Business Development - UK Defence

About Arondite

Arondite enables organisations to wield autonomy, data and AI at scale. We equip operators with the foundational software to orchestrate their mix of platforms and capabilities and take mission-critical decisions faster than their adversaries.

We exist to ensure the UK and its allies out-think, out-pace and out-adapt those who seek to threaten our values and way of life. Our technology is designed for deployment in the world’s most austere environments, and is relied upon by the world’s most demanding operators. We deploy alongside them, bringing our technical expertise wherever it is needed.

You will join Arondite at a pivotal moment in the company’s journey. We are ambitious, building for the long-term and backed by globally renowned investors including Index Ventures (Anthropic, Wiz, Figma, Revolut). Our company is being built by exceptional people; people who find high-tempo and challenging work engaging and exciting and who consistently deliver outsized impact.

You will have ownership and autonomy from Day One. There is no corporate ladder at Arondite. We hire the best people and give them extremely high levels of autonomy; the sky is the limit for an individual with the right ambition.

If you are motivated by our mission and if you want to be part of an outstanding team, then we want to hear from you.

About the role

Our Business Development team forges the relationships that bring our innovations from concept to deployment. You will work relentlessly to find problems for us to solve, you’ll build partnerships with other companies, educate and engage with government stakeholders, and work closely with defence customers. You should have first-hand knowledge of the world of defence and national security. Importantly you should have significant experience in delivering effective sales or commercial processes that drive the revenue of a business.

This role demands strategic vision and hands-on execution - you will be the engine room driving the growth of the company within a team of high-performing, but mission driven team mates. The problems we’re solving are technically complex and ambitious, so you should be comfortable with technical detail. We don’t need you to be able to build product yourself, but you need to be able to work closely with engineers and to absorb information about, and be able to explain, our product to a range of stakeholders.

You must also be able to understand and contribute to the development of our product roadmap; taking signal from customers, synthesising information and identifying features that should be part of our offering.

If you're energised by complex strategic challenges and want to help define the future of defence technology, as part of a high performing team, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Conduct Arondite’s business development and strategic engagement in one or more of the Land, Maritime, Air and Joint domains
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders across the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, PJHQ, DE&S, Dstl, UK Defence Innovation and adjacent organisations
• Work across the Strategy & Partnerships team to develop relationships with UK primes, technology partners and other organisations that can accelerate access to programmes and users
• Own your opportunities end to end, from origination and qualification through contract award, deployment and expansion
• Run structured customer discovery to test demand, refine positioning and surface priority use cases in your domain
• Work with Deployment Strategists to get Cobalt in front of users quickly and convert operational success into funded requirements
• Identify and validate funding routes, contracting vehicles and procurement timelines for each opportunity
• Work with internal teams to translate market signals into product insight, roadmap input and go-to-market recommendations
• Lead pricing, proposals, bids and commercial negotiations, working with our commercial team
• Represent Arondite credibly in meetings, exercises, events and external conversations with senior decision-makers
• Share market intelligence and situational awareness across the team, and keep pipeline and stakeholder records accurate

Requirements

You should have:

• Experience winning enterprise software, defence technology or complex public-sector deals in the UK defence or national security environment
• Be a team player, that can operate above the norms of sales organisations, to deliver a customer experience and mission focus that is world class
• A track record of originating and closing multi-year, seven-figure contracts with defence or government customers
• A strong understanding of how UK defence or public-sector procurement, innovation funding and stakeholder engagement work in practice
• Experience building and managing senior relationships across government, defence, industry or technology organisations
• A track record of structuring and advancing partnerships in defence, public sector or other highly regulated environments
• Strong commercial judgement, including business case development, pricing awareness, communication and presentation skills
• The ability to work effectively in a fast-moving, high-growth company alongside engineers and technical teams
• The confidence to engage with technical subject matter and explain complex products to a wide range of audiences
• The ability to operate with high ownership and autonomy from day one

We know the ideal candidate may not match every line item exactly. If this role is close to your experience and you are motivated by the mission, we would still like to hear from you.

Nice to have:

• Understanding of the unique considerations involved in 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 UK content considerations, industrial participation expectations or related contracting requirements
• Awareness of export controls, security requirements and information-handling constraints relevant to defence work

Security clearance

We believe in working closely with defence customers. As a result, this role is likely to require you to hold a clearance or be willing to undergo UK security vetting to Security Check (SC) or above. This normally requires having continuous residency in the UK for at least 5 years.

Office vs hybrid working

We are focused on building a positive, collaborative engineering-driven culture. We therefore believe in making the office a friendly, comfortable and fun place to be, and we try to work from the office where possible. Of course, there are times when it makes sense for you to work from home and that's OK. You may also need to travel to visit customers, depending on your role. But in general you should only apply to join Arondite if you're excited to come into the office and work in person by default.

Application process

Generally, our interview process is comprised of the following stages:

1. CV submission with initial questions
2. Introductory Teams call (30-45 mins)
3. In-person panel interview (60 mins)
4. In-person scenario-based interview (90 mins)
5. Final interview with one of Arondite’s Founders (30 mins)

Benefits

• Highly competitive base salary
• Generous equity in EMI share options in a well-funded and growing startup
• 7% employer pension contribution
• Free meals in the office every day
• Private health and dental insurance
• Cycle to work scheme
• Relocation support
• Visa sponsorship for extremely strong candidates
• Access to any resources, equipment and training that you need to do your job in a world-class way
• The opportunity to work with and learn from exceptional colleagues with excellent academic experience and deep industry knowledgec