Director, Business Capture

CesiumAstro•El Segundo, CA

About The Position

The Director, Business Capture leads CesiumAstro’s business capture function, establishes capture strategy, and directs major pursuits across U.S. Government, defense, and high-value aerospace opportunities. The position sets departmental priorities, leads capture professionals and cross-functional pursuit teams, and oversees opportunity qualification, capture planning, competitive positioning, customer engagement, and win development. The Director assesses customer mission needs, acquisition approaches, competitive intelligence, solution maturity, and pursuit investments to prioritize opportunities and improve probability of win across the business pipeline. This role calls for an experienced aerospace and defense leader with deep knowledge of U.S. Government acquisition processes, defense procurement environments, customer missions, and complex aerospace programs. The Director works with business development, proposal management, engineering, contracts, finance, supply chain, program management, marketing, and executive leadership to turn customer requirements into differentiated capture strategies, guide major pursuit and investment decisions, and position the company for contract awards and long-term growth. The role also leads and develops Business Capture personnel, manages departmental resources and processes, and drives continuous improvement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, communications, engineering, finance, or a related field with 11–15 years of related experience; a master’s degree with 9–12 years; or a Ph.D. with 7–10 years.
Related experience in business capture, capture management, business development, proposal management, strategic sales, government contracting, or a related discipline.
At least 5 years of leadership or management experience in business capture, business development, proposal management, sales, government contracting, or a related function.
Expert knowledge of capture management, business development, strategic opportunity management, competitive analysis, and customer engagement.
Expertise in capture strategy development, opportunity qualification, customer engagement planning, and business development methodologies.
Comprehensive knowledge of federal procurement processes, customer acquisition strategies, competitive positioning, proposal development, and contract acquisition requirements.
Extensive experience directing capture organizations, managing strategic opportunity portfolios, developing functional leaders, and coordinating pursuit resources.
Strategic understanding of aerospace and defense markets, government acquisition priorities, competitive dynamics, organizational capabilities, and long-term business growth objectives.
Expert judgment in evaluating significant capture risks, strategic pursuits, competitive positioning, resource investments, and competing organizational priorities.
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
Experience with customer relationship management systems such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot, or equivalent applications.
Experience with business intelligence, opportunity management, and collaboration tools such as Power BI, SharePoint, Confluence, or equivalent applications.
Ability to obtain a U.S. government-issued security clearance.
U.S. citizenship is required for security clearance eligibility.
Applicants must meet U.S. Government Space Technology Export Regulations requirements: be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, conditional resident, asylee or refugee (protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)), or eligible to obtain the required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Responsibilities

Direct the Business Capture function by establishing departmental objectives, capture priorities, resource strategies, and operational plans aligned with organizational growth objectives and business development strategies.
Lead multiple strategic capture efforts, allocate capture resources, balance organizational priorities, and ensure effective execution across the opportunity portfolio.
Evaluate departmental performance, capture pipeline health, resource utilization, opportunity progression, and operational metrics, and implement improvements to strengthen capture performance.
Establish capture management strategies, opportunity qualification methodologies, customer engagement plans, and competitive positioning approaches to improve pursuit effectiveness and win probability.
Partner with business development leadership, sales, engineering, contracts, finance, supply chain, program management, marketing, and executive leadership to develop capture strategies for strategic customer opportunities.
Evaluate customer requirements, competitive intelligence, capture risks, market conditions, and business priorities, and direct actions that strengthen organizational positioning and pursuit success.
Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate Business Capture personnel while fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous professional development.
Build partnerships across business development, proposal management, sales, engineering, contracts, finance, supply chain, program management, marketing, and executive leadership to coordinate strategic customer pursuits.
Represent the Business Capture function in executive and opportunity reviews, customer engagements, strategic planning sessions, and organizational business development activities.
Direct capture management policies, opportunity management processes, customer engagement practices, business development systems, and departmental procedures.
Manage departmental budgets, staffing plans, capture technologies, consultant utilization, and organizational resources, identifying opportunities to improve operational efficiency.
Drive continuous improvement in capture effectiveness, cross-functional collaboration, customer engagement, opportunity qualification, operational efficiency, and business development performance.