Sr. Director of BD - Government

Aurelius Systems

10d•Onsite

About The Position

Aurelius Systems is a VC-backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge-deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones. We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost-effective, reliable, and robust laser weapon system. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable. In addition to our San Francisco lab, we’ve opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

Requirements

10+ years in government BD, capture, or acquisitions roles tied to defense or national security customers
Track record of contracts won ($50M+), not just opportunities pursue
Service, acquisitions, or program office pedigree combined with startup or high-growth company BD experience
Demonstrated ability to operate across multiple services and agencies, not single-customer dependent
Comfort working pre-program, shaping requirements, and translating capability into customer language
Extreme bias for action. You'd rather be in front of the customer than at your desk
Qualify hard and walk away from low-P-win opportunities without ego
Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
Clear communicator across customers, engineers, and executive leadership
Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Nice To Haves

Active TS/SCI clearance
Direct experience with directed energy, counter-UAS, or air defense programs
Prior service in the customer community you'd be selling to
Experience inside a small, non-traditional vendor breaking into traditional acquisition pathways

Responsibilities

Shape, pursue, and help close government opportunities across Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, DHS, and adjacent agencies
Pipeline ownership including qualification, prioritization, and ruthless P-win triage
Customer engagement at the program, requirements, and acquisitions level
Proposal contribution alongside the broader BD and engineering team
Building lanes and relationships in customer pockets we don't already cover
Selective partnership work where a partner directly improves win probability on a specific opportunity
Travel to DC, customer sites, ranges, and industry events at the cadence the pipeline requires