Business Development Associate

Overview

SS8 is seeking a proactive and highly organized Business Development Associate to support growth across the U.S. state and local government market. This position will focus on developing customer relationships, building a qualified territory, identifying mission needs, and managing assigned opportunities through SS8’s established sales process.

The Business Development Associate will engage state and local law enforcement agencies, public-safety organizations, emergency management agencies, correctional organizations, fusion centers, and other government entities. The associate will also develop relationships with systems integrators, technology partners, resellers, and distributors that support state and local customers.

Key Responsibilities

Customer and Relationship Development

• Develop and maintain relationships with state and local law enforcement agencies, public-safety organizations, fusion centers, emergency management agencies, correctional organizations, and other government entities.
• Conduct targeted outreach to priority states, cities, counties, and regional organizations.
• Build relationships with government executives, command staff, investigators, intelligence analysts, technical personnel, procurement officials, and other stakeholders.
• Prepare for and participate in customer meetings, discovery sessions, demonstrations, conferences, and industry events.
• Develop an understanding of each customer’s mission, operational challenges, existing technology, funding environment, stakeholders, and purchasing process.
• Maintain consistent customer communication and ensure that agreed-upon actions receive timely follow-through.
• Identify opportunities to expand from an initial customer, use case, or deployment into additional departments, jurisdictions, or mission areas.

Opportunity Development and Qualification

• Identify and qualify opportunities based on mission need, customer access, funding, procurement timing, competitive position, and fit with SS8 capabilities.
• Manage assigned opportunities through SS8’s established sales stages and exit criteria.
• Develop territory and account plans that prioritize the most promising jurisdictions and opportunities.
• Create stakeholder maps identifying mission owners, technical users, procurement personnel, executive sponsors, partners, incumbents, and decision influencers.
• Maintain clear pursuit plans with named owners, milestones, deadlines, risks, and next actions.
• Help determine when technical, channel, proposal, contracting, or executive support should be introduced into an opportunity.
• Research state and local budgets, legislative priorities, grant programs, cooperative purchasing vehicles, procurement forecasts, competitors, and relevant public-safety initiatives.

Proposal and Capture Support

• Support responses to requests for information, requests for proposals, sources sought notices, market research requests, and other federal procurement activities.
• Provide customer context, account intelligence, competitive information, and win themes to the proposal team.
• Assist with proposal schedules, action tracking, content coordination, and submission readiness.
• Track customer questions, amendments, decisions, and follow-up actions throughout the procurement process.
• Support award coordination and the transition of customer commitments to the project delivery team.

Pipeline and Process Management

• Maintain accurate opportunity, account, contact, activity, and next-step information in Salesforce.
• Provide evidence-based pipeline updates and clearly communicate changes in opportunity status, timing, value, and risk.
• Participate in weekly pipeline, account, and opportunity reviews.
• Escalate stalled actions, customer concerns, resource constraints, or competitive risks early.
• Maintain strong organizational discipline across multiple customer engagements and deadlines.
• Capture lessons learned and help improve repeatable business development practices.

Internal Collaboration

• Communicate customer requirements, market intelligence, and competitive insights to Sales, Product, Engineering, Marketing, and company leadership.
• Coordinate effectively with experienced technical and channel professionals while maintaining ownership of assigned customer actions.
• Help develop customer-specific presentations, capability briefs, meeting materials, and follow-up communications.
• Support smooth handoffs between business development, proposal execution, contracting, award, and project delivery.
• Represent SS8 professionally and communicate its capabilities in clear, mission-focused language.

Experience and Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience in state or local government business development, public-safety sales, government contracting, account management, customer success, or a related role.
• Demonstrated ability to develop professional relationships and communicate effectively with customers, partners, and internal teams.
• Experience supporting or managing opportunities with multiple stakeholders, deadlines, and dependencies.
• Strong organizational skills and consistent attention to detail.
• Demonstrated initiative and the ability to move work forward without waiting for detailed instructions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to conduct research, synthesize information, and translate findings into practical sales actions.
• Experience using Salesforce or another customer relationship management platform.
• General understanding of state and local government purchasing, budgeting, solicitations, contract vehicles, cooperative purchasing, and reseller channels.
• Ability to learn technical products and communicate their mission value with support from technical experts.
• Ability to manage multiple accounts while prioritizing opportunities based on qualification and likelihood of award.
• Ability to travel for customer meetings, conferences, demonstrations, and partner engagements.
• Demonstrated integrity, professionalism, sound judgment, and commitment to SS8’s public-safety mission.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting state or local law enforcement, public safety, fusion centers, emergency management, corrections, homeland security, or criminal investigations.
• Familiarity with state police, attorneys general, major city or county law enforcement agencies, public-safety departments, and regional task forces.
• Experience developing territory plans, account plans, stakeholder maps, qualification materials, or capture plans.
• Experience supporting government proposals or coordinating inputs from sales, technical, partner, and contracting teams.
• Familiarity with state and local funding sources, including public-safety grants and federal grant programs administered through state or local governments.
• Familiarity with cooperative purchasing vehicles, state term contracts, resellers, distributors, and public-sector systems integrators.
• Exposure to telecommunications, data analytics, location intelligence, investigative platforms, communications infrastructure, or public-safety technology.
• Existing relationships within the state and local government or public-safety community. A large established network is helpful but is not required.

Compensation and Benefits

The expected base salary range for this position is $90,000 - $110,000 plus commission opportunities. Actual compensation will be determined based on the candidate’s skills, experience, and qualifications. Commission structure will be discussed during the hiring process. We offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company match, and paid time off.

SS8 is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.