Business Development Manager- Govt Defense

Hydro Graph is a hyper-growth advanced materials company scaling pristine, high-performance graphene via its patented Hyperion detonation technology. With more than 70 active commercial projects, a growing global footprint, and industry-leading material quality (99.8% pure graphene), Hydro Graph is building the next generation of engineered materials for coatings, composites, and energy storage. Our new Austin HQ will serve as the flagship center for innovation, applied R&D, customer engagement, and rapid material development.

The Business Development Manager will lead customer engagement and growth initiatives with major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Anduril, General Atomics, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and other prime and emerging defense partners. This role will identify, develop, and advance opportunities where Hydro Graph's high-performance graphene can address mission-critical needs across DoD, DOE, NASA, and related government programs.

The successful candidate will build trusted relationships with technical, program, and procurement stakeholders; translate customer requirements into actionable application opportunities; coordinate internal technical and commercial resources; and help position Hydro Graph as a strategic materials partner for next-generation defense platforms, advanced manufacturing, survivability, energy storage, coatings, composites, and other dual-use applications.

• Develop and manage strategic relationships with major defense contractors and system integrators across the U.S. defense and national security ecosystem.
• Identify, qualify, and advance new business opportunities for Hydro Graph's pristine graphene in defense, aerospace, energy storage, coatings, composites, survivability, thermal management, EMI shielding, and advanced manufacturing applications.
• Support the VP of Business Development in building account strategies, capture plans, customer engagement plans, and opportunity pipelines aligned with DoD, DOE, NASA, and prime contractor priorities.
• Serve as a technical-commercial liaison between customers and Hydro Graph's R&D, product development, manufacturing, and executive teams to translate customer requirements into actionable development programs.
• Coordinate customer trials, material evaluations, demonstrations, and application-specific testing to validate graphene performance in mission-relevant materials, components, and systems.
• Capture voice-of-customer feedback and competitive intelligence to inform product development, application roadmaps, technical data packages, and go-to-market strategy.
• Coordinate with Applications Engineering on external testing, data generation, and validation activities with universities, national labs, independent test labs, contractors, and research institutes to support defense contractor needs.
• Develop customer-facing technical and commercial materials, including application summaries, capability briefs, white papers, test summaries, and proposal inputs.
• Represent Hydro Graph at defense industry events, technical conferences, trade shows, customer meetings, and government engagement forums.
• Maintain disciplined CRM records, account plans, opportunity tracking, and regular reporting on pipeline status, customer engagement, technical progress, and commercial milestones.

• Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Materials Science, Engineering, Business, or related field required; advanced technical degree preferred
• 10+ years proven experience in customer-facing technical support roles in advanced materials, chemicals, or industrial sectors
• Experience with technical support involving materials…