Job Description & Responsibilities

Persistent Systems is seeking an experienced, growth-oriented executive to serve as Vice President of Business Development, Navy & Marine Corps. In this leadership role, you will define and execute the strategic growth campaign across both the U.S. Navy (USN) and the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), driving operational adoption and program transition of our Wave Relay® mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) ecosystems and tactical edge compute platforms across surface, undersea, expeditionary, aviation, and unmanned domains.

Reporting directly to executive leadership, you will lead a high-performing business development and capture team, own the annual Navy and Marine Corps bookings quota, and cultivate strategic partnerships across the modern defense acquisition framework—including newly established Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) organizations, Systems Commands, Warfare Centers, Fleet and Force Commanders, and tier-1 defense prime contractors. Your mission is to position Persistent Systems as the core resilient tactical transport and edge compute layer for distributed naval and expeditionary warfare.

Location

National Capital Region (NCR / Washington, D.C. area) preferred; open to strategic Naval and Marine Corps hubs (Quantico / Northern Virginia; San Diego, CA; Norfolk, VA; Patuxent River, MD) or Remote with regular domestic travel.

Position Responsibilities

• Architect and execute comprehensive capture and business development strategies tailored specifically to Navy and Marine Corps operational requirements and budget lines; own the annual operating plan (AOP) bookings quota, pipeline maturation, and multi-year Program of Record (PoR) transition roadmaps across both services.
• Directly lead, mentor, and resource a distributed team of business development directors, capture managers, and field solutions engineers; establish clear pipeline milestones, win-strategy frameworks, and capture governance.
• Engage operational fleet and fleet marine force users, requirements authorities, and program offices early in the capability life cycle to embed Wave Relay® MANET and edge compute into service-specific and joint architectures.
• Cultivate and expand trusted partnerships across both service acquisition communities.
• Forge strategic teaming and OEM integration agreements with tier-1 defense primes to embed Wave Relay® into unmanned surface/undersea vehicles (USVs/UUVs), collaborative combat aircraft (CCA/sUAS), tactical ground combat vehicles, and expeditionary sensor nodes.
• Direct capture strategies and technical participation in premier fleet demonstrations, warfighting experiments, and joint exercises.
• Collaborate with Bid & Proposal, Product Management, and Engineering to develop winning strategies across the Adaptive Acquisition Framework.

Job Qualifications & Experience

Minimum Qualifications

• 12+ years of proven business development, capture management, or acquisition leadership within the defense and aerospace sector.
• In-depth technical and operational understanding of Radio Frequency (RF) communications.
• Thorough working knowledge of the Defense Acquisition System.
• Proven experience leading, mentoring, and holding accountable distributed business development and technical capture teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, business, or related technical discipline.
• Active U.S. Secret clearance required; must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI clearance.
• Willingness to travel up to 50–60% domestically.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business administration (MBA), systems engineering, or national security / strategic studies.
• Prior military or civilian leadership within the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.
• Active U.S. Top Secret clearance with immediate SCI eligibility.
• 15+ years of defense industry business development experience.

Company Overview

Headquartered in New York City since 2007, Persistent Systems, LLC is a global communications technology company which develops, manufactures, and integrates a patented and secure Mobile Ad Hoc Networking (MANET) system: Wave Relay®. The company’s industry leading R&D team has designed wireless networking protocols to support their cutting-edge Wave Relay® system and technology.