Senior Director of Business Development - Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (R4831)

The role

This role leads business development for Shield AI's X-BAT, V-BAT, ViDAR and Hivemind products in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The leader owns annual order targets, builds a regional team, and runs complex defense pursuits from early engagement through contract award.

What you will do

• Own and execute regional go-to-market strategy for Shield AI's product portfolio.
• Maintain direct responsibility for annual order targets, multi-year pipeline and order growth.
• Lead end-to-end capture and sales efforts from early engagement through contract award and follow-on growth.
• Engage directly with senior military, government and defense industry stakeholders in the region.
• Differentiate Shield AI in competitive and regulated defense procurements.
• Provide market and customer intelligence to influence product roadmap and international strategy.
• Work cross-functionally with product, legal, export compliance and operations.
• Lead proposal and program development and complex product demonstrations.
• Structure and manage local partnerships, primes, and industrial participation or offset strategies.
• Represent Shield AI at senior-level engagements, exhibitions and industry forums.

Required qualifications

• 10+ years business development experience in the country or broader region within defense, aerospace or national security.
• Prior defense or government-facing experience in Japan, South Korea or Taiwan, with understanding of procurement processes, offset requirements, export sensitivities, local defense primes and indigeni
• Demonstrated success closing complex defense or government programs, ideally across hardware (aircraft/UAS) and software (autonomy/AI).
• Technical experience with autonomy, UAVs, ISR and advanced sensing technologies.
• Strong negotiation, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent pursuits involving technical products in ambiguous environments.
• Proven cross-functional leadership across operations, product and BD teams.
• Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently in country, region and internationally.
• Willingness and ability to work across multiple time zones.
• Based today in Tokyo, Japan.
• Mastery of Microsoft Suite (PowerPoint, Excel, Word), LLMs and similar business tools.

Nice to have

• Fluency in English and Japanese, written and spoken.
• Existing U.S. or allied security clearance.
• Prior military service or operational leadership experience in Japan.
• Prior experience supporting foreign military sales (via DSCA), engaging with SAF/IA or working directly with foreign air forces.
• Direct experience with UAV operations, mission autonomy or AI-enabled C2 systems.

Benefits

• Comprehensive total rewards package aligned to your country office location.
• Full details on compensation and benefits available from your talent acquisition partner.

Before you apply

• Based today in Tokyo, Japan is a stated requirement.

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company that builds intelligent systems to protect service members and civilians. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.