US Growth Director – Defense Tech & Strategic Partnerships

Rowden; Raleigh (NC); Hybrid; USD 225,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Rowden is seeking a VP Growth to establish and grow its US market presence from North Carolina. From day one you will convert Rowden’s RF deception and edge fleet products into funded contracts and strategic partnerships, while building repeatable revenue.

You will report to UK leadership and shape the US operation for scale and impact. You’ll lead commercial negotiations, engage senior government and industry stakeholders, and ensure a strong alignment across pursuits, pricing, and roadmap.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated track record closing sales through non-traditional and rapid acquisition pathways, including OTAs.
• Demonstrated experience running formal or informal capture processes: shaping opportunities pre-RFP, leading competitive positioning and teaming decisions, and managing PWin through the pursuit lifecycle.
• Ability to identify, establish, and leverage relationships with senior officials and program stakeholders to convert user-driven demand into funded programs — understands how operator/user pull becomes a budget line.
• Strong writing skills, with experience writing white papers, RFIs, and proposal responses.
• Must be a U.S. citizen and hold an active U.S. Secret security clearance.
• Ability to travel 40–60% including one week per quarter at Rowden's Bristol HQ.
• Ability to complete up to 6-week onboarding at Rowden's Bristol HQ.

Responsibilities

• Lead the build-out of our US operational footprint, leveraging UK HQ support and external resources to ensure you can focus as much as possible on commercial execution.
• Identify and shape new sales opportunities early, often well before a formal requirement exists, positioning Rowden's product and brand credibly for each opportunity and audience, whether that be end users, commercial teams, or strategic decision-makers.
• Own the full opportunity lifecycle end to end, from first engagement through to signed contract, understanding how a trial, exercise, CRADA, FCT funding, OTA, or innovation activity can create the access and leverage needed for funded follow-on work, and exercising the judgment to prioritize and run hard at what's most likely to convert.
• Build and manage strategically valuable partnerships and relationships across the US defense industrial base, including primes, OEMs and relevant industry groups.
• Lead commercial negotiations that support Rowden's customer access, pricing power, IP protection, ability to deliver effectively and long-term scalability.
• Represent Rowden credibly with senior government and industry stakeholders, briefing our growth plans and products in line with our values and principles.
• Feed structured, technically grounded insights from customers, partners, and competitors into Rowden's product roadmap and pricing models.
• Maintain regular, proactive two-way communication with UK leadership, engineering, product, and commercial teams to ensure there is strong alignment around pursuits, pipeline health, product roadmap, market positioning, and resource gaps.

Skills

Sales track record

Capture processes

Stakeholder relationships

Strong writing

US citizenship

US Secret clearance

Travel readiness

Onboarding readiness

Education

Active US Secret security clearance

Job description

Rowden is seeking a VP Growth to establish and grow its US market presence from North Carolina. From day one you will convert Rowden’s RF deception and edge fleet products into funded contracts and strategic partnerships, while building repeatable revenue.

You will report to UK leadership and shape the US operation for scale and impact. You’ll lead commercial negotiations, engage senior government and industry stakeholders, and ensure a strong alignment across pursuits, pricing, and roadmap.