Industry Practice Lead - Defense & Government

The Role

• Own Luminary's defense and government vertical end-to-end as a consultative, outcome-based sale: client development, engagement scoping, deal closure, account expansion
• Engage at CEO, CTO, and General Officer level across defense primes, defense tech companies, DoW, intelligence community, and federal agencies
• Sell outcomes, not tools: structure and scope $1M-$10M+ Physics AI programs that transform how customers solve mission-critical design, manufacturing, operational, and sustainment problems
• Develop the engagement thesis for each target account: what problem, what outcome, what value, what proof point, what expansion path
• Work hand-in-hand with Lead Delivery Engineers to ensure value delivery and translate engagement learnings into repeatable practice IP
• Build and maintain executive relationships across DoD leadership, DARPA, DIU, service labs, IC agencies, and C-suite at primes and defense tech
• Shape Luminary's defense and government market strategy: which programs, which buyers, which procurement vehicles, in what order
• Inform product roadmap based on client needs, competitive dynamics, and procurement realities
• Build the defense and government practice: engagement frameworks, case studies, reference architectures, pricing models, team composition templates
• Reports to Head of Sales. Sits on the leadership team and partners directly with the CEO on defense and gov accounts, strategy, and roadmap

You

• 10+ years in defense, national security, or government technology, including experience leading complex technical engagements with C-suite and senior government stakeholders
• Consultative seller at heart: you sell business outcomes and transformation, not product features. A background in consulting—translating client problems into scoped, value-based engagements—is a strong plus (top-tier strategy/management consulting welcome, but not required). This is an engineering-led consultative sale.
• Track record of personally developing and leading $5M+ client relationships with defense, government, or national security executives
• Skilled at structuring ambiguous problems: decomposing a client's operational challenge into a scoped engagement with clear deliverables, timelines, and value metrics
• Comfortable as the senior person in the room with flag officers, PEOs, and defense company CEOs
• Have built or significantly grown a practice, business line, or sector offering, not just delivered within one
• Understand defense procurement: OTA, SBIR/STTR, POM cycles, program office budgets, IDIQ, FAR/DFARS
• Comfortable selling a capability into white space where requirements don't yet exist, not responding to defined RFPs
• Can operate at both the strategic layer (which programs, which customers, what sequence) and the execution layer (scoping calls, pricing, SOW drafting, delivery oversight)
• Active TS/SCI or Secret clearance with ability to obtain TS

Nice to Have

• Existing relationships with AFLCMC, NAVAIR, DARPA PMs, DIU leadership, NGA, NRO, or IC program managers
• Experience bringing AI/ML, simulation, or digital engineering capabilities into defense contexts
• Prior military service (O-5+ or senior civilian equivalent)
• Background in engineering, CFD, computational physics, simulation, or modeling & simulation for defense applications

Not This Role If You

• Come from pure enterprise SaaS with no defense or government context
• Need a large team, lots of marketing air cover, and inbound pipeline to succeed
• Default to small pilots to avoid executive-level conversations
• Treat client development as proposal writing rather than relationship and thesis building
• Sell product features and tools rather than business outcomes and the transformation our technology delivers
• Are looking for a role where someone else defines the engagement and you deliver it
• Can't explain why physics matters to a warfighter or a CEO

Comp

• Base + meaningful equity + deal-based variable
• Early leadership role in a category-defining Physics AI company
• Direct access to CEO and Executive Team

Luminary helps engineering companies be more competitive by getting to market faster, creating new, better products, and reducing development risk. We do this with our Physics AI platform, the fastest and easiest way to build and deploy models to understand and instantly predict physical reality with precision. Customers span industries from automotive and aerospace, to leading sporting equipment providers, including Otto Aviation, Joby Aviation, Piper Aircraft and Trek Bikes. Luminary is a Series B company and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

Full-time position | Anywhere, USA (Remote)

Note: In accordance with export control regulations, this position requires candidates to qualify as a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined under 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3)). For engagements with cleared customers, an active or obtainable U.S. security clearance is preferred but not required.