Director of Business Development – Europe

Job description

About the role As the Business Development Director for Europe, your primary mission is to introduce, integrate, and deploy Arkeus’ autonomous sensing systems and edge-AI perception payloads—led by our Warden platform—into the European military uncrewed aerial fleet. Because Europe represents a less developed market for Arkeus, this is an elite pioneering and hunter role. You will build the sales pipeline, local customer relationships, and capture strategies from our initial foundations. You will navigate a dual-track strategy: 1. Traditional Defense Markets: Break into deeply established, complex procurement networks in Germany and France by positioning our edge-AI capability as a force multiplier for legacy programs. 2. Rapidly Evolving Markets: Capture immediate, fast-tracked deployment opportunities in high-growth, front-line regions like Poland, where uncrewed systems demand are rapid scaling. You will focus heavily on winning prime opportunities directly with national defense innovation agencies and driving sub-contract integration wins by selling directly to European Tier-1 and Tier-2 UAS Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). About You You are a relentless defense business development professional with an established, active network in the European military UAS ecosystem. You know the programs, the key decision-makers, and the major industry primes. You aren't just a relationship manager; you understand payload integration, SWaP-C (Size, Weight, Power, and Cost) constraints, and how computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence changes the game for ISR. You thrive in high-autonomy, venture-backed startup environments. You don't wait for incoming leads—you actively map requirements, identify program gaps, and position our technology as the must-have solution for software-defined warfare. You thrive in ambiguity, excel at translating cutting-edge AI capability into high-value customer propositions, and know how to build pipelines with a strong MOAT from the ground up. What You'll Do Market Entry & Advocacy: Establish Arkeus as a trusted advisor to key stakeholders, military operators, and procurement bodies within European Ministries of Defence (MoDs) and European OEMs. Pipeline Execution: Source, qualify, and close multi-million-dollar sales opportunities across European armed forces, navigating disparate regional requirements. OEM Design-Ins: Build strategic commercial relationships with leading European drone and aerospace manufacturers to design Arkeus payloads into next-generation airframes. Capture & Proposal Leadership: Lead the capture strategy for targeted European government tenders, bilateral defense contracts, and rapid procurement initiatives. Write winning proposals backed by deep technical understanding. Mission-Aligned Selling: Translate complex European theater requirements (e.g., GPS-denied navigation, autonomous targeting in contested airspace, Baltic/Eastern European multi-domain ISR) into tailored Arkeus system configurations. Flight Tests & Demonstrations: Coordinate and execute high-impact product demonstrations and military flight trials alongside our technical Customer Success and Integration teams. Market Intelligence: Feed critical European requirements, European Defence Fund (EDF) policy updates, and competitor insights back to product teams to steer our global product roadmap, driving information sharing through our CRM. Leadership: Demonstrate leadership through example by putting our customers first through a culture of leadership, ownership, disruption and audacity. What success looks like In your first 90 days: You have mapped the top 10 European military UAS program opportunities and Tier-1 OEM targets across France, Germany, Poland, and the Nordics. You have established a seamless working rhythm with the global leadership, product, and engineering teams. You have secured your first set of introductory pipeline meetings with target European program offices and OEMs. In your first year: You have secured at least one major program win or hardware integration contract with a European defense UAS customer or prime contractor. You have built a robust, qualified multi-year sales pipeline that ensures predictable revenue growth for the European theater. Arkeus is actively participating in key European military operational exercises and localized flight demonstrations. Your Experience and Skills Defense BD Track Record: 5+ years of proven success in defense business development, capture management, or sales in Europe, with a verifiable history of meeting revenue targets in a greenfield territory. Geographic Expertise: Based in Scandinavia with an active, relevant network across European MoDs and defense aerospace primes, particularly in Germany, France, or Poland. UAS Domain Knowledge: Deep understanding of the uncrewed aerial systems market, including payloads, sensors (EO/IR, radar), open architectures, and autonomous software. Procurement Fluency: Comprehensive understanding of European defense procurement pathways, NATO standards, and individual national budget cycles. Technical Credibility: Ability to confidently discuss sensor specifications, edge-computing limits, and airborne software architectures with European aerospace engineers and military operators. Clearance: Must hold, or be readily capable of obtaining, an EU / NATO Secret (or equivalent national) security clearance. Culture: Passion for a fast-paced, dynamic, and creative environment that prioritizes our Customers receiving a Compelling Experience through demonstration of leadership, ownership, disruption and audacity. Travel: Willingness to travel frequently across Europe (up to 50%) to drive localized customer engagement. What We Offer You will work on the hardest problems in deep-tech — optics, autonomy, real-time AI and hardware-software integration in a single product. The gap between what you build and where it ends up is almost nonexistent. You will collaborate with exceptional leaders who have decades of combined experience in AI, optics and defense. You will be learning from — and contributing to — the best in the field. You will become part of a close-knit, ego-free team where ideas compete on merit, not seniority. Low politics, high trust. The kind of team you will still be talking about in ten years. You will work hard and be expected to bring your best — and in return you will grow faster than you ever would at a large organization. You will work on technology that is already deployed in real environments — protecting lives and strengthening security across defense and national security applications. You will receive a competitive, market-benchmarked salary, structured career pathways built to grow with you, and the opportunity to participate in our Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP). You will have the opportunity to mentor bright emerging talent through our highly sought-after intern program and strong connections with leading universities. If this sounds like you, please apply even if you don't check every box listed above, and join our growing team in improving security and saving lives! Who we are Arkeus builds AI-powered sensing systems that help autonomous platforms detect, track and understand what's happening in the most complex and contested environments. Our technology is deployed across defence and national security applications — already protecting lives and strengthening security across the U.S. and allied markets. Backed by QIC, Main Sequence, R+VC, Salus Ventures, Folklore Ventures, DYNE Ventures and Beaten Zone Venture Partners, Arkeus is entering a major growth phase. We are a small, fast-moving company with the energy and ambition of a start-up and the technical credibility of a world-class defence technology provider. We work at the intersection of optics, autonomy, robotics and real-time AI and we deploy what we build. If you want to ship technology that matters, not technology that ships decks, this is where you belong. Check it yourself on News | Arkeus We have developed an inclusive, transparent and engaging culture that focuses on building a diverse workforce — realising that to attract the very best, we need to ensure our culture is ready to welcome people from all ages, genders and backgrounds.