havocai - Director of Navy Programs
Requirements
• This is a high-impact role for someone who can operate strategically with senior stakeholders while also getting into the details required to shape solutions, support product direction, and win complex defense opportunities. • 7+ years of experience in defense business development, capture, program development, or Navy-focused sales • Strong understanding of U.S. Navy acquisition processes, organizations, funding pathways, and operational priorities • Demonstrated experience leading or supporting successful captures within the defense market • Existing relationships across Navy, DoD, maritime, shipbuilding, or defense industry stakeholders • Ability to operate effectively in fast-moving, highly collaborative environments • Strong communication, presentation, negotiation, and strategic thinking skills • Ability to engage at both the executive and operator level, translating mission needs into actionable business and product opportunities • Willingness and ability to get into the details of customer requirements, product capabilities, and technical solution development • Experience with autonomous systems, maritime platforms, robotics, defense technology, or related fields preferred • Ability to travel up to 60% as needed for customer engagement, demonstrations, exercises, and industry events • PREFERRED BACKGROUND • Experience working with unmanned systems, maritime autonomy, naval operations, or distributed maritime capabilities • Familiarity with OTAs, SBIRs, RFIs, RFPs, program offices, POM cycles, and other defense acquisition pathways • Prior military service, especially within the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, or maritime-focused joint environments • Direct experience supporting Navy customers, naval acquisition organizations, operational commands, or maritime defense programs • Experience working in a high-growth defense technology startup or scaling business development function • Strong understanding of autonomy, ISR, C2, unmanned surface vessels, or related maritime mission areas • SUCCESS PROFILE • The successful Director of Navy Programs will be a strategic, customer-facing leader who can identify and shape high-value opportunities while working internally to ensure HavocAI is positioned to win and deliver. • This person will bring strong Navy and maritime domain knowledge, trusted customer relationships, disciplined capture execution, and the ability to operate with urgency in a fast-paced startup environment. They will be comfortable building structure where it does not yet exist, moving between strategy and execution, and representing HavocAI with credibility across customers, partners, and industry stakeholders. • Key attributes include: • Mission-driven and customer-focused • Strong Navy and maritime defense network • Commercially minded with disciplined capture instincts • Forward-leaning and proactive in shaping opportunities early • Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building scalable processes • Strong cross-functional collaborator with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Growth • Excellent communicator with executive presence • Able to translate operational needs into product and business priorities • High ownership, urgency, and accountability • Location: Flexible / Hybrid • Travel: Up to 60%
Responsibilities
• Identify, qualify, shape, and capture Navy and maritime defense opportunities aligned with HavocAI’s strategic priorities • Develop and execute account and capture strategies across key Navy customers, program offices, operational commands, and related defense organizations • Build and maintain trusted relationships with Navy stakeholders, primes, shipbuilders, defense partners, and industry leaders • Lead opportunity-shaping activities, including customer engagement, teaming strategy, competitive positioning, requirements influence, and win strategy development • Partner cross-functionally with Growth, Product, Engineering, Mission Operations, and leadership teams to align customer needs with HavocAI’s technical and operational capabilities • Support proposal development, pricing strategy, customer messaging, and overall pursuit execution • Maintain accurate pipeline forecasting, opportunity tracking, and customer engagement records within CRM systems • Represent HavocAI at industry events, exercises, demonstrations, customer meetings, and partner engagements • Help expand HavocAI’s presence across maritime autonomy, unmanned systems, distributed operations, and related mission areas • Translate customer needs and operational feedback into actionable product, engineering, and program priorities • Support the development of repeatable go-to-market strategies for Navy and maritime defense customers
Benefits
• $185K – $215K • Offers Equity • Offers Bonus • Our openings span more than one career level. The provided salary depends on many factors, such as work experience and transferable skills, business needs and impact, and market demands. • Upload your resume here to autofill key application fields. • Drop your resume here! • Parsing your resume. Autofilling key fields... • or drag and drop here • We can only hire US Citizens due to our specific industry and government contracts. • Decline to self-identify • Hispanic or Latino - A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. • Hispanic or Latino • White (Not Hispanic or Latino) - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. • White • Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino) - A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. • Black or African American • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Not Hispanic or Latino) - A person having origins in any of the peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander • Asian (Not Hispanic or Latino) - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. • Asian • American Indian or Alaska Native (Not Hispanic or Latino) - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment. • American Indian or Alaska Native • Two or More Races (Not Hispanic or Latino) - All persons who identify with more than one of the above five races. • Two or More Races • Hispanic or Latino • White (Not Hispanic or Latino) • Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino) • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Not Hispanic or Latino) • Asian (Not Hispanic or Latino) • American Indian or Alaska Native (Not Hispanic or Latino) • Two or More Races (Not Hispanic or Latino) • I identify as one or more of the classifications of protected veteran listed above • I am not a protected veteran
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