Director, Business Development Space & Defense

Northstar is seeking an entrepreneurial leader to directly build, shape, and commercialize advanced Space Domain Awareness (SDA) services and capabilities suited for U.S. government customers, with a focus on the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.

About the Role

Responsibilities to directly shape and pursue U.S. government opportunities from early technical discussions through proposal, submission, and award.

Responsibilities

• Conceive, write, and directly contribute to proposals white papers, concept notes, and technical responses.
• Lead technical and operational pitches to government engineers, mission operators, and acquisition teams.
• Engage customers to surface unarticulated or emerging mission pain points, particularly where existing SDA fall short.
• Translate complex mission needs into credible executable system-level solution concepts.
• Build early partnerships where required, while remaining personally accountable for opportunity progression and outcomes.
• Represent NorthStar at industry events, government forums, and defense innovation engagements, including targeted technical forums and customer working sessions.

Qualifications

• Background in systems engineering, space systems, mission operations, or technical program leadership, with experience in customer‑facing or commercialization roles.
• Demonstrated ability to directly communicate complex technical concepts to U.S. government customers.
• Experience developing solution architectures, CONOPS, or system‑level narratives in response to mission needs.
• Hands‑on experience contributing to proposals, white papers, or technical responses.
• Familiarity with SDA / SSA challenges and limitations, including latency, coverage, and data fusion.
• Understanding of DoD acquisition processes and common contracting vehicles (e.g., FFP, IDIQ, T&M).
• Minimum 10 years' experience in the U.S. space or national security space ecosystem.
• U.S. citizenship; active or eligible TS/SCI clearance.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, astronomy, mathematics, or a related technical field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

Required Skills

• Success requires personal execution, including proposal development and direct technical customer engagement.
• The U.S. organization will be built deliberately over time; the initial phase requires a leader who is comfortable doing the work directly before delegating.
• The role is well‑suited to individuals who enjoy building new capabilities from first principles and engaging deeply with technical customers.

Preferred Skills

• Have an entrepreneurial spirit to build and commercialize new technical capabilities with a meaningful mission.
• Enjoy working at the intersection of systems engineering, customer problems, and business creation.
• Are motivated by solving hard, real‑world mission problems that lack clean or mature solutions.

Pay range and compensation package

NorthStar offers a competitive compensation package, including base salary, performance incentives, comprehensive health benefits, retirement plans, paid time off, and opportunities for professional development. Salary range and benefits are commensurate with experience and market standards.

Equal Opportunity Statement

NorthStar is an equal opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment and do not and will not discriminate against employees or applicants on the basis of any category protected under local, state or federal law.

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