structuring, pricing discussions, proposal development and commercial negotiations
• Represent Arondite credibly in meetings, events and external conversations with senior decision‑makers, and indeed as a spokesperson for media and governmental affairs
• Help shape Arondite's long‑term Canadian presence, including hiring insights, ecosystem mapping and local growth priorities

You should have:

• Experience winning enterprise software, defence technology or complex public‑sector deals in the Canadian defence or national security environment
• A strong understanding of how Canadian defence procurement, innovation funding and stakeholder engagement work in practice
• Experience building and managing senior relationships across government, defence, industry or technology organisations
• A track record of structuring and advancing partnerships in defence, public sector or other highly regulated environments
• Strong commercial judgement, including busines