Senior Director, Deal Strategy Execution (R6259)

Role Overview:

The Head of Deal Strategy and Execution (DSE) owns the operating model that turns Shield AI's most complex, highest-value domestic and international opportunities into repeatable, executable transactions. This is not a traditional deal desk. It is a strategic deal architecture and execution function that helps teams build winning deal structures, terms, and negotiation approaches faster, accelerates cross-functional decisions, protects margin and risk posture, and converts successful one-off transactions into reusable plays.

The role builds and directs three functions: Regional Deal Strategists embedded with BD teams, a central Business Proposals function, and an Architecture and Packaging capability.

What You'll Do:

• Team charter and operating model. Set engagement criteria, service levels, decision rights, approval thresholds, and the escalation framework.
• Cross-functional deal governance. Chair cross-functional deal reviews and ensure executives receive clear decisions, trade-offs, and recommendations.
• Strategic deal architecture. Own the quality of deal strategy on priority pursuits, including value hypothesis, solution configuration, commercial construct, pricing posture, terms, partner path, negotiation approach, and close plan.
• Modular deal catalog and packaging. Direct the build and maintenance of the authoritative capability catalog, including approved configurations, bundles, eligibility criteria, pricing guardrails, and delivery handoffs.
• Deal plays and repeatability. Establish the deal-play roadmap and turn wins, losses, and delivery outcomes into reusable qualification tools, value narratives, and negotiation guidance.
• Exception governance. Govern pricing, terms, and delivery exceptions through clear thresholds and fast escalation.
• Measurement and continuous improvement. Measure cycle time, deal velocity, win rate on strategic pursuits, gross-margin protection, and reuse rate. Lead postmortems on won and lost strategic business.
• Team leadership. Build and lead Regional Deal Strategists, the Business Proposals team, and the Architecture and Packaging function.
• Enablement and incentives. Partner with the GTM Enablement Lead on training and work with Rev Ops and Business Ops on SPIFFs.

Current Priorities:

• Stand up the organization, including charter, engagement criteria, decision rights, and published service levels.
• Deal intake and triage, with a structured intake that captures customer mission, funding, timeline, procurement path, export considerations, and requested exceptions early.
• Modular capability catalog with standard configurations and bundles across products, subscriptions, hardware, services, and partner components.
• Deal plays for priority segments with approved pricing guidance and negotiation positions.
• Pre-sales inspection through Opportunity Reviews and Management Reviews.
• Post-deal learning that feeds back into product packaging, pricing, playbooks, and training.

How the Role Operates:

• Advisory, not administrative. The team shapes stronger deals rather than routing requests for signatures.
• Clear guardrails. Publish price floors, discount bands, authority limits, and escalation triggers.
• Speed by design. Most standard reviews are resolved same day or next business day.
• One source of truth. Centralize product definitions, deal precedents, templates, and lessons learned in a searchable repository.
• Cross-functional accountability. DSE owns orchestration, deal-strategy coherence, pace, and knowledge capture.
• Decision rights. The role owns the recommendation and orchestration. The CRO owns the strategic decision.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years in revenue, commercial, or deal or sales leadership roles in B2B technology, with material time structuring complex, mixed software and hardware transactions.
• Demonstrated experience building or leading a deal desk, deal strategy, or commercial structuring function.
• Deep familiarity with international government contracting, international sales, and partner-led motions, including export considerations and long, complex buying cycles.
• Experience hiring and developing high-performing teams of strategists and proposal professionals.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Defense, dual-use, or public-sector commercial exposure.

Skills and Disposition:

• Deal architect who thinks in commercial constructs, pricing logic, and negotiation posture.
• Cross-functional orchestrator who aligns sales, finance, legal, product, and delivery.
• Negotiation craft with a record of closing high-value, non-standard transactions.
• Writes executive-ready deal briefs, decision memos, and value narratives.
• Standardizer who converts one-off wins into reusable plays, templates, and guardrails.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Full-time regular employee offer package includes pay within the listed range, bonus, benefits, and equity.
• Salary is influenced by skill set, experience, licenses and certifications, and work location. Offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.

Equal Opportunity:

• Shield AI is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.