Shieldai
Director of Business Development Middle East
On-site
Full Time
#AI
#Business Development
#Aerospace
#Negotiation
#Stakeholder Management
#Salesforce
#Microsoft
Shieldai is looking for a Director of Business Development Middle East
Full TimeExecutiveOn-siteUnited Arab EmiratesAIBusiness DevelopmentAerospaceNegotiationStakeholder ManagementSalesforceMicrosoftEnglishArabic
Shield AI is a venture-backed, deep-tech company founded in 2015 with a mission to protect service members and civilians through intelligent systems. We are looking for a Director of Business Development to join our International Business and Strategy team in the United Arab Emirates to lead our growth across the Middle East.
Responsibilities
- Develop and execute our go-to-market strategy for the region, focusing on our autonomy ecosystem including V-BAT, X-BAT, ViDAR, and Hivemind.
- Take full ownership of annual order targets, pipeline development, and long-term growth.
- Manage the entire capture and sales lifecycle, from initial engagement to contract award and beyond.
- Build and maintain relationships with senior military, government, and defense industry stakeholders.
- Represent our company at high-level industry forums, exhibitions, and strategic engagements.
- Collaborate with our product, legal, export compliance, and operations teams to deliver mission-relevant capabilities.
- Structure local partnerships and manage industrial participation or offset strategies.
- Provide market intelligence to help shape our product roadmap and international strategy.
- Lead complex product demonstrations and proposal development efforts.
Must-haves
- Over 10 years of business development experience in the Middle East within the defense, aerospace, or national security sectors.
- Deep understanding of regional procurement processes, export sensitivities, and local defense prime relationships.
- Fluency in English, with a strong preference for candidates who are also fluent in Arabic.
- A proven track record of closing complex government or defense programs involving both hardware and software.
- Technical proficiency in autonomy, UAVs, ISR, and advanced sensing technologies.
- Strong skills in negotiation, stakeholder management, and relationship building.
- Experience using Salesforce to track and forecast deal cycles.
- Mastery of business tools including the Microsoft suite and AI-based language models.
- Ability to work across time zones and travel frequently, approximately 25 percent of the time.
- Current residence in or willingness to relocate to the United Arab Emirates.
Nice-to-haves
- U.S. citizenship or dual nationality.
- Existing U.S. or allied security clearance.
- Current residency within the Middle East region.
- Prior military service or operational leadership experience in the Middle East.
- Direct experience with UAV operations, AI-enabled command and control systems, or fighter jet aircraft.
- Experience supporting foreign military sales or working directly with foreign air forces.
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