Director of Business Development Commercial Space Services

Introduction

With headquarters in Tromsø Norway Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT) supplies ground station services for satellite space-to-ground communications. KSAT is the worlds largest supplier of telemetry tracking and command (TT&C) and data acquisition services for non-geostationary satellites.

Founded in 1968 KSAT has grown to over 500 employees with an annual revenue of approximately $200M. About 50% of KSATs annual revenue comes from the US. The wholly owned subsidiary KSAT Inc. (aka. KSAT USA) office is located in the Denver Colorado area and is rapidly growing in response to strong US Government and industry demand for commercial ground segment services.

Summary of Position

The Director will be a direct report to the VP of Business Development Americas. The Director will help support an aggressive load of sales cases that are currently being managed by a small team including high importance customers within the Americas Commercial market segment. The Director will become a trusted advisor on ground communications solutions and work jointly with customers to close contracts for ground communications support for current missions and set the stage to support future missions as well. The Director will represent KSAT as a best-in-class organization and generate revenue for the company.

Details of the Role and Essential Job Functions

• Lead shape and execute the commercial sales strategy for the Americas market ensuring alignment with broader organizational goals.
• Identify and lead business development operations associated with new opportunities within the emerging commercial market. Review and approve key outgoing proposals ensuring quality competitiveness and compliance with internal standards.
• Manage BD pipeline of multiple opportunities with long sales cycles (4-12 months) leveraging company provided CRM tool.
• Respond to customer issued RFPs and write proposals in response to customer inquiries/solicitations and develop technical solutions to meet customer requirements.
• Contribute to company strategy planning to drive new capability development.
• Interface with active/prospective customers on new missions/programs which could leverage KSAT service offerings.
• Collaborate closely with Product Marketing and Executive teams to align commercial efforts with product capabilities customer needs and brand strategy.
• Maintain KSATs dominant market share from increasing competitive threat while monitoring industry trends and customer feedback to inform strategic direction product development and go-to-market initiatives.
• Manage team of BD resources to drive revenue and grow missions supported within the Americas market segment.
• Report to the VP of Business Development on activities and negotiate market specific goals.
• Represent the company in customer meetings conferences and events.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelors Degree in engineering or business related fields.
• 8 12 years of experience in business development or commercial sales within the aerospace industry which may include satellite communications telecommunications or adjacent connectivity industries.
• Strong understanding of satellite communication technologies.
• Demonstrated success selling into enterprise and commercial markets.
• Proven ability to lead complex commercial negotiations.

Preferred

• Background in selling managed connectivity solutions bandwidth services or network infrastructure.

Success Metrics

• Commercial revenue growth and customer acquisition.
• Expansion of strategic partnerships and reseller channels.
• Contribution to new vertical expansion and solution adoption.
• Growth of qualified commercial pipeline and improved deal velocity.
• Customer satisfaction and retention.

In-office attendance and Travel

• Expectation is to be in office 4 out of 5 days of the work week.
• Travel is expected to be up to 30% with a combination of domestic and international destinations.