Associate Director, Business Development - Army

DS creates systems that power the next generation of radio spectrum intelligence. We collect radio data from all over the world, train neural networks to decipher it, and run them on the smallest chips we can. We’re solving a new, technically hard problem where nothing from other fields works out of the box, and along the way, we’ve built our own stack from scratch, including entirely new embedding model architectures, custom GPU kernels, and much more. Joining DS means owning major parts of a fast-growing AI research organization, joining a collaborative, talent-dense team with decades of experience in probabilistic ML, accelerated computing, embedded systems, and signal theory, and growing your career in the areas that interest you. You’ll fit in if you want to come to work for the problem itself and don’t want to choose between technical rigor, business value, and real-world impact. We work with high ownership and trust. THE ROLE We are hiring an Associate Director, Business Development - Army to build and convert opportunities across the U.S. Army. This hands-on role requires someone who can enter an unfamiliar Army organization, identify key stakeholders, understand how requirements and funding move, and create a credible path toward a funded opportunity. Success will depend on hunting, research, relationship building, and comfort navigating ambiguity. The strongest candidate understands the Army from direct experience and can translate that knowledge into disciplined commercial execution. Knowing where to go, how to build credibility, and how to identify another entry point when an initial approach stalls will be critical. You will own opportunities from customer discovery through pilot development, proposal submission, source selection, and follow-on expansion, partnering across Engineering, Mission Operations, leadership, contracting stakeholders, and external partners. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Build and manage an Army-focused pipeline from opportunity identification through proposal submission, source selection, and expansion. - Develop net-new relationships across operational units, program offices, requirements organizations, acquisition communities, contracting organizations, and technical stakeholders. - Research customer structures, decision-makers, mission priorities, budgets, acquisition pathways, incumbents, and competitors. - Create stakeholder maps and engagement strategies identifying champions, blockers, decision-makers, funding owners, and alternative entry points. - Develop informed perspectives on where Distributed Spectrum can address meaningful Army mission problems and how those opportunities should be pursued. - Translate operational problems into opportunity strategies, technical narratives, requirements, acquisition approaches, and measurable mission outcomes. - Scope pilots, demonstrations, exercises, experimentation efforts, and user evaluations that prove mission value and can transition into larger programs. - Develop strategies for converting successful pilots into follow-on contracts, production opportunities, or broader adoption across Army organizations. - Develop win strategies covering customer engagement, competitive positioning, teaming, decision timelines, and proposal execution. - Own assigned proposals, coordinate cross-functional inputs, and lead gate reviews, bid/no-bid recommendations, action tracking, and submission readiness. - Communicate Distributed Spectrum’s capabilities to operational, technical, acquisition, and executive audiences. - Maintain clear account documentation, identify alternative paths when an approach stalls, and provide insights that inform strategy and product positioning. - Represent Distributed Spectrum during frequent travel and periodic work in secure or classified environments. WHO YOU ARE - You have five or more years of relevant experience owning outcomes in military, defense, national security, defense technology, operational, technical, or commercial env…