Sr. Government Business Development Specialist

At Polaris Inc., we have fun doing what we love by driving change and innovation. We empower employees to take on challenging assignments and roles with an elevated level of responsibility in our agile working environment. Our people make us who we are, and we create incredible products and experiences that empower us to THINK OUTSIDE.

Job Summary

As a Government Business Development Representative, you will be responsible for driving business development, generating leads, and capturing pursuits primarily for federal government agencies, with a secondary focus on state and local government customers.

In this role, you will play a key part in shaping our Government & Defense Long Range Planning (LRP), Long Range Product Planning (LRPP), and Budget planning processes. You will be accountable for delivering accurate forecasts, achieving budgeted sales, and developing effective pursuit strategies and capture plans. Additionally, you will manage contracts and ensure business profitability targets are met as outlined in the budget cycle.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Understand Government Customer Needs: Develop and maintain a comprehensive understanding of the value propositions, operational and sustainment needs, and future acquisition strategies of federal, state, and local government customers.
• Lead Collaborative Teams: Guide and work alongside a skilled sales, business development, and pursuit team to align Polaris solutions with customer needs and opportunities effectively.
• Identify and Develop Opportunities: Proactively seek out new business opportunities and create compelling business cases to support them.
• Integrate Customer Insights: Incorporate deep customer knowledge and insights into Polaris’s business planning and forecasting processes, including product roadmaps, pricing decisions, and market potential assessments.
• Identify Customer Needs and Champions: Recognize customer needs and issues, identify potential product gaps, and find champions within customer organizations to address agency challenges
• Generate New Business: Drive significant new business through vehicle, part, accessory (upfit), and service sales to government customers using both conventional and unconventional business development methods, including:
  • Developing, executing, and owning win strategies and strategic and tactical execution plans for short-, mid-, and long-term goals.
  • Establishing Capture Teams with internal and external resources or partners as needed.
  • Conducting competitive assessments, shaping requirements, and developing execution plans based on research, data, customer knowledge, and analysis, including gap and SWOT analyses.
  • Assessing customer and stakeholder leadership, personnel, organizational structures, policies, budgets, laws, and contracts.
  • Creating and executing product demos and training sessions for customers and partners.
  • Leading the execution of Capture Plans and conducting pursuit/no pursuit and bid/no bid business gate reviews.

Skills and Experiences

Required

• B.A/B.S. degree in a related field, or equivalent in previous experience
• 7+ years of military, federal, state, or local government experience or a position within a company that included regular interaction and understanding of government procurement personnel and processes
• 5+ years experience related to government contracts utilized by local, state, and federal governments to purchase equipment, including off-road vehicles
• Proven technical aptitude to understand Polaris products and communicate technical issues related to the products
• Excellent negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Customer focused
• PC skills
• Self-starter and problem solver

Preferred

• Previous federal, state, or local government employee in a role that utilized ATVs or UTVs
• Previous government contractor experience
• Masters in business

Work Environment

• Strong mission focus with a passionate and demanding customer base
• Fast-paced office environment
• Travel approximately 40-50%
• Operate with minimal supervision

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We are an ambitious, resourceful, and driven workforce, which empowers us to THINK OUTSIDE.  Apply today!

At Polaris we put our employees first, by offering a holistic approach to their health and financial wellbeing.  Polaris is proud to offer competitive compensation, including a market-leading profit-sharing plan that is fundamental to our pay-for-performance culture. At Polaris, employees are owners of the c