The Role
Leads business development and capture strategy across defense and commercial markets, building qualified pipelines, shaping requirements, developing win strategies, and driving proposals through contract award. Builds relationships with DoD program offices, prime contractors, and government decision-makers; manages forecasting, market analysis, account portfolios, and customer engagement. Represents the company at trade shows and industry events and travels extensively to support customer pursuits. Owns bookings and revenue outcomes for technically complex products and programs.
Summary Generated by Built In
Intellisense Systems, Inc. is a privately held, Southern California-based technology innovator with a proven track record of developing and deploying innovative products that successfully operate in the most extreme environments. We solve tough, mission-critical challenges for our customers in the aerospace, defense, and commercial markets, delivering the full data continuum from sensing and embedded processing to video integration, displays, and data/video recording and storage for airborne and ground vehicle platforms. Our portfolio also includes environmental and maritime sensing and smart power management systems, engineered to the highest levels of safety certification and built with embedded cybersecurity and advanced encryption capabilities.
We are seeking a Director, Business Development, to serve as both a pipeline builder and a capture leader who owns the customer engagement from first contact through contract award. This role calls for someone who identifies and shapes opportunities early, builds the relationships and teaming arrangements that strengthen our competitive position, and converts pursuits into funded programs.
This is a high-visibility, high-impact position for a leader who can walk into a program office and make a credible, well-substantiated case for why Intellisense is the right partner. You will help shape requirements ahead of RFP release and develop the proposals that carry pursuits to contract award. If you enjoy solving complex problems and want direct ownership of outcomes, this is your role.
Location: Torrance, CA (Onsite)
Responsibilities:
Requirements:
Nice to Haves:
Why Intellisense:
What You Could Expect:
Please Note: Job responsibilities within our organization are dynamic. This may not be a complete list of duties. Other responsibilities and duties may be assigned by your supervisor or upper management at any time.
Compensation:
REQ #26036
We are seeking a Director, Business Development, to serve as both a pipeline builder and a capture leader who owns the customer engagement from first contact through contract award. This role calls for someone who identifies and shapes opportunities early, builds the relationships and teaming arrangements that strengthen our competitive position, and converts pursuits into funded programs.
This is a high-visibility, high-impact position for a leader who can walk into a program office and make a credible, well-substantiated case for why Intellisense is the right partner. You will help shape requirements ahead of RFP release and develop the proposals that carry pursuits to contract award. If you enjoy solving complex problems and want direct ownership of outcomes, this is your role.
Location: Torrance, CA (Onsite)
Responsibilities:
- Drive a qualified, data-driven pipeline of new and follow-on business across DoD (Air Force, Navy, Army, SOCOM) and potential commercial customers, spanning our sensing, embedded processing, displays, and power management technology lines for airborne and ground vehicle platforms. Own the bookings and revenue numbers that result. Activity is not the scoreboard; bookings and revenue are.
- Take end-to-end ownership of capture strategy for priority pursuits, including shaping requirements ahead of RFP release, developing win themes and price-to-win positioning, and driving proposals through to contract award.
- Build direct, trusted relationships with senior leaders in program offices, prime contractors, and government/military decision-makers through proactive, planned customer engagement.
- Drive strategic planning, market analysis, and forecasting across the defense and commercial sectors you own — including airborne and ground vehicle platforms, maritime and environmental sensing, and broader embedded processing and power management applications — to define where the next programs and budget lines will form and get there first with a plan.
- Be the face of Intellisense in the field. Engage at trade shows, industry days, and customer forums that matter. Use every one of them to sharpen your read on emerging customer requirements and competitor movement in the marketspace.
- Manage and report on your portfolio of accounts and opportunities with the discipline and accuracy leadership needs to forecast against.
- Travel to close the deal. Travel to support customer engagements, trade shows, and industry events — wherever the goal requires you to be.
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering (electrical, electronics, or related discipline), computer science, business, or a related field; advanced degree a plus.
- 10+ years of business development, capture, or industrial sales experience in complex, technically oriented environments.
- Demonstrated track record of capturing and closing contracts in the $1M–$20M+ range, with experience placing products related to sensing, embedded processing, displays, power management, or embedded electronic-systems portfolios.
- Working knowledge of DoD acquisition processes, government contracting vehicles, ITAR, and U.S. export-control requirements.
- Proposal development and writing experience, along with basic contracting and negotiation skills.
- Strong leadership, presentation, written, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to brief senior military and executive stakeholders.
- Full-time presence at our Torrance, CA facility, is required except when on travel.
- Ability to travel up to 50%.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance for which U.S. citizenship is required.
Nice to Haves:
- Experience selling into complex government and defense acquisition environments, including familiarity with program offices, prime contractors, and multi-stakeholder buying processes.
- Active U.S. security clearance (Secret or higher).
- Direct business development or program management experience placing products related to sensing, embedded processing, displays, power management, or embedded electronic-systems portfolios.
- Experience transitioning advanced technology or prototype systems into programs of record or follow-on production contracts.
- Former military service or civilian government experience is a plus.
Why Intellisense:
- ISI is experiencing strong, sustained double-digit revenue growth year over year, with the business on track to soon exceed $100 million in annual revenue.
- The company carries more than a year of committed funded backlog already secured.
- This role starts from a position of strength: an established product line, strong customer past performance, and existing relationships across DoD program offices — not a from-scratch pipeline build.
- We understand that cultivating a new DoD opportunity typically takes 12–18 months from first engagement to award, and we resource and evaluate this role with that realistic timeline in mind.
What You Could Expect:
- High-visibility ownership of capture strategy from first customer conversation through contract award.
- Direct engagement with senior DoD and commercial decision-makers.
- A collaborative, entrepreneurial environment where your pipeline decisions shape company growth.
- Regular travel to trade shows, industry days, and customer sites to represent Intellisense in the field.
Please Note: Job responsibilities within our organization are dynamic. This may not be a complete list of duties. Other responsibilities and duties may be assigned by your supervisor or upper management at any time.
Compensation:
- Base salary: $225,000 – $250,000, depending on skills, qualifications, and experience.
- Plus a quarterly performance incentive tied to individual revenue and bookings achievement — target incentive of up to 15% of base salary annually — consistent with ISI’s Business Development Incentive Plan.
- A signing bonus, commensurate with experience.
- Eligibility to participate in ISI’s stock option plan, subject to Board approval.
REQ #26036
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, business, or a related field
- 10+ years of business development, capture, or industrial sales experience in complex, technically oriented environments
- Demonstrated success capturing and closing contracts valued at $1M-$20M or more
- Experience placing sensing, embedded processing, display, power management, or embedded electronic systems products
- Working knowledge of DoD acquisition processes and government contracting vehicles
- Working knowledge of ITAR and U.S. export-control requirements
- Proposal development and writing experience
- Basic contracting and negotiation skills
- Strong leadership, presentation, written, and verbal communication skills
- Ability to brief senior military and executive stakeholders
- Full-time onsite presence at the Torrance, California facility, except while traveling
- Ability to travel up to 50%
- Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance
- U.S. citizenship
- Advanced degree
- Experience selling into complex government and defense acquisition environments
- Active U.S. security clearance at Secret level or higher
- Experience transitioning advanced technology or prototype systems into programs of record or follow-on production contracts
- Former military service or civilian government experience
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The Company
What We Do
Intellisense Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of advanced sensing and display solutions supporting a data continuum from acquisition to visualization. We enhance our hardware with software that adds intelligence to our systems and can turn raw data into useful information for improved decision making and process automation. Intellisense Systems offers both off-the-shelf products and custom development services. These services include research and development, requirements analysis, design, systems integration, prototyping, production, testing, field support, and training. Headquartered in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, we occupy over 100,000 square feet across two facilities. Our manufacturing capabilities include electronics fabrication, unit qualification testing, systems integration, and volume production with full quality assurance. Intellisense Systems is qualified across engineering, accounting, and manufacturing to serve both government and commercial customers.
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