Growth Operations Lead - Huntsville, Alabama

Davidson is distinguished in the aerospace and missile defense industry, in part, because of its excellence in hiring exceptional experts, engineers and software developers dedicated to delivering advanced, intelligent technology solutions in defense of our nation.

Davidson is seeking a highly organized, strategic, and execution-focused Growth Operations Lead to serve as the operational backbone of the Growth organization and the enterprise integrator connecting Business Development, Davidson Labs, Innovation Cells, and Business Units. This role is responsible for integrating people, processes, systems, technologies, and data across the entire business development lifecycle while accelerating the transition of innovative capabilities into customer-funded programs.

The Growth Operations Lead transforms strategy into disciplined execution by establishing governance, driving operational excellence, coordinating technology transition, and providing executive visibility into opportunity pipeline health, innovation investments, and enterprise growth initiatives. This position serves as the central orchestrator that aligns research, innovation, capture, proposals, and operational execution to improve business development performance and accelerate revenue growth.

Lead Business Growth Operations
• Serve as the operational integrator for Davidson's Growth organization, ensuring alignment across Business Development, Capture, Proposals, Davidson Labs, Innovation Cells, Business Units, and Corporate Functions.
• Establish standardized business development processes, governance, operating rhythms, and decision frameworks utilizing the Miller Heiman methodology.
• Translate corporate strategic priorities into measurable execution plans with defined milestones, ownership, accountability, and performance metrics.
• Drive operational excellence throughout the business development lifecycle by identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.
• Lead enterprise governance activities supporting opportunity reviews, capture reviews, proposal readiness, technology transition, and executive decision-making.
• Connect enterprise strategy, innovation, technology, and execution to ensure Davidson's investments translate into measurable business results.
Lead Technology Transition & Strategic Growth Integration
• Partner with Davidson Labs leadership to maintain visibility into the innovation portfolio and identify technologies with the greatest potential for customer adoption, competitive differentiation, and revenue generation.
• Collaborate with Business Unit leadership to identify operational needs, capability gaps, and customer requirements that can be addressed through emerging technologies and innovation initiatives.
• In coordination with the VP Davidson Labs, develop and maintain an enterprise Technology Transition Roadmap that aligns innovation investments with strategic growth priorities, customer opportunities, and long-term revenue objectives.
• Identify opportunities to leverage technologies developed within one Business Unit or Innovation Cell across multiple markets, customers, and programs to maximize enterprise value and return on innovation investment.

Own the Business Development Lifecycle
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve standardized capture, proposal, and opportunity management processes.
• Ensure opportunities progress through defined lifecycle gates, executive approvals, and governance reviews.
• Maintain business development documentation, templates, playbooks, and operational standards.
• Promote consistency, repeatability, and best practices across all growth activities.
• Ensure technologies under development are integrated into capture plans, customer engagements, technical interchange meetings, demonstrations, white papers, and proposal strategies.
Drive Proposal Excellence
• Coordinate with the Proposal & Enterprise Operations Specialist schedules, resources, and execution activities from initiation through submission.
• Lead proposal planning, color reviews, compliance reviews, production readiness, and submission activities.
• Ensure proposal teams have the tools, staffing, resources, and timelines required for successful execution.
• Monitor proposal status, identify execution risks, and proactively resolve issues impacting delivery.

Enterprise Collaboration & Operational Integration
Serve as the enterprise connector by partnering across:
• Davidson Labs
• Innovation Cells
• Business Unit Leaders
• Growth & Capture Managers
• Chief Engineers
• Program Managers
• Contracts
• Finance & Pricing
• Security
• Information Technology
• Human Resources & Recruiting
• Marketing & Communications
• Executive Leadership

Key responsibilities include:
• Facilitate recurring cross-functional planning meetings that align Business Unit priorities with Davidson Labs research and Innovation Cell initiatives.
• Translate customer requirements, market intelligence, competitive intelligence, and Business Unit priorities into actionable technology development and growth initiatives.
Growth Operations Lead
EOE
• Remove organizational barriers by coordinating decisions across Davidson Labs, Business Units, Innovation Cells, Finance, Contracts, Security, Engineering, Operations, and Executive Leadership.
• Promote enterprise collaboration, knowledge sharing, and reuse of technical capabilities while reducing duplication of effort across the organization.
• Coordinate executive reviews that provide leadership visibility into pipeline health, technology maturity, transition readiness, capture integration, innovation investments, and overall business impact.
Manage Pipeline Operations & Business Intelligence
• Maintain the integrity and accuracy of the business development pipeline.
• Monitor pipeline health, opportunity progression, and forecasting accuracy.
• Support recurring pipeline reviews and executive decision-making.
• Translate analytics into actionable recommendations that improve enterprise growth, operational performance, and strategic decision-making.

Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Management, Finance, or a related discipline.
• Eight (8) or more years of experience supporting Business Development, Capture Management, Growth Operations, Program Management, Proposal Operations, Technology Transition, or Strategic Operations within a Federal Government contracting environment.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating enterprise-wide initiatives across multiple organizations and executive stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of the federal business development lifecycle, capture management, proposal development, and technology transition.
• Experience supporting innovation, research and development, or emerging technology initiatives is highly desired.
• Exceptional organizational, project management, facilitation, and executive communication skills.
• Strong analytical, strategic planning, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority and successfully manage multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously.