Senior Director of Business Development - Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (R4831)

Job Description:

What you'll do:

• Own and execute regional (Japan/South Korea/Taiwan) go-to-market strategy for Shield AI’s product portfolio, including X-BAT, V-BAT, ViDAR, and Hivemind.  
• Maintain direct responsibility for annual order targets, multi-year pipeline development, and order growth.  
• Lead end-to-end capture and sales efforts from early engagement through contract award and follow-on growth.  
• Engage directly with senior military, government, and defense industry stakeholders across the region.  
• Differentiate Shield AI in competitive and regulated defense procurements.  
• Provide actionable market and customer intelligence to influence product roadmap and broader international strategy.  
• Work cross-functionally with product, legal, export compliance, and operations.  
• Lead proposal/program development and complex product demonstrations.  
• Structure and manage local partnerships, primes, and industrial participation or offset strategies.  
• Represent Shield AI at senior-level engagements, exhibitions, and industry forums.  

Required qualifications:

• 10+ years business development experience in the country or broader region within defense, aerospace, or national security.  
• Specific prior defense or government-facing experience in Japan/South Korea/Taiwan with a deep understanding of procurement processes, offset requirements, export sensitivities, local defense primes, and indigenization requirements.  
• Fluency in English & Japanese preferable (written and spoken).  
• Demonstrated success closing complex defense or government programs - ideally across both hardware (aircraft/UAS) and software (autonomy/ai).  
• Technical experience with autonomy, UAVs, ISR, and advanced sensing technologies.  
• Strong negotiation, relationship-building, and stakeholder management skills.  
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent pursuits, involving technical products, in ambiguous environments.  
• Proven cross-functional leadership across operations, product, and BD teams.  
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills.  
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently in country/region and internationally   
• Willingness and ability to work across multiple time zones  
• Based today in Tokyo, Japan. 
• Mastery of critical business tools (Microsoft Suite – PPT, Excel, Word, LLMs, etc.)  
• Experience forecasting, tracking, and managing deal cycles using Salesforce.  

Preferred qualifications:

 
• Existing U.S. or allied security clearance.  
• Prior military service or operational leadership experience in Japan 
  (++ if directly related to UAS, autonomy, or fighter jet aircraft).  
• Prior experience supporting foreign military sales (via DSCA), engaging with SAF/IA, or working directly with foreign air forces.  
• Direct experience with UAV operations, mission autonomy, AI-enabled C2 systems.