Business Development Director - Canada

About the role

Arondite, a defence technology company building the foundational software and AI behind autonomous systems, is expanding into Canada with Ottawa as the proposed base. Its Strategy & Partnerships team will create the relationships that bring its technology from concept to deployment, and this role leads that effort on the ground. It is a strategic, hands-on position intended to be Ottawa-based, with a strong focus on in-person engagement with DND, DRDC, IDEaS, federal agencies and Canadian prime contractors.

Key responsibilities

• Lead Arondite's early business development and strategic engagement activity in Canada
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders across DND, DRDC, IDEaS, federal innovation programs and public-sector organisations
• Develop relationships with Canadian primes, technology partners and other organisations that can accelerate market access
• Identify, qualify and progress commercial opportunities relevant to Cobalt and Arondite's wider offering
• Run structured customer discovery to test demand, refine positioning and surface priority use cases
• Translate market signals into product insight, roadmap input and go-to-market recommendations with internal teams
• Support partnership structuring, pricing discussions, proposal development and commercial negotiations
• Represent Arondite in meetings, events and external conversations with senior decision-makers, and act as a spokesperson for media and governmental affairs
• Help shape the long-term Canadian presence, including hiring insights, ecosystem mapping and local growth priorities

Required profile

• Experience winning enterprise software, defence technology or complex public-sector deals in the Canadian defence or national security environment as a quota-carrying individual contributor or player-coach
• Strong understanding of how Canadian defence procurement, innovation funding and stakeholder engagement work in practice
• Track record of building and managing senior relationships across government, defence, industry or technology organisations
• Track record of structuring and advancing partnerships in defence, public sector or other highly regulated environments
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, high-growth company alongside engineers and technical teams, with high ownership and autonomy from day one
• Right to work in Canada at the time of application; likely to need a clearance or be willing to undergo Canadian security screening (typically 5 years of continuous residency for Reliability Status, 10 for Secret)
• Ottawa-based, with regular travel to customer sites; prefers to work in the office by default

Nice to have

• Understanding of deploying AI solutions in defence contexts
• Experience selling AI or machine learning solutions in regulated environments
• Familiarity with responsible AI, defence AI ethics or assurance frameworks
• Knowledge of Canadian content considerations, industrial participation expectations or export controls and security requirements

What we offer

• Competitive compensation and equity participation subject to local arrangements
• Local benefits and employment structure aligned to the final operating model in Canada
• Early-team leadership opportunities