Business Development Manager

Confidential Employer; Tampa (FL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential Employer in the United States is seeking a seasoned Business Development Manager II to support growth in Defense and Security Military Training and Simulation. You will identify opportunities, analyze markets, and shape solutions aligned with customer priorities while coordinating with capture, program, and engineering teams.

The role requires strong relationships with government and industry partners, knowledge of DoD processes, and ability to translate mission needs into strategic

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, international relations, national security, or related.
• Five to eight years in business development, defense acquisition, capture, or program management.
• Proven success identifying and advancing defense or government pursuits.
• Familiarity with DoD acquisition, budget cycles, and pursuit processes.
• Ability to translate missions into business strategy and engage government customers.
• Experience building relationships across government and industry partners.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams on proposals and capture.
• Skilled in evaluating requirements, budgets, market trends and competitive posture.
• Strong capability to create business cases and executive briefs.

Responsibilities

• Create and implement BD plans tailored to missions, customers, or capability areas.
• Source and vet new prospects aligned with growth priorities.
• Build and sustain relationships with military, government, and industry stakeholders.
• Develop targeted customer engagement strategies and map opportunities.
• Maintain knowledge of missions, procurement timelines, and technology interests.
• Track defense strategies, budget decisions, and customer priorities.
• Provide market insights and competitive analysis for positioning.
• Convert customer needs into actionable strategies and value propositions.
• Collaborate with engineering, finance, contracts, and marketing to shape solutions.
• Produce business cases, customer briefs, and pipeline summaries for leadership.

Skills

Customer relationship management

Market analysis

Strategic thinking

Proposal development

Competitive intelligence

Budget analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Oral and written communication

Education

Bachelor's degree (business, engineering, international relations, national security)

Tools

CRM systems

Microsoft Office

Proposal tracking systems

Job description

The Business Development Manager II is an individual contributor will be responsible for supporting new business growth for a the organization’s Defense and Security Military Training and Simulation business within an the assigned customer, mission, or and capability portfolio. The position identifies, qualifies, and advances business opportunities by developing customer relationships, analyzing market and competitive conditions, and helping shape solutions aligned with customer priorities.

The Business Development Manager II collaborates with capture, program, engineering, strategy, finance, contracts, and other functional teams to develop growth strategies, business cases, customer engagement plans, and competitive positioning. Responsibilities include opportunity identification and qualification, customer and partner relationship management, market and budget analysis, competitive intelligence, and support for capture and proposal activities. The position may support specialty areas such as related to the U.S. Army, U.S. Space & Missile Defense, USAF, Space Force, and Next Generation Training capabilities. Missile Defense, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, Next Generation capabilities, or the U.S. Army.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Creates and implements business development plans tailored to an assigned mission, customer base, or capability area.
• Sources, analyzes, and vets new business prospects aligned with organizational growth priorities.
• Builds and sustains strong working relationships with military, government, and industry stakeholders.
• Develops targeted customer engagement strategies, including mapping stakeholders and assessing opportunity landscapes.
• Maintains up-to-date knowledge of customer missions, procurement timelines, operational requirements, and technology interests.
• Tracks defense strategies, budget decisions, acquisition developments, and changes in customer priorities.
• Gathers and interprets market insights and competitor activities to help evaluate positioning and partnership options.
• Converts customer needs and mission insights into actionable strategies, solution concepts, and value propositions.
• Works closely with engineering, program teams, strategy, finance, contracts, legal, capture, and marketing to advance differentiated solutions.
• Produces concise business cases, customer briefs, pipeline summaries, and strategic recommendations for leadership review.
• Contributes to pursuit decisions by supplying customer intelligence, budget review, competitive analysis, and market context.
• Partners with Capture Management to ensure qualified opportunities transition smoothly into formal capture processes.
• Supports proposal development with direct customer insights, competitor analysis, teaming context, and reviews of draft content.
• Participates in proposal color-team reviews to validate alignment with customer expectations and competitive strategy.
• Identifies teaming opportunities and cultivates partner relationships that strengthen competitive standing.
• Assists with technical exchanges, demonstrations, oral briefings, and participation in industry engagements.
• Represents the organization at conferences, trade shows, military events, and other customer-focused forums.
• Maintains accurate records of pipeline activities, customer interactions, and opportunity progress in designated systems.
• Communicates opportunity risks, resourcing needs, and recommended actions while tracking assigned business objectives.
• Ensures all business development efforts meet organizational compliance standards, ethical practices, export requirements, and government-contracting rules.

Qualifications and Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, international relations, national security, or a related discipline.
• Five to eight years of experience in business development, defense acquisition, capture, military operations, or program management.
• Proven success identifying, evaluating, and advancing business pursuits within defense or government contracting.
• Familiarity with DoD acquisition, budget cycles, procurement methods, and pursuit processes.
• Ability to interpret mission requirements, operational gaps, and technology needs and convert them into business strategy.
• Demonstrated capability building relationships across government customers, acquisition offices, military organizations, and industry partners.
• Experience working alongside cross-functional teams in proposals, capture, development, or program execution.
• Skill in evaluating customer requirements, budgets, market trends, competitive posture, and acquisition documentation.
• Ability to create business cases, customer-engagement material, executive briefs, and opportunity analyses.
• Strong analytical capabilities, strategic mindset, business acumen, and problem-solving proficiency.
• Excellent communication skills-written, verbal, and interpersonal-across customers, partners, technical teams, and leadership.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple workflow priorities with minimal oversight.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and relevant CRM or opportunity-tracking systems.
• Willingness to travel approximately 25% for customer meetings, industry events, and opportunity support.
• U.S. citizenship required due to government contract regulations.

Preferred Skills

Missile Defense

• Understanding of integrated air and missile defense missions, operational demands, and training requirements.
• Experience interacting with organizations such as the Missile Defense Agency, Army SMDC, service components, or combatant commands.
• Knowledge of missile warning systems, interceptors, sensors, command-and-control operations, and multi-domain defense dynamics.
• Background supporting missile-defense initiatives involving modeling, simulation, mission rehearsal, or operator training.

U.S. Air Force

• Familiarity with Air Force missions, organizational structures, training processes, and acquisition priorities.
• Experience collaborating with ACC, AFMC, AFLCMC, AFRL, or relevant Program Executive Offices.
• Understanding of next-gen aircraft programs, LVC training environments, Distributed Mission Operations, and synthetic training systems.
• Knowledge of Air Force procurement methods, modernization objectives, and industry engagement practices.

U.S. Space Force

• Understanding of Space Force missions, operational needs, training requirements, and acquisition organizations.
• Experience working with SSC, STARCOM, field commands, deltas, or other space-operations units.
• Familiarity with contested-space operations, satellite control, cyber and electronic warfare, and space-domain awareness.
• Background in space training, simulation, digital engineering, synthetic mission environments, or mission rehearsal.

Next Generation Capabilities

• Knowledge of emerging defense technologies and evolving training environments such as advanced simulation and digital engineering.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled training, cloud-based architectures, secure networking, data analytics, and multi-domain integration.
• Ability to interpret emerging mission needs and align new technologies with training and operational solutions.
• Experience supporting rapid capability development, experimentation, future-platform concepting, or technology transition.

U.S. Army

• Understanding of Army missions, modernization priorities, acquisition processes, and training requirements.
• Experience engaging with Futures Command, TRADOC, PEO STRI, Army Contracting Command, or similar organizations.
• Knowledge of the Synthetic Training Environment, collective training ecosystems, mission command, maneuver training, or aviation training.
• Background supporting Army programs in training, requirements development, modeling, simulation, or modernization.

General Preferred Skills

• Experience in defense-industry business development, acquisition, capture, military operations, or program support.
• Familiarity with Shipley frameworks for qualification, customer engagement, competitive assessment, and proposal review.
• Ability to produce business cases, customer briefs, growth strategies, and opportunity projections.
• Knowledge of the DoD PPBE process and its impact on funding and acquisition.
• Background in proposal development, technical writing, and delivering presentations across government and industry audiences.
• Experience in military training, simulation, mission rehearsal, or synthetic training environments.
• Familiarity with FMS, DCS, ITAR, and export-control considerations relevant to defense portfolios.
• Advanced degree in engineering, business, national security, or a related discipline.