Shield AI is seeking a driven and mission focused Business Development Manager to drive growth across the United States Marine Corps (USMC) enterprise by delivering autonomous systems that solve real operational challenges for the warfighter.
This role owns the USMC pipeline and bookings target across Shield AI’s autonomy software and unmanned systems portfolio. You will drive opportunities from initial engagement through contract award, partnering with USMC stakeholders and internal teams to convert operational needs into funded procurement. This is a quota-carrying role with significant upside tied directly to USMC revenue growth.
The ideal candidate is a high energy seller who thrives in complex defense sales environments and is motivated by building pipeline, advancing opportunities, and closing deals that deliver real operational capability.
This role partners closely with Shield AI’s growth team which includes former senior military leaders who provide strategic insight, acquisition expertise, and access across the USMC ecosystem. While the growth team supports market strategy and introductions, the Business Development Manager owns opportunity execution and revenue outcomes.
This role is ideal for individuals who thrive in high ownership environments and are motivated by building new markets and closing complex deals.
What you'll do:
- Own and execute the USMC go-to-market strategy to drive pipeline creation, opportunity advancement, and bookings across Shield AI’s full product portfolio.
- Carry full accountability for the USMC revenue number, including pipeline health, opportunity progression, forecast accuracy, and closed bookings.
- Identify, shape, and pursue new opportunities across USMC program offices, operational units, and modernization initiatives.
- Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of USMC opportunities from early engagement through contract award.
- Own the full sales cycle from initial engagement through contract award with accountability for closing revenue and achieving USMC quota targets.
- Work directly with USMC stakeholders to translate operational challenges into funded procurement opportunities that deploy Shield AI capabilities into the field.
- Operate with urgency to advance opportunities and accelerate the transition of Shield AI capabilities from evaluation to program of record.
- Develop trusted relationships with USMC program managers, operational leaders, and acquisition stakeholders.
- Partner with Shield AI growth advisors who provide USMC domain expertise, acquisition insight, and senior level access.
- Coordinate internal teams including engineering, product, program management, and capture resources to support opportunity execution.
- Lead opportunity strategy and deal progression including shaping customer requirements, developing capture plans, and supporting proposal efforts.
- Maintain accurate pipeline forecasting and revenue projections.
- Drive adoption of fielded capabilities that deliver immediate operational value to USMC customers.
Required qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree and experience in defense sales, business development, or military operations.
- Demonstrated ability to independently build pipeline and close deals in complex government sales environments.
- Experience working with USMC customers, program offices, or operational units.
- Strong understanding of military operations and familiarity with Department of Defense procurement processes.
- Ability to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously and drive deals through long and complex sales cycles.
- Strong communication and relationship building skills with both technical and operational stakeholders.
- Ability to translate operational needs into solution driven sales opportunities.
- Ability to obtain TS/SCI Clearance – Active Secret or Top Secret Clearance preferred.
- Located near major USMC commands with travel up to 50% of the time to additional USMC installations and program offices.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree
- Experience in defense sales, business development, or military operations
- Ability to independently build pipeline and close deals in complex government sales environments
- Experience working with USMC customers, program offices, or operational units
- Strong understanding of military operations and familiarity with Department of Defense procurement processes
- Ability to manage multiple opportunities through long and complex sales cycles
- Strong communication and relationship-building skills with technical and operational stakeholders
- Ability to translate operational needs into solution-driven sales opportunities
- Ability to obtain TS/SCI clearance
- Located near major USMC commands
- Active Secret or Top Secret clearance
What the Team is Saying
What We Do
At Shield AI, you won't wait years to see your work reach the field. You'll build hardware and software that operates in the real world right now, in the hands of the people who depend on it. Hivemind, our AI pilot, has been flying since 2018. It has flown more than 30 platforms, including an F-16, and it now sits under a U.S. Air Force production contract for Collaborative Combat Aircraft. When you write code or shape a system here, you contribute to technology with a proven flight record and a clear production future. V-BAT flies intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with an operational record that stretches from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. It delivers eyes where they matter most, in the most demanding conditions on earth. The teams behind it watch their work get tested where the stakes are real. X-BAT takes its first flight this year. It's an AI-piloted fighter that needs no runway, built to operate where traditional aircraft can't. Join now and you help shape a program at its earliest, most formative stage. That's the kind of ground-floor work that defines a career. Do the most impactful work of your life, on problems that matter. Autonomy at this level asks a lot of you. You'll take on problems in perception, planning, and control that few teams anywhere are equipped to solve. You'll work across disciplines, from aerospace and robotics to machine learning and systems engineering, alongside people who hold themselves to an exacting standard and expect the same from you. Our mission is clear: protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. That purpose runs through every decision, every design review, and every deployment. It's why the work here carries a weight you can feel. Ready to join our mission? Explore our open roles and find where you fit.
Why Work With Us
Founded in 2015 by a former Navy SEAL, Shield AI builds AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft. Veterans aren't an afterthought here, they're at every level. It's why the work carries weight: AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft flying real missions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, protecting service members and civilians.
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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
