VP, Federal Business Development

Salary range

$120,000 – $200,000

Incentive

Commission, participation in stock option plan, annual bonus

Benefits

Health, dental, and vision coverage, and paid time off for all eligible employees

Employment type

Full time, exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act

Location

Arlington, VA

Travel

Occasionally

Reports to

Chief Executive Officer

Direct reports

None

Clearance

Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance at the Secret level or above

About BluJuniper

BluJuniper is a woman owned small business in Washington, D.C., certified by the Small Business Administration. We offer management consulting and IT professional services, and we build execution systems that make work visible, governed, and continuously improving. Our offerings span AI and machine learning, defense technologies, corporate and IT governance, program management, data analytics, and cloud and platform modernization, delivered through our North*Star^© Program Excellence Center, Beacon^© Enterprise Portfolio Management, and Compass^© AI Governance frameworks. We have served the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and commercial enterprise clients. Our corporate infrastructure includes a GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract, CMMC Level 2, and ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Responsibility

This is the senior most federal growth role at BluJuniper, and it reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. We are looking for a leader to join our executive team and carry the organization forward by developing and executing a growth roadmap that lines up with what BluJuniper does well. You will own the federal bookings target, build and qualify the pipeline, lead capture on the pursuits that decide the year, and develop the business development team around you.

Our size is the opportunity. You will set federal growth strategy and execute it, often in the same week. Bid decisions happen in days rather than quarters, and nothing sits between your recommendation and the decision. The person who builds the plan here is the person in the room with the customer, and the growth engine you build becomes the one BluJuniper runs on. If you enjoy contributing to the growth of a company that is still writing its next chapter, there is room here to do it.

Scope and Accountability

• You will own the federal bookings target, the annual growth plan, and the bid and proposal budget, and you will account for the return on that investment.
• You will hold bid and no bid decision authority within thresholds you set together with the CEO.
• You will approve teaming structures and partner selection, with contracts and counsel reviewing the terms.
• You will direct our business development and capture staff and build the bench BluJuniper needs to scale.
• You will represent BluJuniper to customer executives at the senior executive service and flag officer level, and you will brief the Board of Advisors on how federal growth is tracking.

Key Responsibilities

Growth Strategy

• Work with the leadership team to build and execute the multi-year federal growth plan, and revisit it as the budget picture changes.
• Segment the federal market and set priorities across AI and machine learning, defense technologies, and governance based on where BluJuniper can win, rather than where the budget is largest.
• Establish teaming relationships across industry for targeted agencies and forecasted opportunities, and work with partners on strengthening our position on contracts and staff augmentation.
• Decide where bid and proposal dollars go, and step away from pursuits that no longer justify the spend.
• Recommend service offering expansion, contract vehicle investment, and strategic partnerships based on demand you have documented with real customers.

Pipeline and Capture

• Identify, qualify, and prioritize opportunities using SAM.gov, agency acquisition forecasts, GovTribe, HigherGov, USAspending, and direct customer engagement.
• Personally lead capture on our highest value pursuits, guide capture leads on the rest, and keep a disciplined process such as Shipley in use across all of them.
• Identify price to win source data, run the analysis, and own win themes and discriminators, then defend bid and no bid recommendations at gate reviews with evidence rather than optimism.
• Track the acquisition policy shifts that change how BluJuniper competes, including the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, GSA consolidation and OneGov, and the Department of Defense move toward capability portfolio acquisition.

Customers, Partners, and Vehicles

• Build and sustain relationships with program offices, contracting officers, small business specialists, and program managers across target agencies.
• Negotiate teaming agreements and joint venture arrangements, and vet partners for size status, eligibility, and ownership changes that could disqualify a team after award.
• Apply SBA set-aside rules with precision, including WOSB and EDWOSB eligibility, the limitations on subcontracting at FAR 52.219-14, the similarly situated entity rule, and mentor-protege structures.
• Maximize revenue through our GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract, and position BluJuniper for vehicles such as OASIS+, Alliant 3, Polaris, CIO-SP4, and SeaPort-NxG where the business case justifies the investment.
• Identify organizational conflict of interest risk early, and work with contracts and counsel on mitigation.

Team, Proposals, and Governance

• Lead, coach, and develop our business development and capture staff, and set standards the team holds to even when a deadline is close.
• Chair color team reviews, participate directly in proposal development, and keep every claim grounded in documented past performance. BluJuniper does not overstate capability in order to win work.
• Maintain accurate pipeline data and deliver monthly forecast reviews to the CEO with defensible projections.
• Run win and loss debriefs after every submission, and turn what you learn into changes the team actually adopts.
• Coordinate activities and commitments with other functions, and support, communicate, and reinforce the mission and values of the organization.

Required Qualifications

• Ten or more years of federal business development, capture, or acquisition experience, including at least three years leading capture on pursuits valued at $10 million or more.
• A proven revenue generating track record, and demonstrated ownership of an annual bookings or revenue target that you met.
• Experience leading business development or capture professionals in the federal sector, including hiring, coaching, and performance management, with deep knowledge of one or more agencies.
• A demonstrated record of winning federal awards as a prime, a subcontractor, or both.
• Working knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, source selection processes, the federal sales lifecycle, and contract types across firm fixed price, time and materials, and cost reimbursement structures.
• Direct experience with small business set-aside strategy, teaming, and subcontracting compliance, and strong relationships with small and large system integrators.
• Established relationships in at least one target market, whether the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, or federal civilian agencies.
• Executive presence sufficient to advise a CEO, brief a board, and hold a room of senior government customers, and the credibility to establish that in the first meeting.
• Excellent written, oral, presentation, and facilitation skills. This role writes, and your narratives go directly into proposals and in front of executives.
• Strong analytical and financial skills, planning and organization, and the persistence to work complex problems through to a decision.
• A bachelor's degree, or an equivalent combination of education and demonstrated experience. We weigh results more heavily than credentials.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance. Certain assignments supporting classified work require U.S. citizenship as a condition of the applicable contract or clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience selling AI, machine learning, data, or governance services into federal customers.
• Familiarity with federal AI policy drivers, including Executive Order 14179 and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
• An active security clearance at the Secret level or above.
• APMP certification or Shipley capture training.
• Experience growing a small business from subcontractor to prime, and comfort working where the process you need may not exist yet.
• Navy, Marine Corps, or Department of the Navy experience.

Equal Employment Opportunity and Accommodations

BluJuniper is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants on merit, qualifications, and demonstrated ability, and we do not discriminate on the basis of any characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. As a federal contractor, BluJuniper maintains outreach and nondiscrimination commitments to protected veterans under VEVRAA and to individuals with disabilities under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

This role operates in a professional office and remote environment and requires travel to customer and industry events. We provide reasonable accommodations during the application and interview process, and our HR team is glad to arrange one on request.

Consistent with applicable law, BluJuniper does not request or rely on the wage or salary history of applicants. The salary range above is set in good faith. Actual compensation depends on experience, qualifications, and business need.

How to Apply

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.