Senior Defence Business Development & Capture Manager

Swarmer; Warszawa; On-site; PLN 130,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Swarmer, a trailblazer in autonomous drone software, seeks a senior Defence Business Development professional to build a Europe-wide pipeline and win strategic opportunities for public-sector and institutional clients. You will map markets, qualify deals, and coordinate bids, collaborating with product, legal, and leadership teams.

Join a fast-moving, early-stage environment with high ownership and a direct impact on critical defense programs across Europe.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in defence business development, public-sector sales, institutional business development, capture management, proposal management, or bid management.
• Experience working with European public procurement, tenders, institutional sales, or government-related sales processes.
• Strong understanding of defence markets, preferably with exposure to European defence buyers, MODs, integrators, primes, or public-sector stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage complex opportunities from early identification through submission and follow-up.
• Strong sales funnel discipline, opportunity qualification skills, stakeholder management, and structured execution.
• Excellent English, with the ability to prepare high-quality external documents, proposals, briefs, and tender materials.
• High ownership, attention to detail, independence, and comfort working in a fast-moving, early-stage environment.

Responsibilities

• Build a qualified pipeline of defence, public-sector, and institutional opportunities across Europe.
• Identify tenders, procurement opportunities, frameworks, institutional calls, and partnership opportunities.
• Drive market mapping, lead generation, outreach, and pre-landing activities with partners, integrators, and institutional stakeholders.
• Qualify opportunities using bid/no-bid criteria, including strategic fit, timing, competition, requirements, and win probability.
• Support capture planning for priority opportunities, including positioning, win themes, stakeholder mapping, and partner strategy.
• Coordinate preparation and submission of tenders, proposals, and institutional applications, ensuring compliance with procurement requirements.
• Work with product, legal, finance, and leadership teams to translate technical capabilities into strong commercial narratives and move opportunities through the funnel.

Skills

Defence market understanding

European public procurement

Opportunity qualification

Stakeholder management

English proficiency

Job description

Why we exist:

Swarmer develops software that makes drones autonomous and allows them to operate together, in large, coordinated teams — no pilots needed. Our technology has been battle-tested in Ukraine— the world’s most intense proving ground for drone warfare.

In March 2026, we became the first Ukrainian defenсe startup to go public on NASDAQ, following a $15M Series A — the largest investment in a Ukrainian defenсe tech company since the start of the war.

Working at Swarmer means operating at the intersection of engineering rigor and frontline reality. The problems and environments are complex, and the stakes are very real. We built this software to enable democratic nations to defend themselves.

If you are motivated by building resilient systems that matter and by seeing the direct impact of your work, you’ll find purpose here.

What you will do:

• Build and manage a qualified pipeline of defenсe, public-sector, and institutional opportunities across Europe.

• Identify relevant tenders, procurement opportunities, frameworks, institutional calls, and partnership opportunities.

• Drive market mapping, lead generation, outreach, and pre-landing activities with partners, integrators, and institutional stakeholders.

• Qualify opportunities using bid/no-bid criteria, including strategic fit, timing, competition, requirements, and win probability.

• Support capture planning for priority opportunities, including positioning, win themes, stakeholder mapping, and partner strategy.

• Coordinate preparation and submission of tenders, proposals, and institutional applications, ensuring compliance with procurement requirements.

• Work with product, legal, finance, and leadership teams to translate technical capabilities into strong commercial narratives and move opportunities through the funnel.

You’ll be a good fit if you have:

• 5+ years of experience in defenсe business development, public-sector sales, institutional business development, capture management, proposal management, or bid management.

• Experience working with European public procurement, tenders, institutional sales, or government-related sales processes.

• Strong understanding of defenсe markets, preferably with exposure to European defenсe buyers, MODs, integrators, primes, or public-sector stakeholders.

• Proven ability to manage complex opportunities from early identification through submission and follow-up.

• Strong sales funnel discipline, opportunity qualification skills, stakeholder management, and structured execution.

• Excellent English, with the ability to prepare high-quality external documents, proposals, briefs, and tender materials.

• High ownership, attention to detail, independence, and comfort working in a fast-moving, early-stage environment.

Would be an advantage:

• Experience with the EU defenсe ecosystem, NATO, MODs, institutional buyers, or European defenсe procurement structures.

• Existing network across European defenсe, public-sector, integrator, or government contractor ecosystems.

• German, French, Polish, Baltic, Scandinavian, or other European language skills.

What you’ll get:

• Direct impact in a high-stakes industry where your work enables autonomous systems used on the ground

• Opportunities for professional growth

• The ability to influence and improve processes

• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package

• A straightforward, no-bureaucracy culture

How’s the hiring process going:

Recruiter Screen → Interview with Hiring Manager → Technical Interview → Skip-Level Interview (optional) → Offer

Please note that, as a leading defenсe tech company, we take operations security seriously and may need to perform additional background checks as part of our hiring process. We will do so in accordance with all applicable EU laws and regulations and safeguard your data in the process.