Senior Business Development Director

The Opportunity

The Senior Director of Business Development is a senior growth leader responsible for expanding the company’s footprint across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC). This role drives full-lifecycle business development and capture efforts in resilient Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (R-PNT), simulation and inertial technologies, systems engineering, and mission support services.

This leader owns pipeline development, opportunity shaping, customer engagement, and capture execution—from early identification through contract award—while maintaining accountability for revenue growth, margin performance, and long-term strategic positioning. The role requires strong technical fluency, executive presence, and proven success winning competitive prime and subcontract awards in classified and unclassified environments.

The Director will engage directly with Government customers and indirectly through major defense system integrators.

Job Responsibilities

Strategic Growth & Customer Engagement

• Develop and execute a multi-year growth strategy targeting DoD and IC agencies.
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships with program offices, contracting officials, and mission stakeholders.
• Representing the company at customer meetings, classified briefings, industry days, and partner engagements.
• Drive customer intimacy through white papers, capability briefings, and opportunity shaping conversations.
  
  

Pipeline & Capture Leadership

• Identify, qualify, and mature opportunities aligned with core capabilities in R-PNT, simulation, systems engineering, PMO support, test & evaluation, and mission operations.
• Own and manage the opportunity pipeline in CRM, ensuring disciplined qualification and forecast accuracy.
• Lead capture efforts include win strategy, competitive positioning, teaming, pricing alignment, and proposal development.
• Author or oversee RFIs, RFP responses, white papers, and executive summaries.
• Develop engineering cost estimates and support pricing reviews.
  
  

Partnering & Strategic Positioning

• Establish and manage strategic teaming relationships with primes and niche partners.
• Position the company for prime and subcontract awards on IDIQs, GWACs, and classified vehicles.
• Support long-term contract vehicle strategy and market expansion initiatives.
  
  

Internal Alignment & Financial Accountability

• Partner with executive leadership and finance to align BD activities with revenue, margin, and investment goals.
• Ensure growth strategies reflect operational capacity and delivery strengths.
• Maintain accountability for pipeline quality, win rates, revenue contribution, and profitability.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (engineering or technical discipline preferred).
• 10+ years of Federal business development and capture experience, including 5+ years supporting DoD and/or IC customers.
• Demonstrated success winning competitive prime and subcontract awards.
• Strong knowledge of Federal acquisition processes (FAR/DFARS, IDIQs, GWACs, BPAs).
• Experience managing pipeline and executing structured capture methodologies.
• Executive-level communication skills with senior military, Government, and industry leaders.
• Proficiency in CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce).
• Ability to travel within the U.S.
• U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
• Active Secret or TS/SCI clearance.
• MBA or master’s degree.
• Existing DoD/IC customer relationships.
• Technical background in navigation, inertial systems, simulation, or other high-technology defense domains.
  
  

Success Measures

• Growth of a qualified, strategically aligned pipeline.
• Increase win rates and new contract awards.
• Revenue and margin performance aligned to corporate goals.
• Strength of customer relationships and industry partnerships.
• Improved positioning on key contract vehicles and mission programs.
  
  

About Safran Federal Systems

Safran Federal Systems has been awarded as a Winner of the USA Today and Rochester Metro Area Top Workplaces 2025 Award.

In 2022, Safran acquired Orolia, now Safran Trusted 4D, the world leader in Resilient PNT. At the intersection of critical infrastructure and national defense, Safran Trusted 4D solutions govern and protect the integrity of systems that shape the world. In early 2019, Orolia Defense & Security spun off as a separate entity from its parent company Orolia, with the mission of providing resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) solutions and custom engineering services to U.S. Government agencies, U.S. Defense organizations, and their contractors.

In August of 2019, Safran Federal Systems acquired Talen-X, a U.S. company specializing in advanced GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Simulation solutions and Interference, Detection, and Mitigation (IDM) technologies. Talen-X's portfolio was an ideal fit and has helped to enhance Safran FS's overall offerings. The acquisition enabled Talen-X's existing resources, operations and capabilities to be scaled and accelerated to better support the warfighter. Read the press release here.

Safran Federal Systems operates as a proxy-regulated company, Free of Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI). As such, Safran FS Defense & Security is approved to work on the full spectrum of U.S. Government classified and unclassified projects and is positioned to support strategic partnerships in the development of key PNT technologies for the defense market.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Please note this description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.