Director, Business Development

About Merlin: Merlin is a venture backed aerospace startup building a non-human pilot to enable both reduced crew and uncrewed flight. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, Merlin is scaling alongside our customers to begin leveraging autonomy today to solve some of aviation’s biggest challenges.

About you

You are an accomplished, roll-up-your-sleeves, innovative and technical expert capable of developing new business at aviation, autonomy or crew workload reduction technologies. You can collaborate, lead and follow in partnership with other key functional partners including product development, engineering, program management, contracts, and others to build business pipelines and strategic relationships.

You are comfortable operating as a peer to senior military and commercial leaders while also acting as a force multiplier for the General Manager, Mobility and SOF. You translate customer needs into program execution. You are highly collaborative, data-driven, and focused on driving engagement and growth for the organization.

Responsibilities

• Develop, execute a detailed engagement and growth strategy for Merlin Labs to capture government business in the Mobility and SOF pipeline
• Build and maintain senior-level relationships across U.S. government agencies, including defense, aviation, and related stakeholders
• Connect current and be able to influence future needs/requirements for Mobility and SOF customers with Merlin’s products, programs, technologies and capabilities
• Provide quarterly updates/reviews to Merlin Labs senior leadership
• Drive early processes for new pursuits by collaborating with internal and external customers on strategic planning, including traditional and non-traditional acquisition pathways
• Build compelling proposals to win government business
• Accurately determine budgets and procurement intentions to set realistic Price to Win targets
• Achieve a set KPI’s to expand and convert Pipeline to align with internal priorities
• Minimum 30% travel

Qualifications

• 8-10+ years of experience in business development or government relations, preferably with customer-facing experience
• Strong understanding of U.S. government structure, procurement processes and funding mechanisms
• Experience engaging with DoD, FAA, DHS or related agencies
• Proven ability to build relationships that lead to programmatic outcomes and revenue generation
• Strong understanding of mission-driven technologies, ideally in aerospace, aviation or defense
• Strong experience writing proposals that win government business
• Experience operating in complex, regulated environments
• Exceptional communicator—comfortable presenting to executives, leading live demos, and authoring polished written materials.
• Ability to influence senior leaders internally and externally
• Demonstrated experience with Salesforce, including ownership of pipeline, forecasting, and reporting
• Nice to Have
• Experience with autonomous systems, aviation, or advanced air mobility
• Familiarity with non-traditional acquisition pathways
• Background in military service, government leadership, or senior advisory roles — experience working in or with Air Mobility Command or Special Operations Command a plus
• Experience work in or with venture-backed or high-growth technology companies
• Merlin Labs offers an innovative, entrepreneurial, and team-focused startup environment.
• We also offer a top-notch benefits package (health, dental, life, unlimited vacation, and 401k with match) and work/life integration.
• Being part of the Merlin team allows you to become part of a small team that supports professional development while working together to achieve our mission.

Merlin Labs is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, military service or obligation or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

All job offers are contingent upon the candidate passing background and reference checks.

At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to: people@merlinlabs.comMerlin Labs does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates.