Business Development Lead

Location: Remote (U.S.) - Washington, D.C. preferred

Employment Type: Full time

Location Type: Remote

About Us

Swan delivers the future of defense and industry through scalable autonomous products. Swan is backed by leading defense VCs, including a16z's American Dynamism fund.

About the Team

The Business Development (BD) team at Swan is responsible for identifying, shaping, capturing, and growing opportunities across our government customer base. BD team members serve as the bridge between the customers and the company. They are responsible for translating mission needs and user feedback internally, while acting as Swan's ambassador externally to clients, partners, and the broader defense and national security community. The team partners closely with strategy, corporate development, engineering, operations, and capture functions to ensure Swan's products consistently meet mission demands.

About the Role

Swan is looking for a high-initiative, collaborative Business Development (BD) Lead to own growth across our priority government and defense customer base. This is a highly strategic, externally-facing role responsible for the full lifecycle of opportunity development. This is a foundational hire in the Strategy and Growth organization: you will shape how Swan approaches government growth and will have real ownership and autonomy to move fast.

What You'll Do

Identify and capture opportunities. Find, pursue, and close business within your assigned customer set. Build a deep understanding of the existing and prospective customer base, current and planned programmatic/technical roadmaps, budget and acquisition cycles, and the competitive landscape. Use this expertise to inform capture strategies, revenue forecasts, and technology development plans.

Develop capture strategies. Build cohesive business plans and execution models that outline acquisition pathways, align to investment strategy, and drive toward program-of-record execution. Engage key stakeholders to shape requirements, identify and secure relevant funding, and develop compelling win themes and teaming/supplier strategies for competitive captures.

Conduct market and competitive research. Continuously monitor opportunities (e.g., SAM.gov, subscription intelligence services, on-the-ground networking), track emerging programs, and analyze the competitive landscape to inform opportunity qualification, teaming decisions, narrative development, and product roadmap prioritization.

Drive product development and program transition. Translate customer problem sets back into Swan's engineering organization, participate in engineering planning sessions, identify key milestones, and proactively communicate across the company. Your read on client needs will directly inform product roadmap decisions.

Own proposal and content development. Lead or significantly contribute to proposals, white papers, and market research responses. Translate customer priorities into clear, concise, and compelling narratives that speak directly to stated and unstated needs.

Grow existing business. Beyond new capture, represent the full breadth of Swan's offering to current clients. Partner with execution teams and product engineers to expand current programs and surface new opportunities within existing relationships.

Represent Swan externally. Plan and lead customer meetings, industry days, conferences, and trade shows. Communicate Swan's mission, approach, and competitive edge to a broad range of audiences.

Manage pipeline and forecasting. Own qualification, cultivation, and capture of opportunities in partnership with growth, engineering, and operations teammates; track pipeline and consistently deliver against bookings and growth targets using CRM tooling.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in business development, capture, sales, or program strategy supporting or serving U.S. military, government, or allied defense organizations (or equivalent commercial/DoD capture experience).
• Demonstrated track record building, executing, and winning business capture strategies, with a proven history of closing opportunities.
• Strong understanding of U.S. Government (or relevant allied) procurement processes, acquisition pathways, and the full capture lifecycle.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience briefing senior executives, government officials, and customers.
• Comfort operating with high ownership in an ambiguous, fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (engineering, business, political science, international relations, or equivalent experience).
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance; active Secret clearance strongly preferred.
• Willingness to travel 50-75%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Established relationships across relevant government stakeholders, program offices, and mission partners..
• Experience with non-traditional acquisition pathways (OTAs, BAAs/CSOs, rapid prototyping/fielding) and commercial-style contracting.
• Prior U.S. military, government, or relevant allied-nation government experience.
• Domain experience relevant to Swan's product line (e.g., autonomy, robotics, sensors, unmanned systems, or similar).
• Experience with FMS/DCS or direct international sales processes, including licensing and releasability.
• Technical background or degree (engineering, computer science, physics, or related) is a plus.
• Currently holds an active U.S. Secret clearance (or higher) is a plus.

What We Offer

Swan is a fast-paced, innovative, and collaborative startup environment. We offer a top-notch benefits package, including:

- Top-tier health, dental, vision, short-/long-term disability, and life insurance, with full employee coverage and partial coverage for dependents

- Flexible/reasonable vacation and sick leave

- 401(k) plans, FSA, HSA, and commuter benefits

Swan is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, religion, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, uniform service, veteran status, disability status, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law.