Director of Business Development
About Mesa Quantum
Mesa Quantum is building the manufacturing backbone of the quantum economy. We specialize in chip-scale quantum devices, starting with clocks and sensors, that unlock resilient Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) for defense, telecom, space, and critical infrastructure. Our team combines world-class expertise in AMO physics, photonics, microfabrication, and engineering to transform breakthrough science into scalable, deployable technology. Backed by top-tier deep-tech investors and the U.S. Department of Defense, Mesa Quantum is rapidly scaling and actively recruiting exceptional innovators who want to build the future of quantum technology from the ground up.
The Role
We are seeking a Director of Business Development to win customers and grow revenue as our technology moves from development into customer use. You will identify where our products can solve critical timing, sensing, and navigation problems, then turn qualified opportunities into paid pilots and contracts.
Reporting to the CEO, you will execute agreed commercial priorities and use customer feedback to help refine them. This is a hands-on role in a fast-paced startup: you will need to learn technical products quickly, prioritize under uncertainty, and maintain momentum across long sales cycles. Success requires initiative, sound judgment, and the drive to turn early customer interest into signed business.
What You Will Do
- Own the sales cycle from prospecting and qualification through proposals, negotiations, and contract closure. Develop successful pilots into production orders and repeat business.
- Build relationships with defense program offices, prime contractors, commercial customers, and system integrators. Identify decision-makers, funding sources, and purchasing requirements for each opportunity.
- Work with customers and engineers to define applications, assess technical fit, and establish measurable criteria for evaluations and pilots.
- Develop a route to purchase for each target account, navigating defense acquisition pathways and building commercial business cases around performance, cost, and return on investment.
- Communicate product value through clear presentations and proposals tailored to the customer’s mission or business needs.
- Maintain prioritized account plans, an accurate pipeline, and realistic forecasts. Track progress against agreed contract and revenue targets, and address stalled opportunities promptly.
Requirements
What You Bring:
- 6+ years in technical business development
- Demonstrated success closing complex technology deals in defense or aerospace, with the commercial judgment to develop opportunities in other markets.
- Working knowledge of defense procurement and funding, including how to move an emerging technology from evaluation toward acquisition.
- Ability to qualify opportunities based on customer need, budget, technical readiness, and purchasing timelines.
- Strong technical communication and negotiation skills; able to earn credibility with engineers, program leaders, and business decision-makers.
- A record of managing multiple opportunities with disciplined follow-through and clear reporting.
- Ability to work independently in a fast-paced startup, adapt as priorities evolve, and coordinate decisions with leadership. A technical background or demonstrated ability to learn complex hardware is essential; quantum expertise is not required.
Strongly Preferred
- Experience commercializing sensing, timing, navigation, photonics, semiconductors, or related hardware.
- Experience selling into both defense and commercial markets and converting technical evaluations into production contracts.
- Established relationships with relevant defense organizations, national laboratories, prime contractors, or commercial technology buyers.
Benefits
- Annual base salary of $130,000–$160,000 (based on experience, skills, and qualifications).
- Meaningful equity and a comprehensive benefits package.
- Direct access to the founders and technical team, with the opportunity to shape customer adoption at a formative stage of the company.
- Work on technology with practical impact, from resilient navigation and precise timing to new industrial sensing applications.
Skills Required
- 6+ years of experience in technical business development
- Demonstrated success closing complex technology deals in defense or aerospace
- Working knowledge of defense procurement and funding, including moving emerging technology from evaluation toward acquisition
- Ability to qualify opportunities based on customer need, budget, technical readiness, and purchasing timelines
- Strong technical communication and negotiation skills
- Ability to establish credibility with engineers, program leaders, and business decision-makers
- Experience managing multiple opportunities with disciplined follow-through and clear reporting
- Ability to work independently in a fast-paced startup and adapt as priorities evolve
- Ability to coordinate decisions with leadership
- Technical background or demonstrated ability to learn complex hardware
- Experience commercializing sensing, timing, navigation, photonics, semiconductors, or related hardware
- Experience selling into both defense and commercial markets and converting technical evaluations into production contracts
- Established relationships with defense organizations, national laboratories, prime contractors, or commercial technology buyers
What We Do
Mesa Quantum Systems develops and commercializes chip-scale quantum sensors, including precision instruments for position, navigation, and timing (PNT). Its technology aims to deliver smaller, lighter, lower-power, cost-effective, and reliable alternatives to conventional precision sensors and reduce dependence on GPS. The company is engineering quantum sensing products for practical, scaled deployment across applications such as autonomous systems, communications, satellites, remote sensing, and critical infrastructure.
