The RoleValstad is seeking a Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships to build our commercial presence across the maritime and defense industrial base.
You will develop relationships with shipyards, vessel owners, naval architects, defense primes, autonomous-vessel companies, government stakeholders, and strategic partners. You will identify high-value opportunities, shape initial engagements, lead proposals and negotiations, and convert successful projects into repeat production programs.
This is not a conventional software-sales position. Valstad sells advanced manufacturing capability, physical production capacity, and strategic technology partnerships. Success requires an understanding of how ships are designed, procured, built, qualified, and delivered.
Meaningful maritime experience is required. The strongest candidates will already have a trusted network across shipyards, the Navy, defense primes, vessel programs, or maritime suppliers. Prior Navy service is a significant advantage, particularly for candidates who understand fleet requirements, acquisition pathways, shipyard operations, or naval program development.
This is a highly hands-on role. You will work closely with the CEO, engineering, and manufacturing teams, and remain involved from initial customer discovery through technical evaluation, contracting, and delivery.
What You Will Do- Build and execute Valstad's business-development strategy across commercial shipbuilding, naval programs, autonomous vessels, and adjacent maritime markets.
- Develop relationships with shipyard executives, program managers, engineering leaders, production leaders, procurement teams, defense primes, and government stakeholders.
- Use your existing network to create access to customers, programs, and partnerships that would otherwise take years to develop.
- Identify shipyards and vessel programs where Valstad can relieve capacity, labor, schedule, or production constraints.
- Lead customer discovery and gather the technical, commercial, quality, and schedule information required to evaluate an opportunity.
- Work with engineering and manufacturing to determine technical feasibility, production readiness, cost, and delivery risk.
- Develop proposals, pricing, statements of work, pilot programs, and long-term partnership structures.
- Negotiate commercial terms, payment milestones, production commitments, and strategic agreements.
- Build opportunities before they become formal solicitations and help shape customer requirements where appropriate.
- Develop relationships with the U.S. Navy, government program offices, defense shipyards, prime contractors, and industrial-base organizations.
- Support responses to requests for information, proposals, white papers, and government or prime-contractor opportunities.
- Identify appropriate pathways through direct awards, subcontracts, OTAs, SBIR/STTR programs, industrial-base funding, or strategic teaming relationships.
- Convert initial demonstrations or pilot projects into repeat production, multi-vessel, or multi-year programs.
- Maintain a disciplined CRM, account strategy, pipeline, and revenue forecast.
- Represent Valstad at customer facilities, shipyards, industry events, and government meetings.
- Bring clear market and customer feedback into Valstad's product, manufacturing, and company strategy.
What We Are Looking For- 7+ years of experience in maritime business development, shipbuilding, naval programs, defense partnerships, capture, or a closely related field.
- Direct professional experience within the maritime industry is required.
- A strong, relevant network across shipyards, vessel owners, the Navy, defense primes, government stakeholders, naval architects, or maritime suppliers.
- Demonstrated success creating and closing complex opportunities involving physical products, manufacturing, engineering, or government customers.
- Credibility with both senior executives and technical or operational stakeholders.
- Understanding of how shipyards operate and where labor, capacity, schedule, supply-chain, and production constraints emerge.
- Experience managing long sales cycles with technical, operational, financial, and procurement stakeholders.
- Ability to convert early conversations into defined opportunities, proposals, agreements, and revenue.
- Strong commercial judgment, negotiation skills, and written communication.
- Ability to work closely with engineers and manufacturing leaders without overstating technical maturity or making unsupported commitments.
- Willingness to travel regularly and work primarily from Valstad's Austin facility when not traveling.
Strongly Preferred- Prior service in the U.S. Navy, particularly in surface warfare, engineering, acquisition, ship maintenance, shipbuilding, logistics, or program-related roles.
- Experience working at or directly with a commercial or defense shipyard.
- Existing relationships within NAVSEA, Navy program offices, defense shipbuilders, maritime primes, or the broader naval industrial base.
- Experience selling fabricated structures, manufacturing capacity, shipyard technology, industrial automation, or production services.
- Experience with government capture, FAR-based contracts, OTAs, SBIR/STTR, or defense subcontracting.
- Experience developing opportunities before a formal solicitation is issued.
- Experience negotiating pilot agreements, teaming agreements, long-term supply arrangements, or strategic partnerships.
- Experience converting technical demonstrations into funded production programs.
- Experience at an early-stage defense, maritime, robotics, or industrial-technology company.
A network alone is not enough. We are looking for someone who combines strong relationships with persistence, commercial discipline, technical curiosity, and personal ownership of the work required to move an opportunity forward.
What Success Looks LikeValstad develops a focused, credible, and increasingly forecastable pipeline across commercial and defense shipbuilding.
The company gains access to the right shipyards, vessel programs, primes, and government stakeholders. Initial customer engagements are structured to prove value quickly while creating a clear path to repeat production.
Engineering and manufacturing receive well-qualified opportunities with real customer urgency, usable technical data, credible funding, and a defined decision process. The company spends less time on general industry interest and more time on opportunities that can become meaningful revenue.
Over time, successful pilots become recurring production programs, long-term supply relationships, and strategic partnerships that expand Valstad's role in the American maritime industrial base.
