Business Development Senior Manager (Covert Comms)

Joint Activities

$135K — $216K *
Aerospace & Defense
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years of experience in business development, with 5 years specifically in secure communications
  • Bachelor's degree in engineering, science, business, or a related field
  • Track record in securing and pursuing opportunities in secure communications or related areas
  • Strong ability to navigate and build relationships within unfamiliar customer organizations
  • Experience in leading proposal development and competitive bid strategies
  • In-depth understanding of research-oriented customers and funding processes
  • Proven capability to manage multiple projects in a dynamic environment
  • Excellent written and communication skills to convey complex technical ideas effectively
  • U.S. Citizenship with the ability to maintain a TS/SCI clearance

Responsibilities

  • Identify and pursue new business opportunities in secure communications research
  • Build strong relationships with customers to understand their mission and research needs
  • Monitor market trends and funding initiatives to anticipate future opportunities
  • Lead capture activities, including strategy development and competitive analysis
  • Leverage space domain expertise to shape value propositions and solutions
  • Collaborate with technical teams to develop executable proposals
  • Manage the proposal process, ensuring compliance and timely delivery

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, and vision
  • Retirement savings plan with company matching contributions
  • Generous paid time off and holiday schedule
  • Flexible work arrangements and remote work options
  • Professional development and training opportunities
  • Support for travel to customer meetings and conferences
  • Collaborative work environment in a small, agile team
Full Job Description
Responsibilities

Join the Peraton Labs team to provide business development and capture support focused on advanced Secure Communications and low probability of intercept/low probability of detection (LPI/LPD) technologies.  This mission critical domain includes resilient communications in contested and denied environments, clandestine and special operations communications, spectrum agility, and waveform innovation.  We are seeking a versatile business development and capture manager to help grow our covert communications research portfolio by identifying new opportunities, shaping capture strategies, engaging customers, and coordinating proposal development. This role requires a blend of customer-facing business development skills, domain experience in space research, and hands-on proposal leadership. As part of a small, agile team, the successful candidate will take ownership across the opportunity lifecycle from early customer engagement through proposal submission and award.

 

Key responsibilities include:

 

Business Development and Opportunity Identification

  • Identify, qualify, and pursue new business opportunities across multiple customers in the secure and resilient communications research domain
  • Develop and maintain strong customer relationships to understand mission needs, research priorities, and funding trends
  • Monitor solicitations, roadmaps, and research initiatives to anticipate future opportunities
  • Collaborate with management and technical leadership to align customer needs with organizational capabilities and strategic objectives

 

Capture and Solutioning

  • Lead capture activities, including win strategy development, competitive analysis, teaming, and solution shaping
  • Apply space domain expertise to inform approaches, discriminators, and value propositions
  • Work closely with architects, engineers, and researchers to develop compelling, executable solutions
  • Support pricing, risk identification, and execution planning in coordination with internal stakeholders

 

Proposal Management and Development

  • Serve as Proposal Manager for selected opportunities, particularly in support of a small-team environment
  • Develop proposal schedules, outlines, compliance matrices, and color team plans
  • Coordinate inputs from technical, management, and business contributors
  • Ensure proposals clearly articulate customer value, technical credibility, and competitive differentiation
  • Manage reviews, track action items, and ensure on-time delivery
Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

  • 12+ years of experience, including at least 5 years of experience in a business development role
  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science, business, or a related field
  • Prior experience identifying and pursuing opportunities in secure communications or adjacent domains
  • Ability to navigate unfamiliar customer organizations, develop and foster relationships, and secure meetings
  • Experience supporting or leading proposal development, including strategy, compliance and integration for competitive bids
  • Strong understanding of research-focused customers, funding mechanisms, and acquisition processes
  • Ability to work across multiple opportunities simultaneously in a fast-paced environment
  • Self-motivated, independent, detail oriented, responsible team-player
  • Strong written and oral communication skills with an ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
  • Ability to travel regularly to support customer meetings and conferences
  • U.S. Citizenship and the ability to maintain a TS/SCI clearance

 

Desired Qualifications:

  • Familiarity and/or existing customer relationships with government research and acquisition organizations (DARPA, AFRL, NRL, DIU, IC, etc.) and/or commercial companies
  • Experience developing and managing relationships with partner companies
  • Prior technical and/or management experience in a software-intensive field

Security Clearance:

Active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility

Location:

Local to the DMV area

Target Salary Range$135,000 - $216,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

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