External Relations Manager

Location: Ottawa, ON (on-site; travel within the National Capital Region and across Canada as required)
Employment type: Full-time permanent
Salary range: $85,000 – $115,000 CAD per year

Q-Block Computing builds quantum systems that operate in the real world. The company develops quantum timing, quantum‑secure communications, and quantum computing platforms engineered for the performance, reliability, and environmental resilience that mission‑critical applications demand — systems designed to be deployed, maintained, and trusted by operators who cannot afford ambiguity about whether the technology works.

The long‑term vision is deeper than any single platform. Q-Block is pursuing a mission to decode Nature's foundational model — to build instruments of sufficient precision and coherence that they become tools for understanding the physical universe at its most fundamental level. Commercialization and science reinforce each other by design.

The External Relations Manager is the connective tissue between Q-Block's technical capabilities and the government departments, defense organizations, prime contractors, and enterprise partners whose missions those capabilities are built to serve. The role is both strategic and operational: it owns the company's relationships across the federal and defense ecosystem, reads the policy and procurement landscape clearly enough to translate it into actionable business moves, and carries opportunities from first conversation through to contract.

The successful candidate combines a grounded understanding of how Ottawa actually works with the commercial instincts to convert that understanding into revenue. They are comfortable briefing a program manager in the morning, a prime contractor's capture lead at lunch, and the CEO by the end of the day — and they are equally at ease translating quantum technology into terms that land with a non‑technical stakeholder.

The role reports directly to the CEO.

• Lead Q-Block Computing's engagement with federal government departments and agencies, with primary focus on DND, CAF, and ISED, and extending to other defense, security, and innovation‑procurement stakeholders as the portfolio grows.
• Build and maintain productive, durable relationships with senior government officials, program managers, procurement officers, military stakeholders, and political staff.
• Monitor, analyze, and interpret political, legislative, regulatory, and procurement developments relevant to quantum technology, defense innovation, and Canadian industrial policy; translate these into clear, actionable recommendations for leadership.
• Identify and pursue commercial opportunities across government procurement channels (RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, unsolicited proposals) and enterprise sales pipelines in the defense, security, and critical infrastructure sectors.
• Cultivate business relationships with defense prime contractors, system integrators, and technology partners; develop joint‑pursuit strategies, teaming arrangements, and positioning approaches that strengthen Q-Block's competitiveness.
• Support the preparation of capability briefs, proposals, unsolicited proposals, and policy position papers in close collaboration with technical leadership, ensuring that commercial framing and technical substance reinforce each other.
• Represent Q-Block Computing at industry conferences, trade shows, government consultations, and stakeholder forums; build the company's profile within the Canadian defense and quantum technology communities.
• Coordinate advocacy efforts, including engagement with Members of Parliament, Senate committees, and federal advisory bodies, in full compliance with the Lobbying Act and associated codes of conduct.
• Maintain a structured pipeline of government and enterprise opportunities from early identification through contract award, using CRM tools to track status, qualification, and forecast outcomes.
• Provide regular strategic briefings to the CEO and board on the external relations pipeline, political environment, and emerging risks and opportunities.
• Contribute to a culture of ownership, clarity, and high…