Commercial Lead, Corporate Strategy, Business Development

Requirements

• We are looking for a senior business development leader with genuine credibility in space and/or defence, the discipline to operate in long-cycle, IP-sensitive markets, and a clear startup mindset
• Senior BD / commercial track record selling complex, high-value systems into space, defence or adjacent regulated markets
• Demonstrable network among UK and Western European primes, defence customers and programme offices
• Comfort with long sales cycles, formal tenders, complex procurement and multi-stakeholder governance

• The Commercial Lead is accountable for converting Optera’s technical advantage into a credible, defensible commercial position across its active business lines
• You will own the go-to-market: positioning, target account strategy, partnerships with primes, and entry onto strategic programmes — starting in Western Europe and the UK, then expanding into the United States
• The CEO will continue to lead the closure of in-flight opportunities through 2026; this role builds the forward pipeline and the commercial machinery that allows Optera to scale into 2027 and beyond
• It is a senior, strategic seat shaping how the business enters a complex, IP-sensitive, regulated market — not a transactional sales role
• You'll see and shape every part of the business — commercial, technical, financial and cultural — at the moment it scales. There is a genuine path to broader operational leadership over time, and the equity case that goes with it