Director of Business Development & Capture - Advanced Concepts

Skills this role screens for

About the role

About Varda

Low Earth orbit is open for business. Varda is accelerating the development of commercial space infrastructure, from in-orbit pharmaceutical processing to reliable and economical reentry capsules. Varda’s W-Series vehicles are built, designed, and operated by Varda in-house, including the pharmaceutical processing payloads, the capsules, the C-PICA heat shields, and the satellite buses.

From life-saving pharmaceuticals to more powerful fiber optics, there is a world of products used on Earth today that can only be manufactured in space. Varda is accelerating innovation in the orbital economy by creating both the products and infrastructure needed so space can directly benefit life on Earth. Our mission is to expand the economic bounds of humankind.

Our team is uniquely suited to accomplishing this goal, with leadership and staff comprised of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, major pharmaceutical companies and Silicon Valley. Varda was founded in January 2021 by Will Bruey and Delian Asparouhov with significant backing from world class investors including Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, General Catalyst, and Also Capital.

Varda is headquartered in El Segundo, California, where we have offices and a production facility where our vehicles, equipment, and materials are built, integrated, and tested. Varda also has offices in Washington, DC and Huntsville, AL.

Join Varda, and work to create a bustling in-space ecosystem.

About This Role

Varda has built a commercially proven, high-cadence spacecraft and reentry capability. The next step is to bring that capability to bear on national security missions that don't yet have a program of record, missions that require new concepts of operation, new mission architectures, and new ways of contracting with a commercial provider.

As Director of Business Development & Capture – Advanced Concepts, you will own the strategy and execution for adapting Varda's commercial capabilities to emerging and non-traditional government missions. This is a senior, individual-accountability role: you will be responsible for a portfolio of advanced-concept pursuits from first customer conversation through award, and you will be the voice of the classified and special-access customer inside Varda.

You will work directly with Varda's executive team, engineering leadership, and program managers to shape mission concepts, define the business case, and close. You will be expected to operate independently in the classified environment, to understand where the customer's problem set is heading before a solicitation exists, and to position Varda to win.

This is a full-time position located in Washington, DC, or El Segundo, CA. Significant time in both locations is expected regardless of home office.

The work

Responsibilities

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Strategy & Portfolio Ownership

• Own Varda's advanced-concepts government pipeline: define the target mission set, prioritize pursuits, and set the capture strategy for each.
• Lead the identification and qualification of emerging opportunities across the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Special Operations Command, Combatant Commands, the Intelligence Community, and other DoW and interagency customers seeking space and reentry capability.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year view of where Varda's spacecraft, reentry, and in-space manufacturing capabilities can be adopted into new government mission areas, and translate that into a funded roadmap.

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Capture & Close

• Take full ownership of select high-priority pursuits, managing the process from initial shaping and engagement strategy through proposal development, contract negotiation, and closure.
• Lead competitive capture activities: customer call plans, win strategy, competitive assessment, teaming, pricing strategy, and color-team reviews.
• Lead the development of proposals, white papers, and unsolicited concepts that include technical scope, pricing models, compliance documentation, and schedules, ensuring submissions meet customer and regulatory standards.
• Negotiate contract terms and structures (OTAs, CSOs, BAAs, FAR-based contracts, and others) in partnership with Varda's contract, program management, and finance teams.

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Mission Shaping & Technical Translation

• Work with engineering and program management leadership to translate classified and sensitive customer requirements into feasible mission parameters, CONOPS, and architectures aligned with Varda's capabilities and strategic objectives.
• Serve as the primary interface between special-access customers and Varda's technical teams, ensuring need-to-know is managed appropriately and that concepts are shaped early with customer input.
• Analyze DoW budget exhibits, program documentation, and procurement strategies to understand funding, schedules, milestones, and acquisition pathways.

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Customer & Stakeholder Relationships

• Build and maintain senior-level relationships across government program offices, requirements organizations, acquisition leadership, FFRDCs, and congressional stakeholders as appropriate.
• Represent Varda at conferences, industry days, classified forums, and networking events across the national security space and hypersonics communities.
• Identify and develop teaming relationships with primes, integrators, and other commercial partners where they strengthen Varda's position.

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Leadership

• Act as a senior leader within Varda's government business organization; mentor BD, capture, and proposal staff and help build the team as the portfolio grows.
• Report regularly to the executive team on pipeline health, win probability, and resource needs; drive bid/no-bid decisions.
• Monitor industry trends, policy and regulatory shifts, and emerging technologies, keeping internal teams informed and adjusting strategy accordingly.

Who they want

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, science, business, or a related field.
• Active TS/SCI clearance. Candidates must currently hold an active TS/SCI to be considered.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in the national security space, hypersonics, or defense aerospace, including at least 5 years in business development, capture, or program leadership roles.
• Demonstrated track record of owning and winning competitive government pursuits, including at least one new-start or non-program-of-record capture.
• Deep working knowledge of the DoW PPBE process, acquisition pathways, and non-traditional contracting vehicles (OTAs, CSOs, BAAs, SBIR/STTR transitions).
• Established, senior-level relationships within the U.S. Space Force, Air Force, Army, Navy, SOCOM, Combatant Commands, and/or Intelligence Community space and reentry communities.
• Experience shaping requirements and mission concepts in the classified environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to author compelling white papers, proposals, and executive briefings.
• Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills, with the ability to build and sustain trust with senior government and industry stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time, domestic and occasional international.
• S. Citizen, to conform with U.S. Government space technology export regulations under ITAR and clearance requirements.

Nice to have

Preferred Qualifications

• Current SAP access, or SAP access within the past 24 months, with demonstrated experience working within special-access programs.
• Engineering background with the ability to engage credibly on mission decomposition
• Experience taking a commercial capability into a government mission for the first time, including building the business case, navigating the acquisition system, and establishing the first contract.
• Startup or high-growth company experience; comfort operating with limited process and high ownership.…