Defense BD Lead - Maritime Autonomy Tech

Advanced Navigation; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 134,000 - 202,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & Wellness: medical, dental, &

401(k) retirement with company match

Professional development budget

Paid time off

Job summary

Advanced Navigation seeks a Business Development Senior Manager to bridge technical innovation with customer acquisition, focusing on defense primes and OEMs for Navy and Marine Corps adoption in maritime navigation and autonomous platforms.

The role is an individual contributor hunter with a 2–4 year adoption horizon, requiring 4–7 years in defense BD or sales and a STEM degree or equivalent technical expertise. Travel and cross-functional collaboration are core to this role.

Qualifications

• 4–7 years in Defense Business Development or Sales.
• Experience promoting sub-component level products to Primes/OEMs.
• Ability to engage with engineers on inertial navigation and the APNT ecosystem.
• Familiarity with USN/USMC organizations and their footprints."

Responsibilities

• Pipeline Generation: identify and qualify leads within Prime/OEM engineering groups and Navy centers.
• Technical Sales: support full sales cycle from opening the door to demonstrations and closure.
• Bids & Proposals: lead technical writing for White Papers, Sources Sought, and RFI responses.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: partner with Product and Support to reflect customer requirements in roadmaps.
• CRM Management: ensure 100% Salesforce accuracy for pipeline health and touchpoints.
• Team Contribution: collaborate across Business Development, Marketing, Sales Ops, and Engineering.

Skills

Defense sales

Technical fluency

Naval knowledge

Communication skills

Education

STEM degree preferred

Job description

Advanced Navigation seeks a Business Development Senior Manager to bridge technical innovation with customer acquisition, focusing on defense primes and OEMs for Navy and Marine Corps adoption in maritime navigation and autonomous platforms.

The role is an individual contributor hunter with a 2–4 year adoption horizon, requiring 4–7 years in defense BD or sales and a STEM degree or equivalent technical expertise. Travel and cross-functional collaboration are core to this role.