Account Executive — Aerospace & Mission Systems
Role Overview
Defense Unicorns is seeking an Account Executive to lead business development and revenue growth across the aerospace market, including rotary-wing aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft, and space launch systems.
This role will work with aircraft manufacturers, aerospace and defense primes, subsystem providers, mission-system integrators, launch providers, Federal Systems Integrators, and government program offices responsible for developing, modernizing, and sustaining complex aerospace platforms.
The Account Executive will identify opportunities where Defense Unicorns can help customers modernize how software is built, integrated, secured, deployed, and sustained across aerospace and mission systems.
A core focus of this role will be understanding environments where traditional platform development requires highly isolated or platform-specific engineering efforts—including SAP/SAR environments, classified systems, specialized integration laboratories, and programs where software delivery is tightly coupled to an individual platform.
The Account Executive will work closely with Solutions Architects and technical teams to help customers identify opportunities to introduce modern cloud-native software practices, DevSecOps, digital engineering, modeling and simulation, and onboard compute architectures that enable mission owners to deploy new capabilities more rapidly.
The ideal candidate understands both the aerospace acquisition ecosystem and the technical evolution occurring across modern mission systems: from vertically integrated platform software toward modular, software-defined architectures that allow mission applications and capabilities to be developed, tested, delivered, and updated independently of the underlying platform.
Key Responsibilities
- Own pipeline creation, account strategy, opportunity development, and revenue across the aerospace market, including rotary-wing, fixed-wing, and space launch programs.
- Develop strategic relationships with aerospace primes, aircraft manufacturers, launch providers, mission-system integrators, subsystem vendors, Federal Systems Integrators, and government program offices.
- Identify aerospace programs where modern software architectures can reduce platform-specific engineering, accelerate mission capability delivery, and improve software sustainment.
- Work with customers to understand how software is currently developed, integrated, tested, accredited, deployed, and maintained across their platforms.
- Identify opportunities to reduce duplicated or isolated engineering efforts across aircraft, spacecraft, test environments, integration laboratories, and mission systems.
- Understand the unique constraints associated with SAP/SAR, classified, air-gapped, disconnected, and highly controlled engineering environments.
- Work closely with Solutions Architects to map Defense Unicorns capabilities into aerospace platform architectures, mission computers, onboard compute environments, ground systems, integration facilities, and software factories.
- Develop account and opportunity strategies that connect technical modernization efforts to program priorities, funding, acquisition pathways, and mission outcomes.
- Engage early in platform modernization and next-generation aircraft or spacecraft programs where software architecture decisions are still being formed.
- Develop opportunities around modular mission-system architectures that allow mission capabilities to evolve independently of the underlying vehicle.
- Build relationships across engineering leadership, program management, digital engineering teams, software organizations, acquisition stakeholders, and executive leadership.
- Partner with Defense Unicorns Product, Engineering, Solutions Architecture, Marketing, Contracts, and leadership teams to advance strategic aerospace opportunities.
- Maintain disciplined opportunity management, including stakeholder mapping, technical fit, decision criteria, funding pathways, competitive positioning, next actions, and forecast.
- Represent Defense Unicorns at aerospace industry events, customer engagements, technical demonstrations, program reviews, and partner discussions.
- Capture recurring market requirements and customer challenges to help influence Defense Unicorns product strategy and aerospace go-to-market approach.
Mission Systems & Onboard Compute
A major focus of this role will be helping customers understand how modern onboard compute architectures can change the way mission capabilities are delivered to aircraft and other aerospace platforms.
The Account Executive should understand concepts such as Open Mission Systems and other modular mission-computing approaches that separate mission applications from tightly coupled platform software.
These architectures can enable mission owners to deploy new applications, algorithms, data-processing capabilities, autonomy, sensor integrations, or mission workflows onto existing platforms without requiring a complete redesign of the underlying aircraft or mission system.
The Account Executive will work with technical teams to identify where Defense Unicorns can support:
- Packaging and deploying mission applications onto onboard compute modules.
- Establishing repeatable and secure software deployment patterns across heterogeneous aerospace platforms.
- Managing software across ground, test, integration, and operational environments.
- Enabling mission owners to rapidly introduce new capabilities while maintaining appropriate platform and security boundaries.
- Reducing the engineering burden associated with porting software independently to every aircraft or mission system.
- Creating a consistent software delivery layer across multiple platforms, compute architectures, and security environments.
Digital Engineering, Model & Simulation
The Account Executive should understand the growing role of digital engineering across aerospace programs.
This includes familiarity with how modeling and simulation, digital twins, hardware-in-the-loop environments, software-in-the-loop environments, integration laboratories, and digital engineering ecosystems contribute to the development and sustainment of aerospace platforms.
The role will identify opportunities where software infrastructure can help connect these environments and create more consistent workflows from development through integration and operational deployment.
The Account Executive should be able to engage customers around questions such as:
- How can software move consistently from a developer environment into model and simulation, integration labs, flight test, and operational systems?
- How can programs reduce differences between engineering, testing, and operational environments?
- How can digital twins and simulated environments support faster development and validation of mission software?
- How can software artifacts be securely promoted between security boundaries and isolated environments?
- How can programs create repeatable DevSecOps pipelines while operating across disconnected or highly controlled networks?
- How can capabilities validated in a digital engineering environment be more easily transitioned onto operational platforms?
DevSecOps & Software Delivery
The Account Executive should be familiar with modern DevSecOps practices and how they apply within aerospace programs.
This includes understanding the challenges of delivering software into environments where traditional enterprise cloud patterns may not apply, including classified networks, disconnected systems, onboard compute, integration laboratories, embedded environments, and aircraft or spacecraft operating at the tactical edge.
The role does not require the Account Executive to be the technical architect, but they must have enough technical fluency to recognize where software delivery, containerization, orchestration, artifact management, security, and automation can materially change the economics and speed of a program.
Working in SAP/SAR & Isolated Environments
Many aerospace programs require development and integration efforts to operate inside highly restricted or isolated environments.
The Account Executive should understand the business and engineering implications of Special Access Programs, Special Access Required environments, classified networks, air-gapped systems, and other restricted development environments.
They should recognize the operational impact when each program or platform requires its own isolated software factory, integration workflow, tooling stack, or engineering team.
A key part of the role will be identifying opportunities to create reusable patterns, software components, deployment approaches, and architectures that allow customers to maintain required isolation while reducing unnecessary duplication across programs.
Partnership With Solutions Architecture
The Account Executive will operate in close partnership with a Solutions Architect.
The Account Executive owns the business and account strategy, including:
- Identifying strategic programs and customers.
- Developing executive and program-level relationships.
- Understanding acquisition and funding pathways.
- Building the opportunity and competitive strategy.
- Navigating partner and prime relationships.
- Driving commercial negotiations and closing business.
The Solutions Architect owns the technical architecture, including:
- Understanding platform and mission-system architectures.
- Mapping software and data flows.
- Evaluating onboard compute environments.
- Designing deployment approaches.
- Working through disconnected and classified architectures.
- Developing demonstrations, prototypes, and reference architectures.
Together, the AE and SA should be capable of engaging with a customer at the platform architecture level and helping them develop both the technical and programmatic path toward a more modular, software-defined aerospace system.
What Success Looks Like
A successful Account Executive in this role will establish Defense Unicorns as a strategic partner to organizations building and modernizing aerospace platforms.
They will understand that the opportunity is not simply to sell software into an aircraft program.
The opportunity is to help customers fundamentally change how mission software is developed and delivered across fleets of aircraft, spacecraft, test environments, and mission systems.
They will be able to identify situations where each platform currently requires unique engineering and help customers envision architectures where common software infrastructure, modular compute, digital engineering, and DevSecOps allow capabilities to move across platforms more rapidly.
Over time, the Account Executive should help customers transition from thinking about software as a tightly integrated component of an individual aircraft to thinking about software as a continuously evolving mission capability that can be securely deployed across a portfolio of platforms.
Desired Experience
- Demonstrated success selling complex technology, mission systems, software, or engineering capabilities into aerospace and defense markets.
- Experience working with rotary-wing aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft, space systems, launch systems, mission systems, or adjacent aerospace programs.
- Strong understanding of the aerospace and defense ecosystem, including OEMs, primes, government program offices, mission-system integrators, subsystem providers, and Federal Systems Integrators.
- Familiarity with SAP/SAR programs, classified environments, air-gapped networks, and highly controlled engineering environments.
- Familiarity with Open Mission Systems, modular open systems architectures, mission computers, onboard compute, or similar mission-system concepts.
- Familiarity with digital engineering, digital twins, modeling and simulation, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, and systems integration laboratories.
- Understanding of DevSecOps, software factories, containerization, cloud-native technologies, software supply chains, and modern application deployment.
- Ability to understand complex system architectures and engage credibly with aerospace engineers, systems architects, software leaders, and program managers.
- Experience developing opportunities early in a program lifecycle before a formal procurement exists.
- Ability to navigate complex, multi-year opportunities involving government customers, prime contractors, technology partners, and multiple acquisition stakeholders.
- Strong executive communication, relationship management, negotiation, and account-planning skills.
- Ability to build new markets and develop strategic opportunities rather than exclusively managing established accounts.
Ideal Background
This role may be a strong fit for someone who has worked as a Strategic Account Executive, Aerospace Account Executive, Federal Account Executive, Capture Executive, Mission Systems Business Development Executive, or aerospace technology sales leader.
The strongest candidates will combine deep familiarity with the aerospace market with enough technical understanding to recognize how software architecture is changing the design and sustainment of modern aircraft and space systems.
They should be comfortable engaging a chief engineer about platform architecture, a program manager about acquisition and schedule, a software leader about DevSecOps, and an executive about how modular software architectures can change the economics and speed of delivering mission capability.
Base Salary
$145,000 – $185,000 base salary.
This role is eligible to participate in Defense Unicorn’s commission plan and it is common for employees in this role to receive total on-target earnings of $290k to $370k.
Who We Are
Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.
What We Do
We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.
Who We Serve
Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.
What We Work On
- Kubernetes
- Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
- Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
- Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
- GitOps
- Containers
- CNCF projects and open source products and packages
- Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
- Building and improving security delivery
- Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications
Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy
Health:
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Health Savings Account
- Life Insurance
- Disability Insurance
Financial:
- 401k Retirement Plan
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Budget
Leave:
- We offer all full-time Unicorns Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
- Paid Parental Leave
Learning:
- Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
- Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t meet every requirement listed.
At Defense Unicorns, we’re committed to diversity. If you’re enthusiastic about the role but don’t match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
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