Business Development Director - Air Force Programs

Responsibilities

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Business Development Account Manager specializing in the Air Force domain. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of current Air Force operations, strong business acumen, and a proven track record of fostering relationships within the defense sector. The primary focus of this role is to drive business growth by identifying and pursuing opportunities within Air Force, facilitating meetings for capability briefings and demonstrations, managing client portfolios, and expanding our market reach through networking and relationship-building activities.

This person will work with VP Growth, Business Unit (BU) Growth Leads, and BU Ops P&L leads to develop an integrated account strategy, pulling from across the entirety of our internal Enterprise Digital & Global Engineering Sector (EDGE)  EDGE BU and the greater Arcfield to deliver the “critical mass” of the company in their respective accounts.

• Strategic Business Development: Identify and pursue business opportunities within the Air Force domain. Develop and execute strategic plans to achieve sales targets and business objectives. Analyze market trends, competitor activities, and customer needs to identify growth opportunities.
• Client Relationship Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders within the Air Force community. Manage a portfolio of clients, ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. Act as a trusted advisor to clients, understanding their needs and providing tailored solutions.
• Facilitation of Meetings and Demonstrations: Organize and facilitate meetings for capability briefings and product demonstrations. Collaborate with internal teams to prepare presentations, proposals, and materials for client meetings. Ensure smooth coordination and communication between all parties involved in the meetings.
• Expansion of Market Reach: Identify adjacent opportunities based on existing customer base and personal connections. Attend conferences, industry days, and networking events to generate leads and establish new client relationships.

Roles and Responsibilities

Summary of Objectives:

• Creation and ownership of a formalized “Road Map” that addresses the following
• Mapping of where we are today. Where we need to go. How we get there.
• Subsequent tracking and awareness of where we are
• Enable capture to define “how to win”
• Development of Account Strategy, which is composed of (not meant to be an all-inclusive list):
• Understanding the Growth goal of EDGE and where we want to be in 2-5 years (from a size and/or revenue perspective, as well as a mission focus area, and type of company). Supports the BU(s) in development and achievement of those growth objectives.
• Conducting an introspective analysis of our organic capabilities across EDGE:  Modeling and Simulations, Mission Assurance, Systems Integration, MBSE, Cyber, Mission Engineering, PNT, etc. to determine what types business opportunities we are able to purse. 
• Conducting an external analysis of the funded programs across the DoW or commercial customers that align with our support capabilities – such as Golden Dome, Air Dominance, munitions, PNT, satellite technologies, submarine alterations, drone & counter-drone, collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), etc. 
• Understanding of on-contract programs and where Growth can assist the Business Units with a focus on winning 100% of all recompetes
• Synchronizing with the markets to determine what is hot, what is not, problem areas, contract vehicle details, buyer habits, etc.  This is done through B2B & B2G engagements at conferences & individual meetings.
• Focusing on not just growing existing contracts, but also expanding our current footprint or spreading to new customers that are related to current customers
• Examining new market penetration efforts and the unique strategy for each – funding dependent
• Monitoring Behaviors in the marketplace by govt & commercial customers
• Inventorying available contract vehicles and determining which of our vehicles could be used by the customer.  Consider if the customer is using an organizationally unique IDIQs or BAAs for which we would need to on-ramp. 
• Researching the competitive landscape across the markets.  Who do we expect to bid on strategically important contracts and who might be interested in partnering with us.  Teaming is a necessity to remain competitive in most markets and especially where we have no established customer familiarity.
• Crafting and tailoring customer meetings – this take a great deal of research to understand their perspective and mission requirements. 
• Determining what strategic investments need to be made in order to win larger contracts, such as:  aligning marketing efforts as exhibitors or sponsors at key conferences, making strategic hires, developing recruiting campaigns, identifying the need for unique facilities to support larger contracts, certifications, software tools, IR&D, etc.
• Consolidating the factors above into a coordinated approach to support a viable growth-oriented strategy
• Prevent unsynchronized customer engagement; while ensuring we’re engaging with all relevant pieces and parts of the company
• Ensure investments, engagements, and pipeline maps to real revenue and ROS targets

Key Duties and Responsibilities

1. Account Management & Strategy

• Serve as the single point of accountability for all business within assigned Air Force accounts
• Develop and maintain a 3-year account strategy aligned to:
  Customer mission priorities
• Budget outlook (POM, PB, appropriations)
• Evolving DoW priorities, such as counter-drone, drone operations,
• Competitive landscape
• Identify and prioritize strategic growth areas (programs, tech domains, contract vehicles).
• Maintain an Account Plan that integrates BD, Capture, and Delivery.

Key Outputs:

• Account Plan (annual + rolling updates)
• Opportunity pipeline aligned to growth targets
• White space / adjacency analysis

1. Customer Engagement & Relationship Management

• Build and sustain trusted relationships with:
• Program Managers (PMs)
• Technical leads
• Contracting Officers (KOs)
• Senior Leadership
• Lead customer engagement cadence:
  Quarterly strategic engagements
• Program-level touchpoints
• Industry days / conferences
• Understand customer pain points, hot buttons, and funding realities.

Key Outputs:

• Customer engagement plan
• Call plans and trip reports
• Contact maps and influence charts

1. Opportunity Identification & Qualification

• Own identification of new opportunities across:
  New starts
• Recompetes
• On-contract growth
• Drive qualification rigor using defined criteria:
  Mission alignment
• Budget realism
• Customer access
• Competitive positioning
• Maintain a healthy pipeline (typically 3–5x revenue target).

Key Outputs:

• Opportunity pipeline (qualified/unqualified)
• Bid/no-bid recommendations
• Pipeline reviews with leadership 

1. Capture Strategy & Execution Support

• Partner with BU Growth Leads and Capture Managers to:
• Shape opportunities early (pre-RFP)
• Influence acquisition strategy
• Position the company for win
• Ensure capture strategies align to account strategy.
• Support to Win themes
• Competitive assessments
• Pricing strategy inputs (e.g., fee, subcontract mix, ROS considerations)
• Participate in Gate/Milestone Reviews (Gate 0–4).

Key Outputs:

• Customer insights for capture
• Competitive intelligence
• Gate review inputs and approvals

1. Business Development (BD) Support

• Lead front-end shaping activities:
  Requirements influence
• White papers / RFIs
• Industry engagement
• Coordinate across internal stakeholders:
• Technical SMEs
• Solution architects
• Ensure alignment between capability offerings and customer needs.

Key Outputs:

• Shaping artifacts (white papers, briefings)
• Customer-aligned capability positioning
• Early phase solution concepts

1. Program Delivery Alignment

• Partner with Program Managers to:
  Ensure customer satisfaction
• Identify follow-on work
• Mitigate performance risks
• Customer feedback
• Program Health
• Leverage delivery to enable recompetes and growth.

Key Outputs:

• Customer satisfaction assessments
• Recompete strategies
• Issue escalation (if needed)
•  

      7. Competitive Intelligence & Positioning

• Maintain deep understanding of:
• Competitors (primes, subs, nontraditionals)
• Competitor positioning with customer
• Teaming dynamics
• Contract vehicle access
• Shape teaming strategies:
  Prime vs. subcontract decisions
• Strategic partnerships
• Position company capabilities against emerging Air Force priorities.

Key Outputs:

• Competitor profiles
• Black hat / SWOT inputs
• Teaming recommendations

      8. Contract Vehicle & Acquisition Strategy Management

• Ensure access to and positioning on key Air Force contract vehicles:
• IDIQs, MACs, OTAs, BOAs
• Influence acquisition approaches where possible:
• Contract type (CPFF, FFP, etc.)
• Set-asides / small business strategy
• Coordinate with contracts and legal on FAR/DFARS compliance.

Key Outputs:

• Contract vehicle strategy
• Vehicle access plan (prime/sub roles)
• Acquisition shaping inputs

      9. Brand & Market Positioning

• Represent the company in:
• Air Force forums
• Professional Industry associations
• Key Conferences that facilitate B2B & B2G engagement
• Reinforce company brand as a trusted Air Force mission partner.

Key Outputs:

• External engagement plans
• Thought leadership contributions
• Customer-facing messaging

     10. Key Success Metrics (KPIs)

• Customer engagements
• Revenue growth (organic + new)
• Strategic position on key programs

Business Development Director, M12, BDBDEM12

Qualifications

• BS 16-18, MS 14+, PhD 10+
• Possess and maintain a Secret Clearance 
• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Engineering, or related field. MBA preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in business development or sales, with a focus on the defense industry and specifically within the Air Force domain.
• Proven track record of successfully meeting or exceeding sales targets and driving business growth.
• Strong understanding of Air Force operations, procurement processes, and contracting mechanisms.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Equal Pay Act

This is the projected compensation range for this position. There are differentiating factors that can impact a final salary/hourly rate, including, but not limited to, Contract Wage Determination, relevant work experience, skills and competencies that align to the specified role, geographic location (For Remote Opportunities), education and certifications as well as Federal Government Contract Labor categories. In addition, Arcfield invests in its employees beyond just compensation. Arcfield ’s benefits offerings include, dependent upon position, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, Holiday Pay, Short Term and Long-Term Disability, Retirement and Savings, Learning and Development opportunities, wellness programs as well as other optional benefit elections. Min: $160,639.75 Max: $279,760.82
EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and federal government contractor. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment as protected by law.