V.P. Business Development & Growth

Digantara•Colorado Springs, CO

20h•Onsite

About The Position

Digantara U.S. is the U.S. arm of Digantara, a space domain awareness company combining space-based and ground-based sensing with analytics to provide space intelligence to government and commercial operators. As a nontraditional defense contractor building its first U.S. team in Denver, Colorado, Digantara is hiring for a founding role. The VP will be one of the first U.S. hires, report to the board, and shape the U.S. business's team, market strategy, and culture. The VP will lead growth of Digantara's U.S. defense business by building customer relationships, partnerships, and the pipeline needed to establish a strong market presence. The role will identify and prioritize target programs, shape opportunities before solicitation, and lead strategic pursuits from initial engagement through contract award. The VP will own the business development pipeline across the U.S. Space Force, including Space Systems Command and Space Operations Command; the National Reconnaissance Office and Intelligence Community; the Space Development Agency; innovation channels such as SpaceWERX, AFWERX, and DIU; and the broader defense ecosystem. The role will establish and lead the U.S. business development function, including hiring and managing the Capture Manager and future BD staff, selecting advisors and consultants, and introducing CRM, gate-review, and pricing discipline. The VP will translate customer needs into internal direction while complying with export-control and FOCI requirements governing information shared with non-U.S. teams. Success will be evaluated against stated growth and capture milestones during the first 12 months, with targets reviewed with leadership at the 90-day mark.

Requirements

12+ years in U.S. defense business development, capture, program leadership, or acquisition, including at least 5 years in national security space.
Track record of personally leading DoD or Intelligence Community captures that resulted in awards; candidates should be able to describe their role, win strategy, contract values, and outcomes.
Experience selling to the government from a startup, nontraditional, or commercial-first company, using OTAs, CSOs, BAAs, commercial data purchases, or innovation channels such as SpaceWERX and DIU.
Working knowledge of the defense acquisition lifecycle, contracting vehicles, procurement ethics, and the distinction between early shaping and active solicitation.
Credible network across relevant DoD, defense-industry, and teaming-partner communities, with judgment to build new relationships where needed.
Strong executive communication, customer listening, negotiation, and cross-functional leadership skills.
Ability to operate as a player-coach in a resource-constrained environment and make disciplined decisions about where not to invest.
U.S. citizenship required.
Active Secret clearance, or one current within the last 24 months, required.

Nice To Haves

Experience at a foreign-owned U.S. company operating under FOCI mitigation.
Working knowledge of ITAR/EAR.
Experience in space domain awareness, missile warning or tracking, or space intelligence.
Active TS/SCI clearance strongly preferred.
CI polygraph is a plus.

Responsibilities

Build and execute a focused U.S. defense growth plan for Space Domain Awareness and Missile Warning capabilities, including data and services purchases, hardware systems, account priorities, market hypotheses, pipeline stages, and revenue objectives.
Develop durable relationships with government program offices, acquisition stakeholders, operational users, systems integrators, and prime contractors.
Identify, qualify, and shape opportunities before formal solicitation by clarifying mission need, funding path, acquisition approach, decision criteria, and competitive position.
Own capture strategy for priority pursuits, including customer engagement plans, win themes, teaming strategy, executive reviews, and bid/no-bid recommendations.
Create and manage partner and teaming relationships, deciding when Digantara should lead as prime and when it should team as a subcontractor.
Translate customer needs into clear internal direction for product, engineering, operations, pricing, legal, and proposal contributors, while complying with ITAR/EAR export-control and FOCI requirements governing information shared with non-U.S. teams.
Maintain an accurate, evidence-based pipeline and report opportunity health, risks, next actions, and resource needs to leadership.
Represent Digantara U.S. at relevant defense conferences, customer meetings, and partner forums while maintaining high standards of ethics and procurement integrity.
Build the U.S. business development function by hiring and leading the Capture Manager and future BD staff, selecting advisors and consultants, and establishing CRM, gate-review, and pricing discipline.
Achieve the stated first-year milestones, including an approved growth plan, customer engagements, Capture Manager hire, teaming agreements, submissions, access to a relevant OTA consortium or contract vehicle, and a qualified pipeline.