Business Development Lead - Defense Space Systems

About the Role

Zenno is hiring an experienced Business Development Lead to develop and win U.S. government opportunities across defense and national-security space.

This roles exists to win business. You will identify qualified opportunities, build customer relationships, develop capture strategies, and convert opportunities into funded contracts. You will work directly with the CEO and engineering team to align customer needs with Zenno's technical capabilities and lead opportunities from first contact through contract award. Zenno has a lean team, so this is a hands-on, individual contributor role. You will own the sales effort rather than manage a large business development organization.

Responsibilities

• Sell Zenno’s capabilities to U.S. government, defense, and commercial customers to win new contracts and revenue.

What Success Looks Like

First 30 Days

• Map the priority customer and program landscape.
• Establish relationships with relevant government and industry stakeholders.
• Identify and qualify near- and long-term opportunities.
• Develop an initial engagement, business-development, and capture plan.

Within the First 100 Days

• Secure an MOI/LOI with the relevant program office
• Secure an initial government or industry program.
• Establish a pathway toward larger development and production opportunities.
• Strengthen Zenno’s position within the U.S. defense-space market.

Required Experience

• Demonstrated success selling or procuring spacecraft, space systems, or complex defense technologies to the U.S. government.
• Direct experience working with defense or national security space customers.
• Proven ability to convert early customer discussions into funded contracts.
• Strong experience of government acquisition, capture, contracting, and program development.
• Ability to engage credibly with technical, operational, acquisition, and executive stakeholders.
• Technical education or equivalent experience in aerospace, engineering, physics, or complex defense systems.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are important.
• U.S. citizenship.

Preferred Experience

• Active or recently held U.S. security clearance.
• Existing relationships across the defense and national-security-space ecosystem.
• Experience selling spacecraft, integrated space systems, or other complex defense hardware.
• Experience developing opportunities where requirements are still evolving.
• Strong technical aptitude, demonstrated through a STEM degree or the ability to understand and communicate engineering from first principles.
• Experience working in an early-stage aerospace or defense company.

Working Style

This is a highly external, customer-facing position. The successful candidate will spend significant time engaging with government customers and industry partners.

The role may be based anywhere in the United States and will require regular travel. The Business Development Lead will work closely with Zenno's leadership and engineering teams while owning customer engagement, opportunity development, capture, and the path to funded contracts.

Start date: Immediate.

Company Description

Zenno develops the most powerful magnetic technologies for space. This is a new class of superconducting systems designed to power the next era of human expansion. Our belief is simple—stable and scalable infrastructure in space will rely on resources already present there.

Zenno is building that future by harnessing one of the fundamental forces of the universe, electromagnetism. Our superconducting technologies enable fuel-free spacecraft positioning, radiation shielding, and electromagnetic acceleration systems for defense, transportation, and industrial activity in space.

Zenno develops the most powerful magnetic technologies for space. This is a new class of superconducting systems designed to power the next era of human expansion. Our belief is simple—stable and scalable infrastructure in space will rely on resources already present there.

Zenno is building that future by harnessing one of the fundamental forces of the universe, electromagnetism. Our superconducting technologies enable fuel-free spacecraft positioning, radiation shielding, and electromagnetic acceleration systems for defense, transportation, and industrial activity in space.