V.P. Business Development & Growth

Digantara•Colorado Springs, CO

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 leadership role. The V.P. Business Development & Growth 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 role leads growth of Digantara’s U.S. defense business by establishing customer relationships, partnerships, and a qualified pipeline. The V.P. will set the direction for the business, identify and prioritize target programs, shape opportunities before solicitation, and lead strategic pursuits from initial engagement through contract award. The position owns business development 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 also builds the U.S. business development function, including hiring and leading a Capture Manager and future BD staff, selecting advisors and consultants, and establishing CRM, gate-review, and pricing discipline. The role requires compliance with export-control requirements (ITAR/EAR) and FOCI requirements governing information shared with Digantara’s non-U.S. teams.

Requirements

12 or more years in U.S. defense business development, capture, program leadership, or acquisition.
At least 5 years of experience in national security space.
A track record of personally leading DoD or Intelligence Community captures that resulted in awards, ideally in space domain awareness, missile warning or tracking, or space intelligence; candidates should be able to describe their role, win strategy, contract values, and outcomes.
Experience selling to government from a startup, nontraditional, or commercial-first company, using OTAs, CSOs, BAAs, commercial data purchases, or innovation channels such as SpaceWERX or DIU.
Working knowledge of the defense acquisition lifecycle, contracting vehicles, procurement ethics, and the distinction between early shaping and active solicitation.
A credible network across relevant DoD, defense-industry, and teaming-partner communities, and the 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.
Active Secret clearance, or a Secret clearance current within the last 24 months.

Nice To Haves

Experience at a foreign-owned U.S. company operating under FOCI mitigation.
Working knowledge of ITAR/EAR.
Active TS/SCI clearance.
CI polygraph.

Responsibilities

Build and execute a focused U.S. defense growth plan for Space Domain Awareness and Missile Warning capabilities, covering data and services buys, 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 participate as a subcontractor.
Translate customer needs into internal direction for product, engineering, operations, pricing, legal, and proposal contributors, while complying with ITAR/EAR export controls and FOCI requirements.
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 ethical standards 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.
Deliver first-year outcomes, including an approved growth plan, substantive customer engagements, hiring a Capture Manager, executed teaming agreements, submitted proposals or white papers, access to an OTA consortium or relevant contract vehicle, and a qualified pipeline.