Business Development Manager - U.S. Department of Defense

Riverlane • College Park, MD

10d • $175,000 - $250,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Riverlane is seeking a senior individual contributor to grow its business with the U.S. Department of Defense and its agencies and laboratories. Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, the role combines business development, capture management and technical solution shaping. The successful candidate will identify opportunities, build customer relationships, develop white papers, respond to RFIs, and lead proposals for RFPs, grants and other government funding opportunities.

The role focuses primarily on DoD science and technology organizations, including DARPA, AFRL, ARO, ARL, NRL, DoD-sponsored FFRDCs and DoD high-performance computing centers. Opportunities may involve direct sales or partner-delivered solutions with technology companies, systems integrators or research collaborators. The position requires independent ownership across technical, commercial and government stakeholder groups and travel to DoD laboratories and other customer and partner sites as needed. It has no direct reports.

Requirements

• Technical background in quantum computing, advanced computing, physics, engineering or a related field; comparable experience is also considered.
• Experience writing white papers, RFIs, proposals and other capture materials for U.S. government customers, ideally DoD agencies, laboratories or program offices.
• Experience building relationships with DoD science and technology organizations, systems integrators and industry partners.
• Ability to translate technical capabilities into compelling solutions for government programs and mission-driven customers.
• Ability to write clearly, succinctly and persuasively.
• In-depth knowledge of DoD procurement, contracting and capture processes, including opportunity shaping, program offices, contracting mechanisms, partner channels, proposal compliance and source selection.
• Willingness to travel regularly to DoD laboratories, customer sites and partner meetings, likely up to 30%.
• Ability to meet applicable U.S. government customer, contract, export-control and site-access requirements, which may include U.S. citizenship depending on the program or engagement.

Nice To Haves

• M.S. or Ph.D. in a relevant technical field.
• Existing relationships or prior experience with DoD science and technology organizations, federal research programs or U.S. government capture processes.
• Experience with DARPA contracts.
• Experience working in a quantum computing or other advanced computing lab.
• Experience working with industry partners to develop joint solutions, consortium proposals or multi-party research programs.

Responsibilities

• Identify, qualify, shape and close DoD opportunities, including direct sales, funded program awards and partnered solutions.
• Own and manage a focused DoD opportunity pipeline, including qualification, capture strategy, teaming approach, proposal planning and customer engagement strategy.
• Build relationships with DoD science and technology organizations, defense primes, systems integrators and relevant industry partners.
• Lead capture activities, including white papers, RFIs, RFP responses, proposal compliance activities, source selection support and related customer-facing materials.
• Work with Riverlane technical teams and external partners to develop solutions aligned with DoD mission priorities.
• Connect Riverlane’s quantum error correction and advanced computing capabilities to DoD mission priorities, research roadmaps and funding mechanisms.
• Represent Riverlane’s technologies, including quantum error correction and related product capabilities.
• Coordinate internal proposal, technical and commercial inputs to ensure submissions are persuasive, compliant and strategically aligned.
• Travel to DoD laboratories, program offices, customer sites and partner meetings as needed.

Benefits

• Annual bonus plan.
• Private medical insurance.
• Life insurance.
• 401K contributions.
• Equity.
• Generous paid time off.
• Enhanced family leave.
• Learning events, training and conference budgets.
• Diverse work environment with experts across multiple fields and more than 20 nationalities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed