Associate Defense Business Development Jobs in Reston, VA

Anduril Maritime delivers platforms, systems, and integrated effects in the maritime domain. Our autonomous vehicles (sub-surface and surface) are the cornerstone of these capabilities, and we continually strive to push the boundaries of the possible in terms of endurance, autonomy and mission capability. The Maritime team develops and maintains core products and payloads and adapts and applies those products to serve a wide variety of defense, IC and commercial customers in US and international markets. 

We are seeking a Director, Maritime Business Development (Strategy) to join our team to shape, capture, and grow new maritime concepts, products and future business lines. This is a zero-to-one role. You will partner with engineering, product, and division leadership to define the customer set, translate customer mission requirements into a credible product strategy, build the partnerships required to deliver the capability, and lead the captures that turn the concept into a program of record. 

 Success in this role requires comfort operating at the intersection of strategy and emerging technology - you will need to be conversant in the technical reality of what makes these systems work, the operational reality of how customers will use them, and the programmatic reality of how the U.S. government and commercial customers acquire first-of-kind capability. The role asks for a leader who is energized by greenfield problems and is willing to roll up their sleeves and build a capability and program from scratch. 

If you have spent time in consulting, defense business development, commercial maritime, government program acquisitions, defense strategy, or the intersection of advanced technology and national security, and you are looking for a role where the strategy, customer relationships and the technical shaping all sit in the same seat, this is the role for you. 

• Originate and shape business opportunities. You will own the front end of the pipeline for the Maritime Division: identifying where the next programs and markets will form, then building the engagement strategy to get there first. You will develop a deep, current view of the client base, the programmatic and technical roadmap, and a shifting competitive landscape, and translate that view into a deliberate set of pursuits. You will initiate and sustain executive-level engagements with existing and prospective customers, read buying cycles before they open, and lead the response strategy for RFIs, RFPs, RFWPs, and unsolicited proposals that position Anduril to win. 

• Own the growth strategy. Build and execute a cohesive, data-driven strategy to shape, capture, and close emerging growth opportunities in new or existing markets that allow the Maritime Division to penetrate, expand, and deliver Anduril's best-in-class warfighting capabilities to defense and commercial customers. 

• Stand up new programs from scratch. Lead the rapid shaping, capture, design, and prototyping of new commercial and defense products where a program or market has to be grown from scratch or from early requirements, partnering with Government Relations, Marketing, and Communications to bring it to life. 

• Expand into adjacent demand. You will work alongside other business lines and product engineers to find new growth inside existing accounts: not just scaling current programs, but using established client relationships as a wedge into new mission areas and budget lines they have not yet opened to us. You will turn trusted access into new program starts. 

• Shape the market narrative. You represent Anduril to clients, partners, competitors, and the public, but the goal is more than communication: you will frame the problems, concepts of operation, and requirements that move customers toward the capabilities we build. You will use insight and a clear point of view to educate the market and create demand where a category does not yet exist. 

• Define what we build next. You will sit between emerging customer problems and the engineering organization, translating early, ill-defined needs into a concrete product thesis and roadmap. You will decide which signals are real, convert them into requirements engineering can act on, align internal priorities and stakeholders behind them, and hold the new effort to its key milestones. 

• The ideal candidate will be a proven development and growth leader with prior experience in commercial or DoD Capture and Sales, demonstrating a track record of shaping a capability from concept through funded prototyping or program of record start, particularly with an emphasis on the US Navy as a customer. 

• Demonstrated knowledge of defense acquisition, including a track record of zero-to-one program growth: taking a capability from concept or early requirements through funded start. 

• Prior experience developing emerging concepts into tangible strategies and pursuits for 2027 and beyond 

• Familiarity with the full product lifecycle, from concept and prototyping through fielding and sustainment, and the ability to work across engineering, capture, and operations to move a new effort through it. 

• Demonstrated high-energy, high-ownership leader who will drive performance and exhibit strong management skills with a high level of emotional intelligence. Must be able to work in a fast-paced, highly entrepreneurial, and creative environment, and be able to build, adapt, and implement new and innovative approaches to market. 

• Excellent writing and communication skills with experience briefing 3-star+ customer stakeholders and C-suite internal stakeholders. 

• Demonstrated knowledge of relevant DoD / IC / Commercial programs, platforms and payloads, to include enabling technologies, systems integration and software development. 

• Ability to travel 20-50%. 

• Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance 

• Experience with government business development, government contract structures, and government proposal processes. 

• Prior military or contracting experience, or experience in DoD or Government. 

• Masters or PhD in electrical engineering, physics or computer science.