Strategic Business Development, Public Sector

Liquid AI

About The Position

Liquid AI is hiring a hands-on commercial leader to build its public sector business, initially focused on U.S. defense, and turn early customer wins into sustained adoption of Liquid Foundation Models. The role will shape public sector strategy and product priorities while owning revenue and opportunities from initial conversations through contract award, deployment, and expansion. It works directly with the founders, business leadership, and engineers. The position involves identifying priority agencies, programs, and partners; developing customer and partner relationships; qualifying and advancing opportunities; and converting technical evaluations into funded deployments. The successful candidate will also build the account coverage, qualification, forecasting, and pipeline practices needed to scale the business. The role requires being based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area or relocating there by the start date, regular in-person customer and partner engagement, and domestic travel.

Requirements

A strong record of personally sourcing and closing U.S. defense business in software, AI/ML, infrastructure, or another technically complex market, with clear revenue ownership and performance against targets.
Established relationships within defense agencies, military services, program offices, or major defense contractors, and evidence of turning those relationships into qualified opportunities.
Practical knowledge of defense budgeting and acquisition, including direct awards, competitive pursuits, contract vehicles, and selling through primes.
Experience moving a prototype or pilot into sustained, funded use.
Technical fluency to discuss model evaluation, deployment options, and hardware constraints with AI and engineering leaders, and translate those discussions into a clear commercial scope.
Experience negotiating complex agreements and coordinating Product, Engineering, Legal, Finance, and delivery teams through award and implementation.
Experience building a new market, territory, or sales motion at an early-stage or growth-stage company.
Must be based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area or relocate there by the start date.
Must be available for regular in-person customer and partner engagement and domestic travel.

Nice To Haves

Experience selling foundation models, AI infrastructure, embedded software, or edge computing products, including on-premises and disconnected deployments.
Experience embedding a product into a defense partner’s broader platform or program, including commercial licensing and subcontracting.
An active U.S. security clearance, particularly Top Secret or TS/SCI, and experience working with customers in classified environments.

Responsibilities

Own revenue and account strategy by sourcing, qualifying, negotiating, and closing public sector and defense opportunities, then developing renewals and expansion.
Prioritize agencies, programs, and partners, and maintain account plans and forecasts grounded in customer commitments, funding, and contracting milestones.
Engage mission users, technical leaders, program managers, budget owners, and contracting teams to build relationships and establish paths to purchase.
Shape pursuits around acquisition timelines and available contract routes, determining when to sell directly or through a prime, integrator, or reseller.
Work with solutions and engineering teams to define customer requirements for accuracy, latency, memory, power, connectivity, and deployment environment.
Define use cases, target hardware, performance criteria, resources, and timelines for technical evaluations and deployments.
Establish funding and transition paths early, and coordinate security, data handling, authorization, and integration requirements.
Structure and negotiate model licensing, embedded distribution, partner agreements, and scoped development work with Legal and Finance.
Align pricing, usage rights, data and intellectual property, support, and delivery commitments.
Develop relationships with defense primes, integrators, and defense technology companies; coordinate joint pursuits and proposal inputs.
Build account coverage, qualification standards, and a regular pipeline review process.
Turn early wins into repeatable approaches, bring customer requirements into product planning, and help leadership identify future capabilities and hiring needs.