Director of Business Development

Director, Business Development

On-site, Ottawa, ON

Position Summary

Reporting to the Vice President/General Manager, Canada, the Director, Business Development is responsible for leading the organization’s strategic growth initiatives within the Canadian defence and aerospace market. Working closely with executive leadership, this role develops and executes the business development strategy that drives sustainable revenue growth, expands market presence, and strengthens the company’s competitive position.

The Director is responsible for identifying, qualifying, capturing, and winning new business opportunities across the Canadian defence, aerospace, engineering, logistics, and mission support sectors. This includes developing long-term customer relationships, cultivating strategic industry partnerships, leading capture activities, and maintaining a robust multi-year opportunity pipeline aligned with the organization’s Annual Operating Plan (AOP) and long-term strategic objectives.

As a senior leader, the Director serves as a trusted advisor to executive leadership by providing market intelligence, competitive analysis, and strategic recommendations while identifying opportunities to leverage the organization’s broader capabilities to meet evolving customer needs. This position requires a highly collaborative leader with extensive knowledge of Canadian defence procurement, exceptional customer relationship skills, and a demonstrated record of successfully capturing complex government contracts.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Growth & Market Leadership

• Develop and execute the organization’s long-term business development strategy in alignment with corporate growth objectives.
• Build, maintain, and continuously refine a multi-year qualified opportunity pipeline that supports both annual revenue targets and long-term strategic growth.
• Conduct ongoing assessments of the Canadian defence, aerospace, and government marketplace to identify emerging customer requirements, procurement priorities, and competitive trends.
• Monitor changes within the Department of National Defence (DND), Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), and the broader political and economic environment to identify opportunities and mitigate business risks.
• Develop market entry strategies for new capability areas and identify opportunities to introduce additional organizational capabilities that align with Canadian customer needs.
• Provide executive leadership with strategic recommendations regarding market opportunities, competitive positioning, investments, and growth priorities.
• Develop and maintain executive-level customer engagement strategies, fostering trusted relationships that position the organization as a preferred partner for future opportunities.
• Represent the organization at industry associations, conferences, customer engagements, and networking events to strengthen market presence.

Business Development & Capture Leadership

• Lead the full business development lifecycle, including opportunity identification, qualification, positioning, capture planning, proposal strategy, pricing strategy, contract award, and customer transition.
• Develop and execute comprehensive capture strategies for strategic pursuits using established business acquisition processes.
• Lead opportunity gate reviews and ensure all pursuits meet corporate investment criteria.
• Establish and execute customer engagement strategies, call plans, and executive relationship plans.
• Direct competitive assessments, Price-to-Win (PTW) analyses, win themes, and value propositions for priority pursuits.
• Lead the development of responses to Letters of Interest (LOIs), Requests for Information (RFIs), Requests for Qualifications (RFQs), Requests for Proposals (RFPs), unsolicited proposals, and executive presentations.
• Identify, negotiate, and maintain strategic teaming agreements, subcontractor relationships, and industry partnerships that strengthen competitive positioning.
• Ensure customer intelligence, pipeline data, pursuit status, and forecasting remain current within Salesforce and other corporate systems.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop the Business Development team by establishing clear performance expectations, providing regular feedback, and supporting professional growth.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, innovation, and customer success.
• Collaborate with Program Management, Engineering, Contracts, Supply Chain, Finance, and Operations teams to develop winning pursuit strategies and successful customer solutions.
• Work closely with executive leadership and cross