VP of Sales/Business Development

VP, Sales & Business Development — Aventra Defense Systems

Herndon, VA (HQ, in-person) | ~40% travel, including overseas partner-nation travel | Reports to: CEO

Why Aventra, Why Now

Persistent, stratospheric access above the battlefield is the difference between a warfighter who sees, communicates, and commands the fight — and one who doesn't. Aventra builds the systems that close that gap: stratospheric ISR platforms, glide-capable payload delivery, and mesh communications, fielded at the speed a modern fight demands, not the speed of a legacy prime.

We're a Series A company backed by investors who bet early on the defense primes of tomorrow. Our systems aren't a roadmap slide — they're flying real missions in support of forces operating in active conflict today. It shows in how fast we move: weeks, where legacy contractors move in years.

Our next chapter is building a real commercial engine across two fronts — U.S. Department of War programs of record, and allied partner nations, with the Middle East and Europe as our leading international priority. This role owns both.

The Role

We're hiring the person who builds this function from zero — process, pipeline, relationships, and results — while personally carrying deals across the line. This isn't a role for someone who wants to inherit a team and optimize it. You'll be the architect of the function and its top individual producer at the same time, for as long as it takes to prove the model, then the natural person to build and lead a team once it does.

You'll work directly with the CEO and co-founders on strategic accounts, with full ownership of capture execution, government and allied-nation relationships, teaming strategy, and sales process discipline. There's a real playbook already in place — relationships, contract vehicles, and momentum that turned a modest raise into multiples of revenue — but we're not asking you to protect it. We're handing it to you to run your way.

If you want a target list and a quota handed to you, this isn't it. If you want to take a market from ten million a year to hundreds of millions — and have the wins to prove it — keep reading.

What You'll Own

• Scale — Build and expand qualified pipeline across DoD program offices (Army, SOCOM, Air Force, Navy, DIU, AFRL/AFWERX, and adjacent innovation/acquisition orgs) and allied overseas defense ministries, from first conversation through contract award.
• Embed — Get close enough to program offices and partner-nation end users to understand their mission problem better than the incumbent does. Shape requirements before they're written down.
• Navigate — Work the real mechanics of domestic and international defense sales: OTAs, SBIR/STTR, and non-traditional acquisition pathways at home; FMS, DCS, and export licensing (ITAR/EAR) abroad. Manage teaming agreements with primes and in-country partners.
• Build Process — Stand up capture discipline that scales: qualification criteria, playbooks, forecasting, and real CRM hygiene (HubSpot Sales CRM, plus custom tools) so pipeline health is visible to the CEO and board without anyone asking.
• Translate — Carry what you hear from program offices and allied end users straight back to engineering and product. You're the fastest signal path between a real mission problem and what we build next.
• Represent — Be Aventra's face at conferences, program office engagements, and allied-nation meetings, including congressional staff and industry associations where funding advocacy affects a program's trajectory. You'll also support government relations and marketing materials that drive your pipeline.
• Recruit — As pipeline and wins justify it, build your own bench — you're inheriting a pipeline, a prime, and a program of record, so your first hire comes sooner than a typical early-stage BD build.
• No task too small — Early-stage BD occasionally means handling the contracting paperwork yourself at midnight because the deal doesn't close without it. That's the job.

What You Bring

• 10 years in defense/federal business development or capture management, ideally with direct experience in stratospheric platforms, kinetics/munitions, ISR, UAS, or adjacent technologies
• A demonstrated track record building pipeline from scratch at an early-stage company — not just running plays inside an established BD org at a prime
• Existing relationships with relevant U.S. program offices (e.g., Army IEW&S/Aviation, Air Force AFLCMC/WIA, Naval Aviation PMA-236, SMDC) and/or overseas defense ministries or partner-nation primes
• Understanding of the PPBE and Congressional appropriations cycles and their impact on sales forecasting
• Working knowledge of FMS/DCS mechanics and U.S. export control regimes (ITAR/EAR)
• Comfort operating without a team or established process initially — you build both while closing
• Fluency translating technical capability into a mission problem, through proposals, white papers, and presentations
• A bias toward action over process
• Comfort physically accessing customers and navigating the acquisition process (active CAC a plus)
• Eligibility for a security clearance (active clearance a plus)

Nice to Have

• Existing defense industry network, especially DC/Northern Virginia and account-relevant bases and regions
• Experience with SBIR/STTR, OTA, or other non-traditional acquisition pathways
• Prior overseas defense sales or partnership experience
• Prior early-stage/startup experience (Series A–C)

Compensation & Growth

Base performance-based variable tied to pipeline and award milestones, plus equity commensurate with a Series A sales/BD hire. OTE highly competitive with the fastest-growing defense companies. This role is designed to grow — the person who builds this function individually now is the natural leader of it as Aventra scales.

Aventra Defense Systems is an equal opportunity employer.