Alliance Lead - U.S. Air Force

EdgeRunner AI, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Remote-first culture

401(k) program

WeWork access

IT stipend

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

EdgeRunner AI, a U.S.-based defense AI leader, seeks an Alliance Lead for the U.S. Air Force to drive growth, capture lifecycle, and deployment across the USAF and affiliated bodies.

You will travel ~25% to work with airmen and acquisition teams, shape proposals, and coordinate with engineering, research, and product groups to deliver on national security priorities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years Navy experience in defense BD or deployment roles.
• Deep familiarity with the Navy acquisition ecosystem and funding pathways.
• Proven ability to drive adoption of emerging technology in DoD environments.
• Excellent communicator bridging operators, engineers, and acquisition officers.
• Hands-on with end-user requirements and field insights for roadmaps.
• Active TS/SCI clearance required.
• Startup experience is a plus; strong mission focus for national security.

Responsibilities

• Lead Air Force business development from prospecting through deployment.
• Coordinate with CEO, COO, VP Growth and cross-functional teams.
• Oversee USAF sales pipeline, RFP responses, pricing, and negotiations.
• Convert pilots into long-term contract vehicles (BAAs, IDIQs, OTAs).
• Build relationships with Air Force stakeholders and program offices.
• Identify high-value use cases aligned with modernization priorities.

Skills

Navy expertise

Acquisition know-how

Track record

Tech translator

User requirements

Security clearance

Growth mindset

Job description

About EdgeRunner AI

EdgeRunner AI is an American dual-use research lab building frontier open-weight AI for the U.S. military and heavily regulated industries. Our goal is to increase our chance of winning the fight by arming the warfighter with domain-specific AI agents that create a common operating picture, enhance battle readiness from training to deployment, mitigate risk in live combat, and bridge the gap between human and machine.

Applied AI has the potential to transform the DoD, but adoption has been blocked due to several factors: lack of domain expertise, opaque training data, cost-prohibitive and compute-intensive applications, potentially dangerous biases, and dependency upon internet access that requires moving data to the cloud. We seek to solve these challenges by developing safe, secure, and transparent AI solutions that can run on-device at the tactical edge.

We’ve partnered with organizations critical to our national security, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Space Force, and have raised $17.5M in funding from leading VCs, including Madrona Ventures, HP Tech Ventures, Four Rivers Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.

About the Role

As Alliance Lead for the U.S. Air Force, you will drive the growth and adoption of EdgeRunner technology across the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and affiliated organizations. You will own the full capture lifecycle—prospecting, sales development, proposal execution, and customer deployment—working closely with our core engineering, research, and product teams. You will travel on-site to work directly with airmen, operators, and USAF acquisition stakeholders to scope, prototype, and implement solutions that support national security priorities.

What You'll Do

• Drive Growth: Lead Air Force business development from early-stage pipeline creation through contract execution, operational deployment, and program expansion.
• Executive & Cross-Functional Alignment: Partner with executive leadership (CEO, COO, VP Growth) and collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, research, product, and government affairs.
• Pipeline & Deal Capture: Oversee the full USAF sales pipeline; lead proposal development efforts including RFP responses, pricing strategies, and contract negotiations to position EdgeRunner for Program of Record capture.
• Contract Vehicle Strategy: Convert early-stage pilots and agreements into long-term contract vehicles (BAAs, SBIR/STTR Phase II/III, OTAs, IDIQs, programs).
• Stakeholder Engagement: Build and manage high-trust relationships across key Air Force stakeholders, program executive offices (PEOs), innovation arms (e.g., AFWERX, SAF/IA, AFLCMC, AFRL), and operational commands (e.g., ACC, AMC, AFGSC).
• Mission Scoping: Identify high-value operational use cases (ABMS/JADC2, ISR, mission planning, tactical edge decision support, predictive logistics) aligned with Air Force modernization priorities.
• Market Presence: Represent EdgeRunner AI at industry forums, defense tech showcases, government briefings, and partner meetings to increase brand awareness.
• Travel Expectation: ~25% travel for customer meetings, scoping, prototyping, and deployments.

Qualifications

• Navy Expertise: 7+ years of direct or immediately relevant Navy experience—ideally a combination of military/operational background and defense industry business development or deployment roles.
• Acquisition Knowledge: Deep familiarity with the Navy acquisition ecosystem, program offices, and funding pathways.
• Track Record: Proven ability to drive adoption of emerging technology within Navy or DoD enterprise environments.
• Technical & Operator Translator: Exceptional communicator capable of bridging the gap between operators, software engineers, and acquisition officers.
• User Requirement Scoping: Hands-on experience working directly with end-users to gather requirements, conduct user testing, and feed field insights into product roadmaps.
• Security Clearance: Active TS/SCI clearance required
• Growth Mindset: Startup experience is a plus, but passion for supporting the U.S. military and allied forces is required.

Why Join Us

We offer competitive salary, equity, and benefits, with individual pay determined by experience, relevant education, and training.

• 100% company-covered health, dental, and vision for employees; 50% for dependents.
• 100% remote-first culture (work from anywhere in the U.S.).
• 401(k) program.
• WeWork access and an IT stipend for equipment.
• Unlimited PTO.

EdgeRunner AI is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, or disability status.

Even if you don't meet 100% of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply if you are passionate about our mission.