Business Development & Sales Manager – Defence

Overview

As a Business Development & Sales Manager in the defence sector, you drive growth by identifying opportunities and shaping strategic customer relationships. You will manage the full sales lifecycle from opportunity to contract award, collaborating with engineering teams to deliver customer-focused solutions. You’ll monitor market trends and competitive activity to uncover new growth areas and ensure long-term account development. This role places you at the heart of cross-functional collaboration, shaping proposals and representing the business at industry events. You will be pivotal in turning opportunities into successful deliveries while expanding the customer base.

Responsibilities

• Identify and secure new business opportunities in the defence sector
• Build and maintain relationships with customers, prime contractors, government bodies and partners
• Manage full sales lifecycle from qualification to contract award
• Develop account plans to grow existing relationships and generate repeat business
• Collaborate with engineering and delivery teams to craft customer-focused technical solutions
• Lead or support bid and proposal activities with high-quality submissions
• Represent the business at customer meetings, industry events, and networking opportunities
• Monitor market trends, customer requirements and competitor activity for growth opportunities
• Maintain accurate sales forecasts, pipeline reports and CRM records
• Ensure smooth handover of projects to delivery teams while maintaining future relationships

Key requirements

• Proven experience in business development or sales within defence, aerospace, security or advanced technology sectors
• Track record of winning new business and managing complex sales opportunities
• Experience managing the full sales process from lead generation through to contract award
• Strong relationship-building, communication, presentation and negotiation skills
• Commercially minded with the ability to develop customer-focused solutions and value propositions
• Ability to understand technical products or engineering services and communicate their benefits
• Strong organisational skills with experience in pipeline management, forecasting and CRM systems
• Collaborative approach across technical, commercial and project teams
• Knowledge of the UK defence market and established industry networks (advantageous)

• relationship-building
• communication
• presentation
• understanding technical products or engineering services
• customer-focused solution development
• CRM systems

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