Head of Business Development - Innovation

CAE Vision: Our vision is to be the worldwide partner of choice in defense and security, and civil aviation by revolutionizing our customers' training and critical operations with digitally immersive solutions to elevate safety, efficiency and readiness.

CAE Defense & Security Mission: CAE's Defense and Security business unit focuses on helping prepare military customers to develop and maintain the highest levels of mission readiness.

CAE Values: Empowerment, Innovation, Excellence, Integrity and OneCAE make us who we are and we strive to make a difference in the world while helping each other succeed.

Recognition, professional development, advancement and having fun!

The Business Development Manager II is an individual contributor responsible for supporting new business growth for CAE USA's Defense and Security Military Training and Simulation business within an assigned customer, mission, or capability portfolio. The position identifies, qualifies, and advances business opportunities by developing customer relationships, analyzing market and competitive conditions, and helping shape solutions aligned with customer priorities.

The Business Development Manager II collaborates with capture, program, engineering, strategy, finance, contracts, and other functional teams to develop growth strategies, business cases, customer engagement plans, and competitive positioning. Responsibilities include opportunity identification and qualification, customer and partner relationship management, market and budget analysis, competitive intelligence, and support for capture and proposal activities. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Develops and executes business development plans within an assigned customer, mission, market, or capability portfolio.

Identifies, evaluates, and qualifies new business opportunities aligned with CAE's strategic growth objectives and portfolio capabilities.

Establishes and maintains productive relationships with government customers, military leaders, acquisition organizations, industry partners, and other key stakeholders.

Develops customer engagement plans, stakeholder maps, opportunity assessments, and action plans to position CAE for future business opportunities.

Maintains a working understanding of customer missions, requirements, acquisition priorities, budgets, technology needs, and procurement timelines.

Monitors defense policies, program funding, budget activity, acquisition strategies, and customer requirements that may affect current or future opportunities.

Collects and analyzes market and competitive intelligence to assess customer needs, competitor positioning, potential partners, and CAE's probability of success.

Translates customer priorities and operational needs into actionable growth strategies, value propositions, and potential solutions.

Collaborates with program, engineering, training services, strategy, finance, contracts, legal, marketing, capture, and proposal teams to develop responsive and differentiated solutions.

Prepares clear and compelling business cases, opportunity briefings, customer assessments, pipeline updates, and recommendations for business leadership.

Supports opportunity gate reviews by providing the customer, market, budget, competitive, and positioning information needed to make informed pursuit decisions.

Coordinates with Capture Management to transition qualified opportunities from business development into the formal capture process.

Supports capture and proposal activities by providing customer insight, competitive intelligence, partner information, solution context, and reviews of proposal content.

Participates in color-team and other proposal reviews to evaluate customer alignment, competitive positioning, proposal compliance, and the strength of CAE's value proposition.

Identifies and develops potential teaming, partnership, and industry relationships that strengthen CAE's competitive position.

Coordinates and supports customer demonstrations, technical exchanges, oral presentations, industry engagements, and capability briefings.

Represents CAE at customer meetings, industry days, trade shows, conferences, exercises, and other business development events.

Maintains accurate opportunity, customer engagement, and pipeline information within CAE's designated business development systems.

Tracks progress against assigned growth objectives and communicates opportunity status, risks, resource needs, and recommended actions to leadership.

Ensures all business development activities comply with company policies, security requirements, ethical standards, export-control regulations, and applicable government contracting requirements.

Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, national security, international relations, or another applicable field.

two - three years of relevant experience in business development, capture management, program management, military operations, government acquisition, or the defense industry.

Demonstrated ability to identify, qualify, and advance business opportunities within a defense or government-contracting environment.

Working knowledge of Department of Defense acquisition, budgeting, procurement, and industry pursuit processes.

Ability to understand customer missions, operational requirements, acquisition priorities, and technology needs and translate them into actionable business strategies.

Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with government customers, military leaders, acquisition organizations, industry partners, and internal stakeholders.

Experience supporting cross-functional teams involved in business development, capture, proposals, programs, or solution development.

Ability to analyze customer requirements, market conditions, competitive intelligence, program budgets, and acquisition documents.

Ability to develop business cases, customer engagement plans, opportunity assessments, executive briefings, and value propositions.

Strong strategic thinking, business judgment, analytical ability, and problem-solving skills.

Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with customers, partners, technical teams, and senior leaders.

Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple opportunities, priorities, and deadlines with limited supervision.

Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and applicable customer relationship management or opportunity-tracking systems.

Ability to travel up to 25% of the year or as required to support customers, industry events, and business opportunities.

Government contract requirements, only U.S. citizens are eligible for this role.

Relevant experience in one or more of the following customer, mission, or capability areas is preferred. Specific expertise will be determined by the business development portfolio supported by the position.

Defense-industry experience supporting business development, capture, program management, acquisition, military operations, or customer engagement.

Familiarity with Shipley business development and capture processes, including opportunity qualification, contact planning, competitive analysis, customer value propositions, and color-team reviews.

Experience developing business cases, growth strategies, customer briefings, opportunity assessments, and pipeline forecasts.

Knowledge of the Department of Defense Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution process.

Experience with technical writing, proposal development, and presentations to executive, military, government, and industry audiences.

Experience in military training, modeling and simulation, mission rehearsal, or synthetic training environments.

Familiarity with Foreign Military Sales, Direct Commercial Sales, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and export-control requirements when applicable to the assigned portfolio.

Advanced degree in business, engineering, national security, or a related field.

Must complywith all company security and data protection / usage policies and procedures. Personally responsible for proper marking and handling of all information and materials, in any form. Shall not divulge information outside company without management approval. Incumbent must be eligible for DoD Personal Security Clearance.

Government contract requirements, only U.S. citizens are eligible for this role.

Duties performed in an office environment and manufacturing facility.

Must be able to work overtime on and off-shifts as required.

Shifts and/or schedules may change throughout the year as dictated by management and business needs

May be required to sit and review information on a computer screen for long periods of time

May require repetitive motions of the hands and wrist related to writing and typing at an electronic keyboard

Extended working hours may be required as dictated by management and business needs

CAE USA Inc. is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to any protected characteristic, including disability and protected veteran status, as defined under federal, state, or local laws.

About CAE: At CAE, our mission is clear: to help make the world a safer place. For nearly 80 years, we've driven innovation in simulation, training, and mission readiness to support critical operations worldwide. By leveraging advanced technologies, we empower our customers to operate smarter, faster, and more sustainably.