Director, Business Development

Anduril Australia Overview

Since 2022, Anduril Australia has grown rapidly, bringing world-leading software-first, hardware enabled systems to the Australian Defence Force.  Our exemplar program, the Ghost Shark Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle, is being developed and delivered in close partnership with the Australian government and sovereign Australian industry, and is fundamentally changing how subsurface capabilities can be employed by the Australian Defence Force. Likewise, Anduril Australia is looking to provide a broad range of software enabled hardware products to meet the Australian Defence Force’s needs as outlined in the 2024 National Defence Strategy.

World leading technology like Ghost Shark and many of the other autonomous systems that will underpin Australia’s technological future, rely on modern C4 systems that can integrate and fuse data across distributed systems, nodes and networks to enable timely command decision making. Anduril’s open architecture Lattice operating system is an AI-powered software platform that turns thousands of data streams into actionable information for warfighters at all levels. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the warfighters in months, not years.

Team overview

The Business Development (BD) team, within Anduril’s Growth organisation, is responsible for conceptualising, identifying, shaping, capturing, and growing new business opportunities and capabilities for the company. To meet current and future customer needs, BD team members must understand the customer’s capability shortfalls, how current solutions fail to address existing gaps, and how Anduril products can deliver more effective mission outcomes. BD team members serve as the bridge between customers and the broader international Anduril team; they convey customer perspectives to other teams across the enterprise while also serving as Anduril ambassadors externally. They partner extensively with the Mission Operations team to ensure that Anduril products exceed customer expectations and achieve mission demands, driving continuous product improvements in response to rapidly changing customer needs and operating environments.

Role overview

Anduril Australia is seeking Business Development leaders to join our team to support our broad-based defence capability growth. You will have an understanding of the Australian Defence Force’s current and planned warfighting systems across the warfighting domains. Your analytical thinking and awareness of technology will support you identifying gaps and opportunities to improve those systems with Anduril products, as well as driving improvement in Anduril’s products to better meet Australian customer requirements. Using your strong communication skills, you will work closely with customers to firstly understand their requirements, help shape the potential creative solutions that contextualise how Anduril technology can provide the edge in a future warfighting scenario that aligns with Defence’s strategy.  You will also have exceptional writing skills to create and develop compelling proposals to capture these opportunities.

What You’ll Do

1. Generate and capture business opportunities. The BD team is ultimately responsible for building confidence in the company’s products and capabilities.  You will be responsible for capturing opportunities and growing revenue. This is achieved by developing a deep understanding of the existing and prospective customer base, knowing the current or planned programmatic and technical roadmaps, and being cognisant of the competitive landscape. This expertise will inform capture strategies, revenue forecasts, and aid in technology development plans. Tactically, you will manage continuous engagements with current and future customers, generate growth strategies, monitor buying cycles for opportunities, and prepare compelling proposal information.
2. Grow existing business. You will partner with our Mission Operations team, to execute contracts, and grow business with existing customers. This includes expanding upon current work and leveraging existing partnerships and relationships to explore new areas of opportunity by sustaining and building upon the strong foundation of those trusted customer relationships.
3. Communicate our value to customers. BD team members represent Anduril to a broad audience: customers, partners, competitors, and the interested public. You must live and demonstrate the company’s ethos, conveying insights that illustrate our approach to building next-generation defence technology and our competitive edges in doing so.
4. Inform product development. As you will often be the first Anduril employee to engage a customer, you are charged with translating their problem set back into our engineering organisation. You will have the credibility and experience to judge and assess the required mission outcome as you interpret and convey various customer needs. Internally, you will provide the necessary clarity to inform priorities, keep Anduril stakeholders informed, determine key milestones, and proactively provide clear communications to appropriate levels of the company. Your assessment of customers’ needs will help to inform potential new product developments and enhancements, and your ongoing engagement with customers will harvest information that ensures that Anduril products meet customer’s needs and are regarded as best-in-class.

What we’re looking for

1. Mission First Mindset. We put the needs of the mission and our customers first. We actively seek out opportunities to better understand our customer’s mission needs, with a goal to build the best possible products for the warfighter and radically evolve our national and international defence capabilities. We push ourselves and the limits of our capabilities in the pursuit of this goal.
2. Ownership Mentality. We’re looking for owners; those who have a natural bias to assume responsibility, a healthy dose of positive skepticism, and contribute to a culture of performance. We empower our business developers to quickly assume high levels of responsibility and entrust them to actively own their account and shape its success.
3. Technical Aptitude and Intellectual Curiosity. We are first and foremost a technology company, working at the leading-edge of capabilities like machine learning, autonomy, distributed networking, and multi-modal sensor fusion. Do you have a natural desire to see beyond simple cause and effect relationships to really understand how complex systems operate? Do you actively seek out opportunities to educate yourself? These capabilities form the foundation of our product offerings, so we are looking for those people who are comfortable communicating technical concepts and can articulate them in the context of the customer’s mission.
4. Structured Thinker and Problem Solver. Capturing technical programs requires clear communication and well-thought-out plans that are practical and implementable. We are looking for excellent communicators who bring a thoughtful perspective and engage in an honest dialogue. A solution-driven approach, the ability to distill complexity into its essential, digestible components, and the ability to support execution are critical to ensure mission success.
5. High Value Team Member. Do you enjoy working as part of a team? At Anduril, the path to success weaves through the organisation - account teams, engineering, logistics, technical operations, and more. It requires humility, an eagerness to learn, and empathy toward your fellow team member. We assume best intentions and empathise with customers just as we do with our colleagues. Can you develop rapport at both the user and executive levels? Do you enjoy sharing successes? We are a low ego group that promotes teamwork and collaboration to bring about success.
6. 360 Degree Leader. We are a flat, limited hierarchy organisation with a matrix structure that is dynamic and evolving. We expect you to be self-aware enough to recognise your position of unstated leadership within the company. You should have a demonstrated ability to lead and influence people through both formal and informal constructs and in situations where there is lack of clarity across teams. Finally, we need people who identify gaps and breakdowns and solve them immediately, rather than point them out and step back. You should also seek 360 feedback to help inform your growth trajectory as a leader.
7. Diversity & Inclusion. Our mission is reshaping our world. And at the heart of our mission is our people. Their diversity is our strength. They reflect the world in which we do business and the communities in which we live. We celebrate diversity and welcome applications from people of all walks of life, and encourage you to confidently share your unique experiences with us.

Required Qualifications

• Must be able to hold an NV2 Australian security clearance. TSPV is desired.
• Ability to travel to meet with customers and support activities.
• Must be able to work effectively as part of an integrated, international team.

Additional Qualifications

• Experience with complex defence systems involving hardware and software.
• Experience with government business development, government contract structures, government proposal processes a plus.
• Sound understanding of military procurement and capability development cycles.
• Sound understanding of the employment and broad applicability of autonomous systems and AI to next-generation warfighting is highly desired.
• Comfortable with working in limited resource environments.
• Comfortable with setting and achieving goals in a complex environment.
• STEM degree a plus.
• Prior military experience is strongly preferred.