Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager - Defence

Shape the Future of Defence Technology

Leicestershire HQ, Hybrid, Excellent salary, including bonus, car allowance, company pension scheme. Private Medical insurance.

Are you an experienced Business Development professional with a passion for defence, aerospace or advanced technology?

This is an opportunity to join a globally recognised engineering and manufacturing organisation at the forefront of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) innovation. As demand for advanced defence capability continues to grow across the UK and international markets, we're looking for a commercially driven Business Development Manager to help identify, secure and develop strategic opportunities that will shape the next generation of defence technology.

You'll play a pivotal role in expanding an already successful defence portfolio, working with senior military stakeholders, government organisations, industry partners and multidisciplinary engineering teams to deliver cutting-edge solutions that make a real operational difference.

If you thrive on developing customer relationships, influencing complex sales campaigns and turning strategic opportunities into long-term business success, we'd love to hear from you.

The Opportunity

As Business Development Manager, you'll lead the identification, qualification and capture of new opportunities across the defence sector, supporting both UK and international growth.

Working closely with engineering, programme management, commercial and bid teams, you'll help shape winning solutions that align customer capability requirements with innovative technical solutions.

This is a highly visible role offering genuine influence over future business strategy and significant opportunities for career progression within a growing global organisation.

What You'll Be Doing

• Identify, qualify and develop new business opportunities across the defence sector.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with defence customers, government organisations, strategic partners and key industry stakeholders.
• Develop and manage a healthy pipeline of opportunities, progressing them from initial engagement through capture planning to contract award.
• Collaborate with engineering, programme management, commercial and bid teams to develop compelling customer-focused solutions.
• Support strategic campaign planning and account development for priority customers.
• Analyse market trends, competitor activity and customer capability requirements to identify future growth opportunities.
• Contribute to long-term business planning through market intelligence and technology insight.
• Prepare customer briefings, presentations and value propositions for senior stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with export controls, governance requirements and defence regulations.
• Maintain accurate forecasting and pipeline reporting to support business planning and growth objectives.

About You

You'll already have a proven track record in business development, strategic sales or capture management within the Defence, Aerospace, Security or Advanced Engineering sectors.

You'll be commercially astute, confident engaging with senior stakeholders and comfortable navigating complex procurement environments.

Ideally you'll have:

• Experience in Business Development, Capture Management or Strategic Sales within Defence, Aerospace or Security.
• A strong understanding of UK Ministry of Defence procurement and acquisition processes.
• Experience developing and managing complex opportunity pipelines.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
• Strong commercial awareness and strategic thinking.
• Experience supporting bids, proposals and capture strategies.
• The ability to interpret market intelligence and convert it into tangible business opportunities.
• Excellent presentation, communication and influencing skills.
• A degree in Business, Engineering or another STEM discipline would be advantageous.

Knowledge of export controls, defence governance frameworks and international defence markets would also be beneficial.

Why Apply?

This is an exciting opportunity to join an organisation investing heavily in the future of defence capability and autonomous technologies.

You'll work on high-profile programmes, collaborate with industry-leading technical experts and play a direct role in securing the next generation of defence contracts.

In return you'll benefit from:

• A key strategic role with genuine influence.
• Opportunities to work on cutting-edge defence and UAV programmes.
• Exposure to UK and international markets.
• Long-term career development within a growing global business.
• A collaborative, technically focused working environment.

   

Security Requirements

Due to the nature of the work, applicants must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC). This generally requires candidates to be British citizens or to have the appropriate residency status to satisfy UK Government vetting requirements.

Your CV will be forwarded to Jonathan Lee Recruitment, a leading engineering and manufacturing recruitment consultancy established in 1978. The services advertised by Jonathan Lee Recruitment are those of an Employment Agency.
In order for your CV to be processed effectively, please ensure your name, email address, phone number and location (post code OR town OR county, as a minimum) are included.