Defense Commercial Growth Officer (Defense CGO)

Position Summary
The Defense CGO is responsible for leading the ARM Institute’s growth strategy across U.S. defense and national security markets. This executive will develop and execute a comprehensive business development and capture strategy, serve as ARM’s senior representative to government and industry stakeholders, identify and shape new business opportunities, and lead the pursuit of strategic contracts and programs that advance U.S. manufacturing capability, robotics/AI adoption, workforce readiness, and national security.

ARM engages government stakeholders, understands their manufacturing and workforce challenges, helps shape viable approaches, and responds competitively to relevant solicitations. This role owns that lifecycle end to end—from sustained customer engagement and opportunity shaping through bid/no-bid decisions, capture planning, proposal leadership, award, and transition to delivery.

This Defense CGO will serve as the senior representative to the Department of War, military services, defense agencies, and other government stakeholders, as well as prime defense contractors, ARM Consortium members, and industry partners. The position requires a deep understanding of the defense acquisition environment, government and military requirements, competitive dynamics, contracting vehicles, and the full business development lifecycle from opportunity identification through contract award.

The role will deepen and diversify ARM’s relationships across the Department of War and related government stakeholders, with particular emphasis on Manufacturing Technology, research and engineering, acquisition and sustainment, operations and maintenance, the Organic Industrial Base (OIB), Defense Industrial Base (DIB), Submarine Industrial Base (SIB), military services, and other agencies whose missions align with ARM’s capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development and Growth Strategy

• Develop and execute ARM’s defense-sector business development strategy in alignment with organizational revenue, mission, technology, and workforce priorities.
• Identify, qualify, and prioritize new business opportunities across the Department of War, military services, defense agencies, and other federal customers.
• Establish and maintain a robust pipeline of qualified opportunities sufficient to achieve annual and long-term revenue and growth objectives.
• Identify emerging defense requirements, modernization initiatives, technology priorities, and funding trends that may create new business opportunities.
• Develop strategies to expand existing customer relationships and penetrate new accounts and markets.
• Maintain awareness of defense manufacturing, modernization, readiness, workforce, robotics, AI, and industrial base priorities; translate those priorities into actionable growth opportunities for ARM.
• Provide executive leadership with regular assessments of pipeline health, market trends, competitive positioning, win probability, funding timelines, risks, and revenue forecasts.
• Capture and Proposal Leadership
• Lead major capture efforts from early opportunity identification through contract award.
• Identify, qualify, and shape opportunities before formal solicitations are released whenever feasible.
• Lead disciplined qualification and bid/no-bid decisions based on mission fit, customer relationship strength, competitive position, funding confidence, delivery capacity, risk, and probability of win.
• Develop and execute capture strategies, including customer engagement, competitive analysis, teaming, solution development, pricing strategy, win themes, staffing approach, schedule, and contract strategy.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams involving technical programs, operations, engineering, program management, contracts, finance, legal, marketing, workforce development, membership, and executive leadership.
• Facilitate development of compelling technical, management, and workforce solutions aligned with customer requirements and ARM’s ability to deliver.
• Lead proposal strategy, customer-facing solution positioning, executive reviews, and recommendations regarding pursuit investments and strategic opportunities.
• Ensure that commitments made during capture and proposal development are understood, approved, and transitioned effectively to delivery teams after award.
• Customer and Industry Engagement
• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders within the Department of War and other government organizations.
• Maintain relationships with program managers, contracting officials, requirements organizations, senior military leaders, and other key decision-makers, consistent with all applicable ethics and procurement regulations.
• Develop strategic account plans for priority government customers, identifying mission needs, stakeholder priorities, funding pathways, contract vehicles, competitive environment, and long-range opportunity roadmaps.
• Represent ARM in high-value government and industry engagements, including recurring stakeholder meetings, defense-manufacturing events, working groups, conferences, and targeted customer visits.
• Monitor customer priorities, acquisition strategies, budgets, organizational changes, and competitive dynamics.
• Portfolio Growth and Funding Diversification
• Secure and grow funding for Technology Advancement Programs, robotics/AI modernization initiatives, Automation Assessments or related defense-facing services where appropriate, Robotics Manufacturing Hub concepts, and Education and Workforce Development programs.
• Pursue funding across relevant defense and government sources, reducing concentration risk while maintaining strong relationships with core sponsors.
• Identify opportunities to use appropriate contract vehicles and funding mechanisms—traditional and non-traditional—that enable ARM to respond quickly and perform effectively.
• Partner with executive leadership and external affairs colleagues on congressional and stakeholder engagement that supports ARM’s strategic funding priorities, while ensuring all activity follows applicable legal, ethical, and organizational requirements.
• Coordinate with ARM leadership focused on the commercial business development to find collaboration and transition opportunities.

Strategic Partnerships and Market Expansion

• Identify and negotiate strategic teaming arrangements, joint ventures, subcontracting relationships, and other partnerships that strengthen ARM’s competitive position.
• Develop strategies to enter new defense markets and expand ARM’s addressable market.
• Assess potential partnerships and investments that support ARM’s growth and mission objectives.
• Build relationships throughout the defense industrial base and identify opportunities to leverage complementary capabilities.
• Develop strategic relationships with ARM Consortium members, prime contractors, subcontractors, technology companies, academic partners, and other industry partners.
• Partner with Membership to recruit, retain, and activate consortium members that strengthen ARM’s defense-relevant capabilities.
• Organizational Leadership
• Lead and mentor the defense business development and capture organization.
• Establish measurable performance objectives, pipeline metrics, and accountability standards.
• Continually strengthen business development processes, tools, CRM discipline, and best practices that improve opportunity qualification, forecast accuracy, and win rates.
• Foster close coordination among defense programs, operations, technology programs, program management, contracts, finance, marketing, workforce, membership, and executive leadership.
• Coordinate with commercial business-development leadership to share market intelligence, avoid overlap, and identify opportunities that bridge defense and commercial manufacturing needs.
• Serve as the primary internal voice of defense customers and translate customer needs into clear guidance for technical, workforce, program, membership, and communications teams.
• Serve as a member of the senior leadership team and contribute to overall organizational strategy.
• Before award or contract signature, jointly confirm with program management, technical leadership, finance, and contracts the scope, budget, staffing, risk, success measures, and customer commitments.
• Partner with Membership to recruit and engage organizations that improve ARM’s ability to serve targeted Defense applications.
• Partner with CSO to create market-specific messaging, thought leadership, customer stories, events, and campaigns that generate qualified demand with the Department.
• Coordinate with CTO and CWO to ensure opportunities align with capabilities and resources.
• Coordinate with the Commercial CGO to find and pursue dual-use opportunities.
• Success Measures / Key Performance Indicators
• Success will be measured through a combination of growth, capture, customer, organizational, and delivery-transition outcomes, including:
• Defense/government revenue and bookings growth, diversification of funding sources, and progress against annual and multi-year targets.
• Qualified pipeline growth, pipeline-to-revenue conversion, pipeline coverage, forecast accuracy, and win rate.
• Number and strategic value of new awards, follow-on awards, contract vehicles, and funded programs secured.
• Successful capture of strategic programs and customers.
• Expansion of existing customer relationships and growth into new defense markets and accounts.
• Growth and depth of relationships across priority Department of War organizations, military services, OIB/DIB stakeholders, primes, and other government customers.
• Number and quality of strategic industry partnerships, teaming arrangements, and consortium-enabled opportunities.
• Quality and timeliness of capture plans, proposals, and bid/no-bid recommendations.
• Alignment of awarded work with ARM’s strategic priorities and its capacity to deliver successful outcomes.
• Effective handoff of awards to program teams, including clarity of scope, customer expectations, schedule, budget, and performance measures.
• Customer satisfaction, renewal/expansion potential, and evidence that funded programs advance manufacturing modernization, robotics/AI adoption, workforce readiness, or national-security objectives.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, public policy, national security, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience; advanced degree preferred.
• 20+ years of progressive experience in defense, federal contracting, government acquisition, defense manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, robotics, AI, or a closely related industry.
• Demonstrated success developing and winning significant defense-sector contracts, including opportunity qualification, capture planning, proposal development, and customer engagement.
• Extensive knowledge of the Department of War acquisition and contracting environment, including government contracting vehicles, competitive procurements, proposal compliance, and funding cycles.
• Strong understanding of defense budgets, appropriations, requirements development, acquisition strategies, and procurement processes.
• Strong understanding of defense-manufacturing challenges and the roles of the Department of War, OIB, DIB, military services, and industrial base partners.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex capture efforts and developing winning proposal strategies.
• Established relationships across the defense industry and U.S. government customer community.
• Proven ability to develop and manage a substantial business development pipeline.
• Experience leading, mentoring, and developing high-performing business development and capture teams.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with senior government, industry, academic, and nonprofit stakeholders.
• Superior executive-level written, verbal, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to obtain and maintain any security clearance required for the position, if applicable.
• Willingness and ability to travel for customer engagements, conferences, proposal activities, and stakeholder meetings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business administration, engineering, national security, or a related discipline.
• Prior experience supporting or working within the Department of War, military services, or defense agencies.
• Prior senior military or government experience.
• Understanding of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, the Manufacturing Technology (MANTECH) program, and the use of public-private partnerships to satisfy military requirements.
• Experience with traditional and non-traditional federal contracting mechanisms.
• Existing relationships with major defense primes and/or key government customers.
• Experience with DoD manufacturing, MANTECH, research and engineering, acquisition and sustainment, operations and maintenance, depot modernization, shipyard modernization, or industrial base programs.
• Experience with congressional interest items, appropriations-related engagement, or public-private partnership funding models, conducted in accordance with applicable laws and organizational policies.
• Experience in robotics, automation, AI, digital manufacturing, technology transition, or workforce-development programs.
• Experience leading multi-organization teams, consortiums, or industry-academia-government partnerships.
• Active security clearance, where relevant to the role.

Security Requirements
Must be eligible to work on U.S. government and defense programs in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Ability to obtain and maintain any security clearance required for the position, if applicable.

Leadership Profile
The successful candidate will be a strategic, highly credible executive who combines deep defense-market knowledge with exceptional business development and relationship-building capabilities. The individual must be equally comfortable engaging with a senior military leader, government executive, CEO of a major defense contractor, program manager, consortium partner, or internal technical team.

The ideal candidate is a growth-oriented leader, strategic thinker, trusted customer advisor, and disciplined capture executive who can translate emerging defense requirements into mission-aligned, winnable opportunities and position ARM for durable, diversified defense-sector growth.

This leader will treat growth as more than bookings. Priority should be given to work that advances U.S. manufacturing adoption of robotics and AI, workforce readiness, national security, and ARM’s ability to demonstrate measurable impact.