About the roleUFORCE is building a persistent presence in the Indo-Pacific, and we're looking for a Director of Strategic Relationships, Pacific to lead it. Based on Oahu, you'll be our senior representative in the region-building trusted relationships across Pacific commands, turning customer insight into actionable opportunities, and ensuring our people and equipment are ready when customers need them.
This is a hands-on role at the intersection of business development and field operations. You'll work closely with our Navy, SOCOM, and Army sales leaders, Head of US Exercises, Capture, and Delivery teams to advance opportunities, deliver high-impact customer engagements, and build the operating foundation for a growing Pacific presence.
Exercises are central to how we sell: putting capability in the water alongside customers, proving its value, and turning live engagement into follow-on opportunities. You'll bring the judgment to prioritize exercises, relationship development, visits, and operational demands based on their expected impact-not a fixed allocation of time.
You'll start as a senior individual contributor with the autonomy to build our theater presence from the ground up and a path to leading a small Pacific team as the footprint grows.
What you'll do- Build trusted customer relationships. Establish and deepen access across PACOM, USARPAC, PACFLT, SOCPAC, and MARFORPAC, connecting with requirements owners, acquisition teams, capability developers, and exercise planners.
- Turn insight into opportunity. Deliver a weekly Pacific intelligence update covering customer requirements, funding signals, competitor activity, and exercise developments. Validate information, explain its business implications, and keep stakeholder and opportunity records current in the CRM.
- Advance the Pacific pipeline. Partner with service sales and Capture leaders to qualify and progress opportunities, clarify funding paths and next steps, and contribute to a target of $10M+ in qualified Pacific pipeline and at least one award within the first year.
- Make exercises deliver commercial results. Act as the Head of US Exercises' permanent forward presence, supporting planning conferences, site visits, access, equipment movement, and local execution. Agree customer engagement objectives before each cycle and capture follow-on opportunities afterward.
- Deliver customer-facing demonstrations and activities. Build a repeatable Hawaii demonstration playbook covering water and range access, permissions, safety requirements, and lead times, then coordinate activities that prove our capabilities in front of customers.
- Make every leadership visit count. Turn inbound trips into curated agendas of substantive command meetings, with the right attendees, clear objectives, read-aheads, installation access, transport, and timely follow-up.
- Build an execution-ready equipment plan. Identify and cost local storage, security, transport, and maintenance options that can be activated within 30 days of a company decision. Once assets arrive, manage accountability, vendor coordination, and maintenance scheduling-not hands-on repairs.
- Own local problem-solving. Be the default UFORCE point of contact for Pacific visits, customer requests, exercises, and operational issues, balancing competing priorities and communicating trade-offs clearly.
- Create a scalable operating model. Document stakeholder relationships, access procedures, vendor networks, and operating playbooks so future teammates can build on the foundation you establish.
Required Skills- Recent experience working in or alongside Pacific military commands, with demonstrable customer access and credibility across the rank spectrum-from action officers to senior military leaders.
- Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to earn trust, secure meaningful meetings, and maintain long-term stakeholder engagement.
- Experience collecting, validating, and communicating business or operational intelligence in concise, actionable updates for leadership, with sound judgment about ethical and legal boundaries.
- Proven ability to operate independently in a matrixed organization, influence senior stakeholders without direct authority, and prioritize competing demands.
- Experience managing field or expeditionary logistics, including equipment storage, transport, accountability, maintenance scheduling, and vendor coordination.
- Experience planning and executing live capability demonstrations or supporting military exercises, with an understanding of planning cycles, access approvals, safety requirements, and contingency planning.
- Experience hosting senior executives or distinguished visitors, including agenda development, military protocol, installation access, briefing materials, and follow-up.
- Working knowledge of defense acquisition and funding pathways, with the ability to distinguish customer interest from a fundable requirement and hand opportunities to the right sales or Capture lead.
- A hands-on, resourceful approach to solving unfamiliar problems, paired with good judgment about when to act independently and when to escalate.
- Ability to work on-island on Oahu, travel approximately 25-40%, and accommodate irregular hours around exercises, demonstrations, and customer visits.
Nice to have- Active or recently lapsed SECRET clearance; TS/SCI eligibility is a strong plus.
- Existing residency in Hawaii and established personal and professional networks on-island.
- Maritime experience, such as small boat operations, harbor operations, or familiarity with marine maintenance.
- Experience with unmanned surface vessels, unmanned aircraft systems, or command-and-control and autonomy systems.
- Experience building processes and operating independently in a startup or scaling defense technology company.
- Working knowledge of ITAR/EAR requirements related to equipment movement and foreign-national engagement in multinational exercises.
