Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Approach Venture is hiring a Business Development & Capture Manager to help frontier-tech startups secure strategic contracts across government and commercial markets. This role focuses on business development, capture strategy, and proposal execution, partnering with early-stage companies to identify opportunities and lead proposals to success.
Responsibilities
- Own capture efforts from early opportunity identification through proposal submission and award support
- Identify, qualify, and prioritize government and commercial opportunities aligned with client capabilities and growth goals
- Develop and execute capture strategies, including win themes, positioning, and competitive analysis
- Lead proposal development across technical, management, and pricing volumes with a focus on clarity, compliance, and competitiveness
- Collaborate directly with founders, engineers, and BD stakeholders to shape compelling narratives and value propositions
- Manage proposal timelines, document control, and compliance tracking to ensure alignment with solicitation requirements
- Coordinate key materials such as teaming agreements, customer memorandums, CRADAs, and letters of support
- Support pricing strategy, milestone planning, and budget justification in partnership with client teams
- Engage in customer and partner coordination where applicable to strengthen positioning and probability of win
- Lead post-submission debriefs and lessons-learned cycles to continuously improve capture effectiveness
- Contribute to investor-facing materials and strategic growth narratives when needed
- Build and maintain reusable templates, playbooks, and capture frameworks to scale execution across engagements
Skills
- 5+ years of experience in business development, capture management, or proposal leadership within aerospace, defense, or government technology programs
- Proven track record contributing to or leading winning contract awards (SBIR/STTR, BAAs, CRADAs, OTAs / CSOs, RFIs / RFPs, etc.)
- Strong understanding of federal acquisition pathways, solicitation structures, and evaluation criteria
- Experience working with or supporting startup or venture-backed organizations
- Excellent writing, communication, and strategic thinking skills
- Ability to operate both strategically (capture planning) and tactically (proposal execution)
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
- Comfortable working across distributed teams in fast-paced startup environments
- Technical background or exposure to engineering, physics, or related fields
- Experience supporting programs in autonomy, propulsion, spacecraft, or advanced manufacturing
- Familiarity with dual-use and defense innovation funding ecosystems
- Experience working closely with small, highly technical founding teams
- Exposure to customer engagement, partner development, or pipeline building activities
Benefits
- 100% remote environment with flexibility and ownership
- Direct collaboration with founders building mission-critical technologies
- Work across multiple high-growth startups at the forefront of aerospace and defense innovation
- Opportunity to influence strategy, revenue generation, and company trajectory
- Small, high-performance team where execution and impact matter
- Competitive compensation with performance-based upside
- Medical, dental, and vision benefits
- Meaningful opportunity to help startups secure transformational contracts and scale
- Commission
- Bonus
Company Overview
Enabling founding teams building the future of frontier technology to achieve their full potential. It was founded in 2021, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, US, with a workforce of 2-10 employees. Its website is https://www.approachventure.com.