Business Development Manager - Defence

As a Business Development Manager - Defence at Valarian, you will define and execute our defence market strategy with a strong focus on building and protecting our commercial ecosystem across government, primes, integrators and end users. You’ll be responsible for securing how our organisation operates in the defence market day-to-day: from account mapping and stakeholder engagement, to bid and capture management, to compliance and assurance across systems.

This is a hands-on leadership role combining strategy, architecture and execution. You’ll report directly to the Head of Delivery, and work closely with Product, Engineering, Legal, Compliance and Leadership to embed defence readiness into everything we build, while evolving our compliance posture across UK Government Security Classifications and relevant assurance frameworks.

Oversee and execute Valarian’s defence business development strategy

Build and mature our defence market posture, including security clearances, UK Government Security Classifications and relevant assurance requirements

Design and implement a scalable go-to-market approach across government, primes, integrators and end users

Work with Product and Engineering to ensure our offering is positioned and built for defence customers

Build and maintain BD playbooks, standards and processes for defence sales

Lead opportunity management, account mapping and pipeline generation

Own bid and proposal development, capture management and responses to RFIs/RFPs

Develop and manage relationships with primes, system integrators, government stakeholders and industry bodies

Manage audits, certifications and engagement with external assessors and procurement teams

Set metrics and reporting for pipeline, win rates and market penetration

Hire, develop and lead a small, high-performing defence BD team

Proven experience leading in BD, defence, government or highly regulated B2G/B2B environments

Deep knowledge of defence procurement and how to win in it

Hands-on experience with capture management, bid and proposal development

Experience managing an ecosystem of primes, integrators, government stakeholders and partners

Practical experience with defence assurance and compliance, including UK Government Security Classifications and procurement frameworks

Strong understanding of account mapping, stakeholder engagement and long sales cycles

Experience using CRM and pipeline management tools

Track record of building go-to-market capability from scratch in high-growth environments

Ability to balance compliance and security requirements with speed to market

Excellent stakeholder management and communication across technical, commercial and executive audiences

Experience building or scaling BD/sales teams, or readiness to do so

Focus on real outcomes, not box-ticking

Security Clearance is preferable, but not essential

Background is secondary to mindset. We want someone prepared to hustle, learn the defence landscape fast, and own outcomes. The successful candidate could be from any background.

Valarian Technologies Limited is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from invdividuals regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran, amnesty, or any other legally protected characteristic. We are committed to ensuring a fair and inclusive recruitment process and providing employment opportunities to all applicants. Decision recruitment, hiring, and employment are based solely on qualifications, skills, and experience relevant to the job requirements. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analysing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgement. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.