Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Operations

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the CEO and executive leadership team to shape and execute the enterprise long-term growth strategy.
• Lead the annual strategic planning process, ensuring alignment between corporate objectives, market opportunities, and business priorities.
• Shape and communicate strategy across tactical, operational, and strategic levels of the organization.
• Develop actionable growth initiatives that position the company for sustained success within the defense and federal marketplace.
• Facilitate executive strategy sessions and monitor progress against strategic initiatives.

Business Development Operations

• Lead and continuously improve business development operations (back-office), providing a critical support function to business development teams in the strategic business units.
• Serve as the executive owner of CRM administration, governance, reporting, and process optimization.
• Roll up your sleeves and work directly within the CRM and related systems to improve data quality, pipeline visibility, forecasting accuracy, and operational efficiency.
• Develop and maintain executive dashboards, pipeline metrics, win/loss analyses, and key performance indicators.
• Prepare business development reports and analyses for executive leadership and the Board of Directors.

Partnership with Business Leaders

• Work hand in hand with BU executives, Business Development, Operations, Engineering, and Program Leadership to support growth objectives.
• Help business leaders prioritize opportunities, objectively assess investments against benchmark metrics (eg. NPV, ROIC, ROCE) and align resources with strategic objectives.
• Foster accountability, collaboration, and disciplined execution across the growth organization.

Market Intelligence & Competitive Analysis

• Lead internal and external market research to identify emerging opportunities, customer priorities, competitive positioning, and industry trends.
• Prepare strategic market assessments, competitive analyses, customer insights, and growth recommendations.
• Monitor federal budget trends, acquisition strategies, and evolving Department of Defense priorities to inform corporate strategy.
• Provide executive leadership with data-driven recommendations for new markets, customers, partnerships, and investments.

Marketing & Communications

• Lead and partner with Marketing and executive leadership to shape the company's external messaging, brand positioning, and thought leadership.
• Ensure communications resonate with today's defense community and reflect the evolving priorities of the Department of Defense and national security environment.
• Support executive communications, strategic messaging, conference participation, and customer engagement strategies.
• Help articulate the company's value proposition across customers, partners, investors, and employees.

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Support corporate development activities, including acquisition target identification, market assessments, strategic evaluations, and due diligence.
• Develop business cases and strategic analyses for potential acquisitions, partnerships, and investments.
• Aid in post-acquisition integration planning to ensure strategic alignment and value realization.

Executive & Board Reporting

• Prepare executive-level reports, presentations, and strategic updates for the CEO and Board of Directors.
• Develop Board materials related to corporate strategy, business development performance, market conditions, and strategic initiatives.
• Track organizational performance against strategic objectives and recommend course corrections when appropriate.

Requirements

• Required Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Public Policy, Defense Studies, or related field.
• 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in strategy, business development, capture management, corporate development, or executive leadership within the defense, aerospace, or government contracting industry.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise strategic planning and business growth initiatives.
• Experience supporting mergers and acquisitions, including market assessments, due diligence, and integration planning.
• Strong understanding of federal acquisition, Department of Defense organizations, and government contracting.
• Experience with business development customer relationship management (CRM) and capture management systems.
• Proven ability to develop executive and Board-level presentations and reports.
• Exceptional analytical, communication, and executive presentation skills.

Preferred

• MBA or equivalent in related discipline.
• Experience working with private equity-backed organizations.
• Experience supporting rapid organizational growth and transformation.
• Prior military experience.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic thinker with exceptional business acumen.
• Equally comfortable developing strategy and executing operational details.
• Hands-on leader willing to dive into systems, processes, and business operations.
• Hightly collaborative with a servant leadership mindset and strong cross-functional partnership skills.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence across all levels of the organization.
• Data-driven decision maker with excellent analytical capabilities.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Adaptable, decisive, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment.