Defense Business Development Specialist

Defense Business Development Specialist

The Defense Business Development Specialist will leverage existing relationships with potential military customers and interface directly with the existing Sales team. Utilize knowledge of Vuzix products and capabilities to understand and gather customer requirements, to prepare specifications and generate quotes. Partner with the internal technical and marketing teams to share insights from defense customers and to offer suggestions for product enhancements. Responsibilities will include planning and leading customer engagements, market assessments, strategy development, business case development, capture management, Direct Sell and bid and proposal budget management, CRM management, orders plans and development of 1-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr growth pipelines. This position will also support the functions of the Sales - DoD Department to meet the requirements of the relevant ISO 9001:2015 standards based on the quality objectives established by Top Management.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and implement an Enterprise Territory Business Plan to drive enterprise sales of hardware products and professional services to the military.
• Utilize your existing portfolio of relationships, partners and areas of expertise that will enable you to penetrate these industries or defense services.
• Understand and analyze customer business problems, determine the best hardware and services that are applicable.
• Demonstrate products and solutions to both technical users and leadership and articulate the technical and business applicability in the defense/customer ecosystems.
• Attend events and conferences to network and establish new opportunities.
• Leverage virtual networking technology such as LinkedIn and other social media to establish new opportunities.
• Generate and develop new leads into prospects and customers, by identifying business needs and articulating how our solutions benefit the end user and enterprise.
• Assessing Partner opportunities to determine which are winnable and working with government partners and points of contact to help shape RFPs to apply to our solutions.
• Develop Basis of Estimates (BOEs) and Proposals for complex technology including strategy, win themes, solutions, writing, schedules, staffing, pricing, past performance, resumes, and other proposal actions.
• Accurately report sales pipeline, including closure dates, risks, industry opportunities, and areas to develop the product and solutions, to executive leadership in CRM.
• Design marketing plans materials and sales presentations to prospects, customers and through events (such as webinars) to generate interest and maximize the market share of the product portfolio.
• Mentor and manage marketing activities as needed.
• Develop and manage partner base to maximize opportunities within your channel.
• Consistently achieve quota.
• Meets required ISO 9001:2015 standards and necessary training based on the relevant Quality Objectives.

Competencies:

• Written Communication – Read and interpret written information effectively, write clearly and concisely, adapt writing style for different audiences.
• Verbal Communication – Give focused attention to what others are saying, take time to understand what is being said and respond when appropriate without interrupting, speak clearly and effectively express ideas and opinions, adapt and react professionally in both positive and negative situations.
• Teamwork & Collaboration – Balance team and individual responsibilities, consider others' views objectively and with openness to changing your own, give and encourage feedback, contribute to a positive team dynamic, prioritize team success over personal interests, work effectively across departments toward company goals.
• Professionalism – Interact with others in a considerate manner, follow through on commitments, react well under pressure and preserve confidentiality, control emotions, and accept responsibility, maintain focus on solutions and treat others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position.
• Motivation & Initiative – Demonstrate persistence and ability to adapt to changes in daily workflow and overcome obstacles, ask for and offer help when needed, work independently when required, volunteer readily and look for ways to improve and create successful outcomes, positively contribute to overall work environment.
• Respect & Integrity – Treat people with respect, work ethically and with honesty and integrity, inspire the trust of others, demonstrate appreciation and sensitivity for cultural differences, help promote inclusion and understanding of the value of diversity, embrace differences and support a harassment-free environment.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Strong strategic thinking including analytical and financial planning skills to meet and exceed quotas and goals.
• Experience in business development and pursuit capture processes, including opportunity qualification, preparing and leading gate reviews, capturing plan development, win strategy, price-to-win, and proposal development.
• Experience with military and US Government acquisition processes and programs.
• Experience in driving the sales process and effective working relationships with Sales Operations
• Ability to build long-term strategic and senior level relationships.
• Ability to adapt and work effectively within a rapidly changing and growing environment.
• Robust business and financial acumen.
• Proven partner relationship networks, and ability to grow the impact of revenue streams and territory development through the partner ecosystem.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree (BA/BS) in Business Administration or equivalent work experience.
• 8+ years of experience with military business development or equivalent Sales Operations, Strategy and/or Sales Leadership role.
• Ability to lead through influence, working alongside organizational leadership (Sales, Operations, Product Management, and Executive Team).
• Proven track record of leading change management, building aligned tooling and developing methods to measure and systemize Sales KPIs for internal teams and customers.
• Experience with Sales technology tooling (Zoho).
• Prior military experience and/or relationships are a plus.

Supervisory Responsibilities: None.

Travel: Domestic travel, up to 20%.

Physical Demands : Frequently required to sit, speak, hear, see, and perform repetitive motion (data entry). Occasionally required to lift or carry (10 lb. minimum). Reasonable accommodations will be made if applicable.