VP, U.S. Defense & Intelligence

blackshark.ai is at an important turning point. We serve government and commercial customers internationally, but U.S. defense and intelligence is where we intend to build our largest business first.

We already have customers, deployments and promising opportunities. Now we need to turn that foothold and early customer enthusiasm into a category-defining business. That means expanding where our software is already used, winning new customers and making blackshark.ai part of how they accomplish their mission.

Strong technology and successful demos will not get us there alone. Someone has to understand the mission, find who owns the decision, follow the funding and build a path to a signed contract. Where funding does not yet exist, someone has to build the case and work with the people who can get it prioritized and funded. Then do it again, with a team that can win beyond one person’s relationships.

That is your job. Your first priority is U.S. D&I revenue, and you will drive it yourself: opening doors, spending time with customers, shaping opportunities, negotiating and closing business. You decide where we place our bets and stop pursuits that will not lead anywhere. You know when to work directly with an agency, when a prime is the better route and when an opportunity needs to be shaped before there is anything to bid on.

You will start with the team and resources we have and build from there. We expect you to make clear choices about where people, partnerships and spending will accelerate the business. As opportunities justify it, you will build the Sales, Solutions Engineering and Business Development team, while staying personally involved in our most important deals.

You will also help us build the right U.S. foundation. Export control, certifications, FCL and FOCI mitigation need to be addressed before they become blockers to revenue. You know what each opportunity requires and bring up the commercial case and push for timely decisions, without building an expensive organization ahead of the business.

You will keep Product and Engineering close to the mission, bringing back what customers need to accomplish, where our software falls short and which improvements would drive adoption and expansion, within the boundaries of FOCI arrangements.

You will be part of our commercial leadership team, working closely with the Head of Sales and directly with the CEO and Head of Operations to build our U.S. defense and intelligence business.

This will be hard. The bar is high, the pace is fast and there is no large prime behind you. If you want to build a national security business rather than inherit one, and own its results, come build it with us.

• Hit the revenue targets, with a forecast the company can rely on to plan hiring and spending.

• Turn pilots and initial deployments into sustained, funded adoption: win production contracts, expand across programs and agencies, and get our software built into programs of record.

• Build a pipeline with real customer needs, identifiable funding and credible contracting paths.

• Over time, build a team that wins and grows accounts without every deal depending on you, while continuing to drive the most important opportunities yourself.

• Grow software revenue without turning every customer into a separate development project.

• Surface market-access requirements early, secure leadership decisions on the investments needed and build credible account plans around implementation timelines.

• You own the number. You can tell us which deals you sourced, shaped and closed, what was actually funded, what you lost and why.

• You get into the field. You meet the users, work through the procurement obstacles and stay close enough to the deal to know what will move it.

• You follow the money. Customer enthusiasm is a starting point; you establish who will pay, how they will buy and what will move the decision.

• You turn relationships into business. You know what each engagement needs to achieve, bring in the right support and follow through until it moves the opportunity forward.

• You make choices. You can explain where we should invest, what we should stop and what evidence would change your mind.

• You build people as well as relationships. You work alongside the team, help people win and give them increasing ownership. You hire with a clear purpose and deal with performance problems directly.

• You respect expertise. You bring clear commercial priorities, involve the people who must deliver and keep commitments the company can fulfill.

• You are resourceful. You can move a deal forward before every role is filled or every process is established, and you know when an additional hire or investment will materially change the outcome.

• You communicate clearly and directly with customers, your team and leadership.