A defense startup's first VP of Sales has to get operators interested in a product and then turn that interest into a funded contract. Few candidates have done both. In May, Safe Pro Group hired Brian Mack, who helped Anduril win the Army's $100 million NGC2 contract, and Benjamin Chitty, a retired USSOCOM acquisition executive, to build its government growth team.
What interests me about those appointments is the decision facing a smaller company. A founder may have enough connections to get a demonstration in front of the Army. Who takes it from there? I'd want to know whether the first sales hire has ever followed that process through to a funded contract.
Key Takeaways
- Winning prototype funding through SBIR awards or Other Transaction agreements is often the first step, and sustained revenue depends on funding decisions made in different offices.
- For a company still living on prototype money, the first senior sales hire should bring acquisition experience.
- In 2026, PDW hired a former Navy fighter pilot as CRO, while Heven AeroTech chose a growth executive with long experience at large defense contractors.
- In interviews, ask who approved the funding after a successful demo. A vague answer suggests the candidate watched from the side.
- Hermeus and Merlin both promoted their CROs into broader leadership roles in 2026, a sign that revenue leadership can become a path to running the business.
What Does a VP of Sales Do at a Defense Tech Startup?
The role covers two sales that happen in different offices: one to the people who want your product, and one to the people who can pay for it. A drone company can win over a battalion during a field exercise and still get no order, because the money usually sits with an acquisition office spending against budget lines set a year or more ahead.
Startups usually get through the first door on prototype money, through SBIR awards or Other Transaction agreements. Sustained funding is a separate sale to different people. It can come through a program of record with its own budget line, and SBIR Phase III awards and follow-on production under Other Transaction authority offer other routes. The gap before any of them is where plenty of defense startups stall.
Sales leaders who have only worked one side of that gap tend to keep winning the stage they already know, and the company will feel it a year later when the pilots don't convert.
What Backgrounds Are Defense Tech Companies Hiring for Sales Leadership in 2026?
The 2026 sales leadership appointments covered here fall into two camps: former operators who learned commercial sales, and executives trained inside large defense contractors.
Hires Built Around Operator Credibility
Performance Drone Works named Shawn Hall chief revenue officer in September. Hall is a former Navy F/A-18 pilot, TOPGUN graduate and tactics instructor who later led growth at BETA Technologies. CEO James Slider said Hall knows what operators need.
PDW already sells small drones to the Army, and in July it announced a conditional loan commitment of up to $820 million from the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital to build drone components at volume. That's a lot of planned capacity to sell.
At Merlin, the April hire was Mark Brunner, who flew for the Navy for 20 years and advised Senator Mark Warner before running public sector business at Primer AI and PsiQuantum. For a company selling into both defense and civil aviation, the Hill years probably count for as much as the cockpit. Merlin made him president on October 27, six months after he arrived.
Hires Built Around the Acquisition System
Karman Space & Defense went the other way, naming longtime Lockheed Martin executive Doug Laurendeau chief growth officer. Heven AeroTech hired Lexi Alexander, formerly SVP of business development and corporate strategy at ASRC Federal and earlier chief growth officer of L-3's National Security Solutions segment.
Laurendeau and Alexander both spent years inside large contractors where building proposals and defending recompetes are routine work.
If I were running a search for PDW, I'd want proof that a candidate can keep units adopting the product while production climbs. That matters less at Karman, where capture strategy and relationships with the large defense customers behind multiyear programs carry most of the weight.
Growth Teams Built With More Than One Senior Hire
Mack helped win NGC2 at Anduril and, according to Safe Pro, developed more than $2 billion in Army-focused pipelines across multiple organizations. Safe Pro still paired him with Chitty, a career acquisition executive, and I read that as a sign the full job is too heavy for one person.
Shield AI, with far more headcount, splits it further. Its job postings have referred to a Chief Growth Officer and a VP of Business Development working alongside BD account executives who each cover a single customer, such as the Army.
What Experience Should a Defense Startup's First Sales Hire Have?
For a company still living on prototype money, I'd make the first senior sales hire someone with acquisition experience, meaning they've taken a prototype through to a funded contract. A brief that doesn't say which half the hire owns is how a startup ends up with a well-liked VP of Sales whose pilots never become programs.
Founders with service backgrounds can often generate operator interest themselves; a profile of PDW described a leadership team drawn mostly from the military, and its co-founder said several senior leaders are special forces veterans. Building a funded program line is the harder skill to find, and it's the one that decides whether the company has revenue in two years.
Before approving a search like this, I'd ask the founder one question: which part of the sales process would still fail if we hired someone excellent at the other part? If operators already want the product and prototypes keep stalling before funded procurement, the brief should call for acquisition experience, and it should say so before anyone starts collecting résumés.
An acquisition-side seat usually reads as VP or SVP of Business Development. A chief growth officer title tends to carry strategy and new markets on top of both halves. Whichever you choose, write down who covers the uncovered half for the first year, whether that's a founder or a second hire.
When Doesn't the Acquisition-First Approach Apply?
For dual-use companies the split is messier: when a large share of revenue will come from commercial buyers, as it may for Merlin in civil aviation, a CRO with deep commercial experience can be the right first hire even without acquisition depth.
Post-government employment rules can limit who a recently retired official may contact on a company's behalf for a set period, and program offices rotate staff, so a network that was strong three years ago may have thinned. Ask when the candidate last worked a live pursuit with the people they name.
A few candidates do cover both halves, and Mack's record suggests he may be one. They're scarce and expensive, and if you find one early, the two-hire model above can wait.
How Does Defense Sales Leadership Change as the Company Scales?
Once orders repeat, the two halves start folding into a revenue operation, and forecasting a program starts to matter as much as winning one. Shield AI's international sales postings measure success partly by forecast accuracy and deal velocity.
Parry Labs promoted Amber Walker from SVP of ground, maritime and C2 systems to chief growth officer in July 2025, and has since brought in Scott DeVona, with two decades of defense software business development behind him, as chief revenue officer, a sequence that fits that shift.
Hermeus shows where the sales seat itself can lead. Zach Shore, an early Anduril employee who led the Lattice program, joined Hermeus in 2022 to build its go-to-market and was promoted to CRO in 2024. He became president in January 2026 and CEO on June 1. With Brunner also moving up at Merlin, two defense companies handed their revenue chief a far bigger job this year. At that point a board is weighing a different question about the same person: can the executive who helped win the business lead the company that has to deliver it?
Which Interview Questions Reveal Real Defense Capture Experience?
- "Walk me through a prototype you helped turn into a funded program. Who had to agree, and in what order?"
You're testing the acquisition half here, so listen for named offices and budget timing. A vague answer usually means they watched it happen from the side.
- "Tell me about an operator unit that championed something you sold. What did their support get you, and what couldn't it get you?"
Good answers name the point where the unit's enthusiasm stopped mattering and the funding fight started.
- "How would you split your first 90 days between our current pilots and new pursuits?"
The best candidates will have read your public contract awards before the interview and will tell you which pilot looks closest to transition.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Defense Tech VP of Sales
How Much Does a VP of Sales at a Defense Tech Startup Earn?
Public data at the VP level is thin. For reference, Shield AI listed $270,000 to $400,000 in on-target earnings, with equity on top, for a Senior Staff BD Account Executive role covering the Army in 2026. That's an individual contributor's range, and it says little about what a VP leading that team would earn.
Does a Defense Tech Sales Leader Need a Security Clearance?
Only if the role touches classified programs. When it does, an active clearance saves months. In DCSA's third-quarter FY2026 figures, an initial Secret clearance for industry took 197 days end to end, and an initial Top Secret took 243.
Should a Defense Startup Hire Its First Sales Leader From a Prime?
It can work, especially when the startup will team with primes on larger bids. Ask what the candidate would do with two proposal writers instead of twenty, since few startups can staff a prime-sized capture team.
When Should a Defense Startup Hire a CRO Instead of a VP of Business Development?
Once revenue comes from more than one program and the board cares about forecast accuracy. Before that point, a VP or SVP of Business Development focused on capture usually fits better.
What Is the Difference Between a VP of Sales and a VP of Business Development in Defense Tech?
In defense tech, a VP of Business Development usually owns capture, which means shaping requirements and positioning the company before a solicitation is released. The VP of Sales title shows up more often once a company has repeat orders to manage. It's a common pattern, though titles vary from company to company.
What Is Capture Management in Defense Sales?
Capture management is the work of winning a specific government contract, starting long before the formal bid. It includes learning the customer's requirement, building relationships with the program office, picking teaming partners and preparing the proposal. For a startup's first sales leader, it's the skill the job depends on most.