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Salary: USD 145,000 - 185,000 / annual
Defense Unicorns is seeking a Mission Director to lead full-lifecycle business development and execution for Navy and Marine Corps customers. This is a quota-carrying role combining business development, program leadership, and portfolio management.
As Mission Director, you will identify and develop net-new opportunities within the Navy or Marine Corps, build trusted relationships with customers and stakeholders, and shape solutions using Defense Unicorns' cloud-native software delivery platform. You will own the full sales cycle from discovery through proposal, negotiation, and contract award.
Once contracts are awarded, you remain accountable for execution, including cost, schedule, performance, staffing, margin, and customer satisfaction. You will personally lead contract delivery initially, and as your portfolio grows, you will transition to leading program managers and delivery leaders while maintaining accountability for outcomes.
Key responsibilities include: building a diversified business pipeline and owning a revenue quota; defining customer problems and shaping solutions; leading opportunities through the federal acquisition process; serving as program leader for new contracts; building and leading teams required for execution; maintaining customer retention; identifying follow-on work and adjacent opportunities; and growing gross margin.
You should have experience in the Navy, Marine Corps, or closely related defense environment, with strong understanding of military culture, mission, stakeholders, and terminology. Preferred background includes military operations, government program management, acquisition, contracting, business development, or defense industry program leadership. Working knowledge of federal acquisition, contract vehicles, and acquisition strategies is essential. You must demonstrate strong commercial judgment, team leadership capability, comfort with ambiguity, and technical fluency in cloud-native technologies, DevSecOps, Kubernetes, and modern software delivery concepts.
Candidates located near major Navy and Marine Corps hubs (San Diego, Norfolk, Washington D.C., Charleston, Patuxent River, Quantico) are preferred. Approximately 25-40% travel required.
