Senior Director, Government & Defense Partnerships

As a Senior Director of Government & Defense Partnerships at Krisp, you will lead our strategic business development efforts across the government, defense, and public safety sectors. Your mission is to establish and grow partnerships that enable the adoption of Krisp’s Voice AI technologies in sovereign, security-sensitive, and mission-critical environments.

You will work closely with Product, Engineering, Security, Legal, and Go-to-Market teams to shape our government strategy, navigate complex procurement and compliance requirements, and drive partnerships from initial engagement through technical validation, security review, and long-term commercial agreements. Leveraging your deep industry expertise and established network, you will play a key role in expanding Krisp’s presence across government agencies, defense organizations, public-sector integrators, and mission-critical communications providers.

What you'll do

• Own and execute Krisp’s government and defense partnerships strategy, identifying and securing strategic relationships across government agencies, defense organizations, public-sector integrators, and mission-critical communications providers.
• Develop strategic partnerships that accelerate the adoption of Krisp’s Voice AI technologies within secure, sovereign, and highly regulated environments.
• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with senior government officials, defense stakeholders, systems integrators, and technology partners.
• Lead complex partnership opportunities from initial engagement through technical validation, security assessments, procurement processes, commercial negotiations, and long-term agreement execution.
• Drive initiatives supporting secure deployment models, including sovereign, on-premise, and air-gapped environments, while partnering with internal teams to address compliance and accreditation requirements.
• Strengthen and expand existing strategic partnerships while identifying new opportunities to grow Krisp’s presence across government and defense markets.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, Security, Legal, Compliance, and Customer Success teams to shape partnership strategy, influence product direction, and ensure successful partner implementations.
• Represent Krisp at government, defense, and industry events, serving as a trusted ambassador within the public-sector and mission-critical communications ecosystem.
• Build, manage, and accurately forecast a healthy strategic partnership pipeline, ensuring consistent progress toward long-term business objectives.
• Evaluate partnership models, procurement strategies, and commercial frameworks that support Krisp’s continued expansion in government and defense markets.

What we are looking for

• 10+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, or government sales within the defense, public sector, public safety, or mission-critical communications industries.
• Proven track record of securing and growing strategic partnerships or enterprise agreements with government agencies, defense organizations, public-sector integrators, or defense technology vendors.
• Strong understanding of government procurement processes, security accreditation requirements, sovereign deployments, data residency, air-gapped environments, and compliance frameworks.
• Existing network and established relationships with government agencies, defense contractors, public-sector systems integrators, or mission-critical communications providers.
• Excellent communicator with the ability to build trusted relationships and influence senior government officials, defense stakeholders, executive leadership, and technical decision-makers.
• Experience leading complex partnership opportunities through multi-stakeholder procurement cycles, RFPs, security reviews, technical evaluations, commercial negotiations, and long-term expansion.
• Comfortable managing multiple high-value strategic opportunities simultaneously in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Entrepreneurial, proactive, and highly self-driven, with the ability to build and scale a government and defense partnerships function from the ground up.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Security, Legal, Compliance, and Customer Success teams to deliver secure, enterprise-grade solutions that meet government requirements.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; experience working in security-cleared environments or holding a security clearance is a strong plus.