Business Development Manager in Aylesbury

About Arcani

Arcani takes its name from the Arcani of Roman Britain - elite scouts known for their agility, intel and mobility. Today, we’re building the modern equivalent - sensor scouts designed to detect and protect, giving defenders the edge. We’re hiring across multiple roles. If you want to join a fast-moving startup and help shape the future of threat detection, we’d love to hear from you. Arcani Systems is a defence technology startup building HARK: the Hostile Acoustic Recognition Kit, a compact acoustic sensing system designed to detect, classify and track hostile drones using sound. Our mission is to give soldiers, bases, vehicles and critical infrastructure an early-warning layer against modern drone threats, especially low-cost, RF-silent and hard-to-detect systems. HARK is designed to integrate into existing defence command-and-control systems, including ATAK/CoT and other platforms. Arcani is moving quickly from successful trials and defence exercises into commercial deployment, and we are looking for a Business Development Manager to help manage the process.

The Role

We are looking for a motivated and defence-aware Business Development Manager to lead customer engagement, partnership development and sales pipeline growth across military, government, prime contractor and security markets. You will work closely with the founder, technical team and strategic partners to identify opportunities, build relationships, manage leads, support bids and convert interest into pilots, trials and commercial orders. This role is ideal for someone who understands defence procurement, enjoys building relationships, and can operate in a fast-moving startup environment where the product, market and sales process are evolving rapidly.

Key Responsibilities

• Sales & Pipeline Development
  • Identify and qualify new opportunities across defence, government, border security, critical infrastructure and prime contractor markets.
  • Build and manage a structured pipeline of prospects, pilots, trials and sales opportunities.
  • Engage with military users, procurement teams, defence innovation units, system integrators and prime contractors.
  • Turn field trial interest and operational feedback into follow-on commercial opportunities.
  • Support pricing, proposals, quotations and commercial negotiations.
• Defence & Partner Engagement
  • Develop relationships with key defence stakeholders in the UK, NATO, Europe and allied markets.
  • Manage outreach to primes, integrators and platform companies working in counter-UAS, C2, UGVs, base protection and border security.
  • Support partner-led opportunities where Arcani’s sensor integrates into larger systems.
  • Represent Arcani at defence events, exercises, trials, demonstrations and industry meetings.
• Bids, Grants & Procurement
  • Help identify relevant tenders, innovation calls, procurement frameworks and defence opportunities.
  • Support responses to RFIs, RFPs, market surveys and grant applications.
  • Work with the technical team to translate Arcani’s capabilities into clear customer-focused proposals.
  • Maintain records of opportunities, deadlines, requirements and decision-makers.
• Market Intelligence
  • Track competitor activity, customer requirements and emerging drone threats.
  • Gather feedback from users and partners to inform product roadmap and go-to-market strategy.
  • Help refine Arcani’s positioning, sales materials and market messaging.
  • Identify new verticals where HARK could be deployed, including military bases, borders, vehicles, airports and critical infrastructure.

Required Experience

• Experience in business development, sales, partnerships or commercial roles.
• Strong understanding of defence, security, aerospace, government or technology markets.
• Ability to communicate technical products clearly to military, commercial and non-technical audiences.
• Comfortable managing complex sales cycles with multiple stakeholders.
• Strong written communication skills for proposals, emails, briefings and customer follow-ups.
• Highly organised, proactive and comfortable working independently.
• Willingness to travel for meetings, trials, exercises and defence events.

Desirable Experience

• Existing network across UK, NATO or European defence markets.
• Experience selling to military, government, police, border security or critical infrastructure customers.
• Knowledge of counter-UAS, drones, electronic warfare, sensors, C2 systems, or defence overall.
• Experience working with defence primes, accelerators, procurement frameworks or innovation programmes.
• Previous startup or scale-up experience.
• Understanding of export controls, defence procurement and government contracting processes.

Ideal Candidate

You are commercially minded, technically curious and comfortable operating in uncertain environments. You do not need a fully polished sales machine around you — you can help build one. You should be able to speak confidently with a military officer, a defence prime, a procurement team and an engineer, adapting your message to each audience. You will likely suit this role if you are:

• Comfortable opening doors and following up persistently.
• Good at turning conversations into next steps.
• Able to understand technical capability without needing to be an engineer.
• Credible in front of defence and government customers.
• Organised enough to manage a growing pipeline.
• Excited by the idea of helping a small company win serious defence contracts.

What You’ll Help Build

• A repeatable sales and partnership process for Arcani.
• A qualified pipeline across UK, NATO and allied defence markets.
• Relationships with end users, primes and system integrators.
• Commercial opportunities from trials, exercises and demonstrations.
• A go-to-market strategy for HARK and future Arcani products.

Compensation

Compensation will depend on experience and structure. Arcani is open to discussing: Salary plus performance-based commission. Equity option-based incentives for the right early-stage candidate.