Defense Sales Lead – United Kingdom

About the role

Alta Ares is expanding its commercial footprint in the United Kingdom and seeks a high‑performance sales leader to drive defense contract acquisition. Reporting to the CEO and Executive Board, you will own the end‑to‑end sales process for AI‑enabled air‑defense solutions.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and manage the sales pipeline across UK MOD, procurement agencies, and armed forces.
• Qualify leads, shape opportunities, manage proposals, and negotiate multi‑million contracts.
• Convert tactical demos and pilot deployments into scalable, repeatable contracts.
• Build trusted relationships with military users, procurement officers, and program managers.
• Engage with primes, neoprimes, integrators, and defense engineering firms; manage channel partnerships where relevant.
• Map European defence budgets, procurement cycles, and capability gaps to inform market strategy.
• Provide competitive intelligence and product feedback to engineering and founders.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, and Operations to align demos, deployments, and pricing.
• Represent Alta Ares at major defence exhibitions such as Eurosatory, DSEI, and IDEX.

Required profile

• 5–10 years of experience in defence sales, business development, capture management, or program engagement.
• Proven track record selling to MODs, procurement agencies, or armed forces.
• Experience with advanced defence‑tech companies or neoprimes (e.g., Anduril, Shield AI).
• Deep understanding of defence procurement cycles and bidding processes.
• Demonstrated ability to close complex, multi‑year deals.

Required skills

• Strong knowledge of AI‑enabled defence systems, ISR, C‑UAS, and autonomy.
• Expertise in proposal development, contract negotiation, and pipeline forecasting.
• Ability to conduct on‑site demos, field workshops, and customer engagements across Europe.

What we offer

• Opportunity to shape a fast‑growing, $60M‑funded defence startup.
• Competitive compensation package with performance incentives.
• Dynamic, mission‑driven environment working with cutting‑edge AI technology.