Director of Business Development Middle East at Shieldai

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.