HEAD – DEFENCE GROWTH & STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Job Description:

HEAD – DEFENCE GROWTH & STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

Location: Gurgaon, India
Reporting To: CEO & Board

The company focuses on:

• Defence Small Language Models (SLMs)

• AI Decision Infrastructure

• Defence Intelligence

• Predictive Maintenance

• Mission Planning

• Logistics & Supply Chain

• Defence Procurement

• Sovereign AI

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a recently retired Lieutenant Colonel, Wing Commander or equivalent officer with a strong technical and operational background to lead engagement with the Indian defence ecosystem.

This is a strategic leadership role responsible for business development, strategic partnerships, customer engagement and defence programmes. The role will work closely with the CEO and Board to identify opportunities, build trusted relationships across the Armed Forces and government organisations, capture operational requirements and translate them into commercially successful technology products.

The role requires travel across India to engage with military establishments, DRDO laboratories, Defence PSUs, government organisations and strategic partners.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead business development across the Army, Navy, Air Force, DRDO, Defence PSUs, Ministry of Defence and other government organisations.

• Build long-term strategic relationships with senior military leadership, procurement agencies, user directorates, programme offices and key decision-makers.

• Identify operational challenges and emerging capability gaps that can be translated into technology solutions and commercial opportunities.

• Gather operational requirements and customer feedback to continuously enhance Defmate’s products and product roadmap.

• Serve as the first level of technical engagement with customers by understanding, articulating, presenting and demonstrating Defmate’s technology solutions.

• Support product demonstrations, technical presentations, Proofs of Concept (PoCs), user interactions and field evaluations.

• Lead participation in defence procurement programmes, RFPs, tenders, technical documentation, proposal submissions and commercial engagements.

• Coordinate and drive user trials with relevant stakeholders through successful induction.

• Develop strategic partnerships with DRDO laboratories, Defence PSUs, academic institutions, defence startups, system integrators and industry partners.

• Identify and pursue collaborative research programmes, innovation initiatives, government-funded projects and defence technology grants.

• Work closely with engineering and product teams to ensure customer requirements are translated into product enhancements.

• Monitor upcoming procurement opportunities, defence modernisation programmes, technology trends and competitive developments.

• Represent Defmate at defence conferences, seminars, industry forums and strategic engagements across India.

DESIRED PROFILE

• Recently retired Lieutenant Colonel, Wing Commander or equivalent.

• Technical arm/background or significant experience in defence technology, engineering, systems or capability development.

• Strong understanding of defence procurement, acquisition and project execution processes.

• Experience working with DRDO, Defence PSUs, defence technology programmes, system integration or capability development projects will be an advantage.

• Ability to understand complex technology products and confidently present them to defence users, technical teams and senior leadership.

• Strong network across the Armed Forces, DRDO, Defence PSUs and the broader defence ecosystem.

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and programme execution skills.

• Strong commercial mindset with the ability to ident