Technology strategy and business development Lead

Company Description NEKO Aerospace Engineering, part of NEKO Aerospace Multi‑Service Company, was founded in 2021 in Miami, Florida and is transitioning its facility and operations to Houston, Texas in 2026. The company serves clients worldwide, both remotely and in person, delivering aerospace engineering solutions, Software project management, and space STEM outreach across government and commercial sectors. NEKO is actively registered as a Federal Contractor, supporting programs in government agencies, commercial aviation, space, and defense. Its expanding capabilities enable collaboration with government agencies, prime contractors, and global partners. Key work scopes include engineering services, project management consulting for government projects, and STEM and space educational outreach that promotes hands‑on learning, mentorship, and community engagement.

*About the Role*

We are seeking a Technology Strategy & Business Development Lead to connect software engineering, customer needs, and commercial growth.

This role combines hands-on technical delivery with technology planning, business development, customer relationship management, and financial analysis. You will translate customer challenges into practical solutions, develop business cases, evaluate project economics, and coordinate opportunities from discovery through implementation.

Working with company leadership and engineering specialists, you will help determine which opportunities to pursue, how to deliver them, and how to measure their technical and commercial results.

*Key Responsibilities*

*Technology Strategy and Software Engineering*

- Develop technology roadmaps that align customer requirements, engineering capabilities, delivery capacity, and business priorities.

- Design, build, integrate, and deploy software applications, backend services, APIs, and automation tools using Python, Java, TypeScript, SQL, and appropriate frameworks.

- Develop AWS-based solutions, applying cloud architecture, networking, access management, secure credential handling, and reliability practices.

- Evaluate technical feasibility, implementation costs, and build-versus-buy options when recommending solutions.

- Apply data analytics, machine learning, and AI-assisted automation where they provide measurable operational or customer value.

*Business Development and CRM*

- Identify and qualify opportunities for Neko’s software, aerospace engineering, and project management services.

- Lead technical discovery sessions, gather requirements, present solutions, and develop relationships with prospective customers and partners.

- Prepare technical proposals, demonstrations, statements of work, effort estimates, and implementation plans.

- Maintain CRM records covering leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, customer interactions, and next steps.

- Improve CRM workflows through Salesforce integrations, API connections, data synchronization, automation, and reporting.

- Develop pipeline dashboards and coordinate customer follow-up, proposal tracking, and handoffs into project delivery.

*Commercial Strategy and Financial Analysis*

- Develop project business cases incorporating revenue assumptions, delivery costs, expected margins, cash flow, and break-even analysis.

- Evaluate pricing options for custom software features and technical services, considering development effort, customer value, and delivery risk.

- Support commercial negotiations by analyzing scope, pricing, payment milestones, and resource commitments alongside company leadership.

- Build revenue scenarios using CRM pipeline data, documenting assumptions, opportunity stages, and uncertainty.

- Compare projected and actual project performance to identify improvements in pricing, delivery efficiency, and profitability.

*Project Delivery and Partnerships*

- Coordinate project schedules, resources, dependencies, budgets, risks, testing, deployment, and customer acceptance.

- Maintain clear communication between customers, company leadership, software contributors, and aerospace specialists.

- Develop capability presentations and support selected industry partnerships, technical events, and STEM outreach initiatives.

*Required Qualifications*

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent demonstrated experience.

- Practical experience in software engineering, cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, or network automation.

- Proficiency in Python and working knowledge of Java, TypeScript, SQL, REST APIs, and full-stack development.

- Familiarity with AWS services and networking concepts, including EC2, VPC, IAM, IP, and credential management.

- Experience developing enterprise SaaS integrations or customer-specific workflows involving platforms such as AWS Marketplace and Salesforce.

- Experience working directly with customers on technical discovery, requirements gathering, solution presentations, implementation, and production rollout.

- Ability to estimate development effort, assess technical tradeoffs, and contribute to custom-feature pricing or commercial discussions.

- Strong analytical, communication, and project coordination skills, including the ability to work across technical and nontechnical teams.

*Preferred Qualifications*

- Current or completed graduate study in Computer Science, Data Analytics, Data Science, or a related discipline at Master's level.

- Experience with React, FastAPI, Node.js, Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, CI/CD pipelines, or monitoring tools.

- Experience with Python-based analytics, machine learning, LLM APIs, or AI workflow automation.

- Exposure to project budgeting, financial modeling, forecasting, profitability analysis, or return-on-investment assessments.

- Startup or founder experience involving market validation, customer partnerships, pricing, or early commercial development.

- Participation in space mission design or proposal programs, such as NASA L’SPACE MCA or NPWEE, involving requirements analysis, budgeting, risk assessment, or preliminary design reviews.

- Experience in space mission communication, STEM outreach, or leadership of interdisciplinary engineering teams.

*What Success Looks Like*

Success means delivering reliable software, developing qualified business opportunities, maintaining accurate CRM information, and producing clear technical and financial recommendations. The role should help Neko pursue feasible projects, strengthen customer relationships, and improve delivery quality and commercial performance.