Head of U.S. Federal Growth

Summary Job Title: Head of U.S. Federal Growth Level: Leadership; 5+ years of relevant experience Clearance: Previously held or current Secret or higher U.S. government security clearance Work Location Type: Remote, United States; Bay Area or Washington, DC Work Type: Full-time, benefits Travel: Up to 25% Agency name: US Navy BizFirst is assisting our client with recruiting a Head of U.S. Federal Growth. This role will lead business development, capture management, government affairs, and strategic partnerships across the U.S. federal government, turning early customer interest into funded federal programs. The focus spans defense and civilian agencies, including maritime operations, environmental intelligence, weather and ocean data, and national security missions. Our client is an ocean technology company that designs, builds, and deploys marine sensors and combines oceanographic and underwater acoustic sensing with data and software. Its capabilities help commercial customers increase efficiency and reduce emissions, while helping government and defense stakeholders understand ocean conditions, maritime activity, and remote environments. The company has more than a decade of Navy research partnerships and is expanding its established capabilities into funded federal programs. What will you do You will lead the cross-cutting activities that help our client identify, shape, capture, and win strategic opportunities across the U.S. federal government. Your portfolio will span defense and civilian agencies, with particular emphasis on maritime operations, environmental intelligence, weather and ocean data, and national security missions. You will own business development, capture management, government affairs, and strategic partnerships, creating viable pathways from early customer interest to funded federal programs. The role reports to the Global Head of Government and Defense. Responsibilities Develop and execute capture strategies for the highest-priority U.S. federal opportunities, from early qualification and shaping through acquisition strategy, teaming, proposal development, award, and transition to contract execution. Connect near-term sales opportunities with longer-term programs, contract vehicles, appropriations, and agency acquisition strategies. Provide leadership with concise, decision-ready assessments of pipeline health, capture progress, partner activity, government-affairs priorities, risks, resource needs, and recommended actions. Represent the company at customer meetings, industry events, partner discussions, exercises, demonstrations, and other federal-market engagements. Lead U.S. federal government-affairs execution in coordination with external advisors; directly manage consultants and lobbyists. Partner with the government programs team on capture materials, white papers, responses to requests for information, statements of work, ROMs, proposals, presentations, and other customer-facing submissions. Build and manage relationships and teaming strategies with prime contractors and other partners that expand access, capabilities, and competitiveness. Collaborate across sales, product, engineering, legal, finance, marketing, operations, and leadership to ensure priority pursuits are compelling to the customer and executable. Requirements 5+ years of experience in U.S. federal business development, capture management, government affairs, strategic partnerships, federal acquisition, or a related field, including demonstrated experience advancing and winning complex U.S. federal opportunities involving multiple stakeholders, long sales cycles, and non-obvious funding or contracting pathways. Strong understanding of the federal acquisition lifecycle, including opportunity shaping, capture planning, proposal development, source selection, contracting mechanisms, and post-award transition. Ability to connect operational users, program managers, contracting officials, funders, policymakers, and industry partners around a coherent path to award. Working knowledge of the federal budget, authorization, and appropriations processes and how they relate to agency programs and business-development priorities. Strong project-management skills, with the ability to establish milestones, assign owners, surface risks, and maintain momentum across several complex pursuits. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn technical capabilities and customer needs into compelling, audience-appropriate narratives. Willingness to work directly on capture materials, partner strategies, presentations, proposals, and follow-up actions, not simply advise others. Willingness to travel up to 25% to meet customers, policymakers, partners, and other stakeholders. Preferred Qualifications Active Secret or TS/SCI security clearance. Direct experience supporting maritime, ocean, weather, environmental, autonomy, sensing, data, or decision-support programs; experience at a fast-paced defense or federal technology company; and/or experience with the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, SOCOM, NOAA, or other U.S. agencies with relevant missions. Experience capturing both defense and civilian-agency opportunities. Experience selling or preparing proposals for hardware-enabled solutions, data-as-a-service offerings, software, or integrated technical capabilities to the federal government. Work Authorization and Clearance U.S. citizenship required. Previously held or current Secret or higher U.S. government security clearance required. An Equal Opportunity Employer Our Client Benefits Competitive base pay plus equity and commission. Medical, dental and vision coverage. Continued learning and development stipend. One-time home office stipend for remote team members. Relocation bonus for team members moving to the Bay Area. Flexible PTO, in addition to 10 company-wide office closure days; the last week of December off for everyone. 12 weeks of parental leave, plus 4 additional weeks for birthing parents. Military leave and job protection for reservists and guard members under USERRA. Annual company onsite week and team events throughout the year. Requirements