Strategic Execution & Growth Director

Worker Type

Job Description
 

Summary

The Strategic Execution & Growth Director is a high-impact, strategic role responsible for ensuring follow-through on growth initiatives, driving organizational alignment, and acting as an extension of the CGO across AeroVironment’s most critical opportunities. The role requires a highly analytical, process-oriented, and emotionally intelligent professional who can manage complex, cross-functional initiatives, provide structured decision support, and enable the Growth organization to execute with clarity and discipline. By reducing executive bandwidth constraints, the Director frees the CGO to focus on enterprise priorities while ensuring growth initiatives connect directly to AV’s broader planning and operating commitments.

This position blends project ownership, strategic advising, and orchestration across business units. It is designed to amplify the CGO’s impact, reduce organizational friction, and position Growth for scale.

Position Responsibilities

• Coordinate high-priority, cross-functional projects that the CGO would otherwise own directly, such as organizational integrations, forecasting and pipeline improvements, or deployment of new tools and processes to improve efficiency.
• Support execution of long-range planning outputs and market strategies, aligning business units and growth teams around shared objectives.
• Identify and resolve bottlenecks across business development, sales, and growth operations so teams can focus on capture and customer engagement rather than internal process gaps.
• Provide perspective, risk framing, and recommendations on growth initiatives, operating as both advisor and operator by knowing when to counsel and when to take ownership.
• Convene and align stakeholders across Growth, P&L owners, Finance, Strategy, and Engineering to deliver enterprise priorities without adding unnecessary overhead.
• Shepherd critical tool and process integrations, improve data accessibility, and establish operating mechanisms that reduce friction and cycle time.
• Provide structured decision support by framing options, tradeoffs, risks, and resource needs, preparing concise executive materials and recommendations for decision forums.
• Connect business, technical, and financial perspectives to inform corporate strategy, partnerships, and integration planning.
• Establish and track milestones for critical projects to provide clear markers of progress and impact.
• Other duties as assigned

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Experience)

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Public Policy, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 12+ years of experience in strategy, product/portfolio management, program management, business operations, or similar cross-functional roles in technology or defense-adjacent environments.
• Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems, align diverse stakeholders, and drive complex initiatives to completion.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to distill complexity into clear, executive-ready insights.
• Proven ability to work in fast-paced, technical, or defense-tech environments.
• High emotional intelligence and credibility with senior stakeholders.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, with a track record of cross-functional alignment and delivery.

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Advanced degree (e.g., MBA, MPP, or technical MS) a plus, but not required.
• Experience integrating tools and workflows across CRM, portfolio planning, BI, and collaboration platforms.
• Familiarity with M&A or post-merger integration activities.
• Comfort introducing pragmatic automation or AI-assisted workflows to reduce cycle time and improve quality.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, or government sectors.
• Bias to action, ownership mentality, and resilience in environments with competing priorities.

Physical Demands

• Ability to sit, stand, stoop, reach, lift (up to 10 lbs.), bend, etc.  Hand and wrist dexterity to utilize the computer.
• May require travel to sites/program and special functions.

Environmental Conditions Critical to Performance

• Work is in an office environment, climate controlled through central air conditioning/heating.
• May have some exposure to outside environment while traveling.

Special Requirements

• U.S. Citizen, U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) or asylee/refugee status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) required.
• Must be able to travel within the Continental U.S. and internationally when required.

The salary range for this role is:

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement:

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits:  AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown.  For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit:  http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits.

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

Principals only need apply.  NO agencies please.

Who We Are

Based in California, AeroVironment (AVAV) is a global leader in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and tactical missile systems. Founded in 1971 by celebrated physicist and engineer, Dr. Paul MacCready, we’ve been at the leading edge of technical innovation for more than 45 years. Be a part of the team that developed the world’s most widely used military drones and created the first submarine-launched reconnaissance drone, and has seven innovative vehicles that are part of the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent collection in Washington, DC.

Join us today in developing the next generation of small UAS and tactical missile systems that will deliver more actionable intelligence to our customers so they can proceed with certainty – and succeed.

What We Do

Building on a history of technological innovation, AeroVironment designs, develops, produces, and supports an advanced portfolio of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and tactical missile systems.  Agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense and allied military services use the company’s hand-launched UAS to provide situational awareness to tactical operating units through real-time, airborne reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR