Defense & Security BD Manager — Growth & Strategy

CAE USA; Tampa (FL); On-site; USD 95,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

CAE USA is seeking a Business Development Manager II to drive new defense and security training opportunities within assigned customer portfolios. You will analyze market conditions, engage government and industry partners, and shape solutions aligned with customer priorities.

You will collaborate with capture, program, engineering, strategy, finance, contracts, and marketing teams to develop compelling business cases and growth plans, ensuring compliant proposals and strong value propositions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, national security, international relations, or another applicable field.
• two - three years of relevant experience in business development, capture management, program management, military operations, government acquisition, or the defense industry.
• Demonstrated ability to identify, qualify, and advance business opportunities within a defense or government‑contracting environment.
• Working knowledge of Department of Defense acquisition, budgeting, procurement, and industry pursuit processes.
• Ability to understand customer missions, operational requirements, acquisition priorities, and technology needs and translate them into actionable business strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with government customers, military leaders, acquisition organizations, industry partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Experience supporting cross‑functional teams involved in business development, capture, proposals, programs, or solution development.
• Ability to analyze customer requirements, market conditions, competitive intelligence, program budgets, and acquisition documents.
• Ability to develop business cases, customer engagement plans, opportunity assessments, executive briefings, and value propositions.
• Strong strategic thinking, business judgment, analytical ability, and problem‑solving skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with customers, partners, technical teams, and senior leaders.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple opportunities, priorities, and deadlines with limited supervision.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and applicable customer relationship management or opportunity‑tracking systems.
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the year or as required to support customers, industry events, and business opportunities.
• Due to U.S. Government contract requirements, only U.S. citizens are eligible for this role.

Responsibilities

• Develops and executes business development plans within an assigned customer, mission, market, or capability portfolio.
• Identifies, evaluates, and qualifies new business opportunities aligned with CAE's strategic growth objectives and portfolio capabilities.
• Establishes and maintains productive relationships with government customers, military leaders, acquisition organizations, industry partners, and other key stakeholders.
• Develops customer engagement plans, stakeholder maps, opportunity assessments, and action plans to position CAE for future business opportunities.
• Maintains a working understanding of customer missions, requirements, acquisition priorities, budgets, technology needs, and procurement timelines.
• Monitors defense policies, program funding, budget activity, acquisition strategies, and customer requirements that may affect current or future opportunities.
• Collects and analyzes market and competitive intelligence to assess customer needs, competitor positioning, potential partners and CAE's probability of success.
• Translates customer priorities and operational needs into actionable growth strategies, value propositions and potential solutions.
• Collaborates with program, engineering, training services, strategy, finance, contracts, legal, marketing, capture, and proposal teams to develop responsive and differentiated solutions.
• Prepares clear and compelling business cases, opportunity briefings, customer assessments, pipeline updates, and recommendations for business leadership.
• Supports opportunity gate reviews by providing the customer, market, budget, competitive, and positioning information needed to make informed pursuit decisions.
• Coordinates with Capture Management to transition qualified opportunities from business development into the formal capture process.
• Supports capture and proposal activities by providing customer insight, competitive intelligence, partner information, solution context, and reviews of proposal content.
• Participates in color-team and other proposal reviews to evaluate customer alignment, competitive positioning, proposal compliance, and the strength of CAE's value proposition.
• Identifies and develops potential teaming, partnership, and industry relationships that strengthen CAE's competitive position.
• Coordinates and supports customer demonstrations, technical exchanges, oral presentations, industry engagements, and capability briefings.
• Represents CAE at customer meetings, industry days, trade shows, conferences, exercises, and other business development events.
• Maintains accurate opportunity, customer engagement, and pipeline information within CAE's designated business development systems.
• Tracks progress against assigned growth objectives and communicates opportunity status, risks, resource needs, and recommended actions to leadership.
• Ensures all business development activities comply with company policies, security requirements, ethical standards, export‑control regulations, and applicable government contracting requirements.

Skills

Business development

Capture management

Program management

Military operations

Government acquisition

Defense industry

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, national security, international relations, or another applicable field

Job description

CAE USA is seeking a Business Development Manager II to drive new defense and security training opportunities within assigned customer portfolios. You will analyze market conditions, engage government and industry partners, and shape solutions aligned with customer priorities.

You will collaborate with capture, program, engineering, strategy, finance, contracts, and marketing teams to develop compelling business cases and growth plans, ensuring compliant proposals and strong value propositions.