Business Development Manager - Defence
In support of an existing, established global manufacturing company with the further growth of UAV product sales and services across a broad spectrum of applications, we are seeking a Business Development Manager who will support strategically aligned growth across their Defence portfolio in both UK and international markets. The role is primarily focused on identifying, shaping and securing new business opportunities within established strategic frameworks and priority campaigns.
Operating within a defence environment, the Business Development Manager will work closely with internal technical, programme and commercial teams to develop a strong pipeline of opportunities aligned with customer capability requirements and organisational growth objectives. The role requires strong understanding of defence procurement environments, stakeholder engagement and opportunity capture processes.
Duties and Tasks
- Collaborate with engineering, programme management and commercial functions to ensure proposed solutions are deliverable, competitive and aligned with customer needs.
- Contribute to long-term business growth planning by identifying emerging capability requirements, innovation opportunities and partnership options within the defence ecosystem.
- Develop a deep understanding of customer capability priorities, operational requirements and technology roadmaps across the defence domain.
- Develop and manage a robust opportunity pipeline, progressing prospects through the opportunity lifecycle including identification, qualification, capture planning and contract award.
- Ensure full compliance with company governance processes, export control regulations and all applicable UK and international legal and regulatory frameworks.
- Establish and maintain trusted relationships with key defence customers, industry partners and strategic stakeholders.
- Identify, shape and progress new business opportunities across the Defence sector in alignment with the organisation’s strategic priorities and capability roadmap.
- Maintain accurate pipeline data and forecasting, providing visibility of opportunity status, order intake expectations and business growth potential.
- Provide customer insight, market intelligence and competitor awareness to inform business growth strategies and bid development activities.
- Support the development and execution of campaign and capture strategies for priority opportunities within strategic customer accounts.
- Work collaboratively with internal bid and capture teams to help shape solutions and support the development of compelling, customer-focused proposals.


Person Specification
The successful candidate will be expected to bring maturity and credibility when engaging with customers, senior managers and stakeholders. They expect the incoming Business Development Manager to be able to demonstrate the following skills and capabilities:


Skills:
- Ability to work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams, including engineering, programme management, commercial and bid teams.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, including the ability to engage technical, commercial and operational stakeholders.
- Effective strategic thinking and commercial awareness, with the ability to align opportunities to organisational capability and growth priorities.
- Highly developed stakeholder engagement and relationship management skills, with the ability to build credibility and trust with customers and partners.
- Strong analytical and market assessment skills, with the ability to evaluate opportunities, competitors and customer priorities.
- Strong opportunity identification and qualification skills, with the ability to translate market intelligence into viable business opportunities.
- Strong pipeline management and forecasting capability, ensuring accurate reporting of opportunity status and order intake expectations.
- Well-developed presentation and briefing skills, able to clearly articulate value propositions and capability offerings to customers and internal stakeholders.
Knowledge:
- Awareness of defence technology trends, capability development programmes and operational requirements relevant to the organisation’s portfolio.
- A degree (in Business or Engineering), STEM preferred.
- Demonstrable experience in business development, capture management or strategic sales within the defence, aerospace or security sectors.
- Experience contributing to or supporting bid and proposal development within structured bid governance processes.
- Experience developing and managing opportunity pipelines, including opportunity identification, qualification and capture planning.
- Familiarity with export control regulations, security requirements and governance frameworks applicable to the defence industry.
- Knowledge of campaign management and strategic account development within complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
- Strong understanding of defence procurement environments, including UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) acquisition processes and, ideally, international defence markets.
- Understanding of commercial principles, contracting mechanisms and the defence acquisition lifecycle.


This role requires a strong customer facing mindset and a team-orientated approach. Integrity and professionalism are pre-requisite.
Note, due to the ac