Business Development Intern

Job Description

About Company

JHNA is a dynamic organization dedicated to driving growth strategy, particularly within the Department of Defense (DoD) initiatives. The company fosters a fast-paced, mission-focused environment, indicating a commitment to national security and defense technology. While the exact services aren’t explicitly stated, the focus on business development, capture management, and proposal efforts suggests they are a government contractor or a firm that supports government contracting, likely providing specialized services, technologies, or solutions to the DoD.

Job Description (Business Development Intern)

The Business Development Intern at JHNA will play a crucial role in supporting the company’s growth strategy by assisting across various stages of the business development lifecycle. This position is highly proactive and detail-oriented, requiring an individual who thrives in a dynamic environment and is passionate about contributing to DoD initiatives.

Key responsibilities are categorized as follows:

• Market & Opportunity Identification:
• Environmental Scanning: Actively monitoring the market landscape to identify potential opportunities and ensure they align with JHNA’s overarching business strategy.
• Opportunity Tracking: Systematically identifying and surfacing relevant opportunities by utilizing government portals such as SAM.gov, industry-specific tools like GovWin, and engaging in strategic teaming discussions.
• Research & Investigations:
• Comprehensive Research: Conducting in-depth research on government agencies, competitors, market trends, and technical specifications to inform critical capture and proposal development efforts.
• Marketing & Capability Materials:
• Content Development: Drafting or updating essential company marketing materials, including one-pagers, capability statements, and past performance summaries, to be used in proposals or direct outreach to customers and industry partners.
• Industry Engagement:
• Networking & Intelligence Gathering: Representing JHNA at tradeshows, industry days, and similar events to establish connections with industry peers and government officials. This also involves investigating competitors, identifying potential teaming partners, and understanding the evolving direction of competency areas within the government to inform capture strategies and company innovations.
• Capture Planning:
• Strategic Opportunity Shaping: Actively participating in the process of shaping opportunities, formulating win strategies, building robust teams, and preparing for subsequent proposal development.
• Pipeline Management & CRM Support:
• Database Maintenance: Assisting in the meticulous updating of business development trackers and the opportunity pipeline, ensuring accurate details, stages, and notes are recorded.
• Review Preparation: Supporting the preparation of materials for pipeline reviews, which are crucial for strategic decision-making.
• Capture & Strategy Support:
• Analytical Assistance: Helping to organize and document critical strategic analyses, including SWOT analyses, competitor mapping, teaming strategies, and win themes brainstorming sessions.
• Meeting Coordination & Note Taking:
• Logistical Support: Efficiently scheduling meetings (both internal and with external partners), preparing agendas, and accurately documenting notes and actionable items.
• Mission Aligned Growth (MAG) Support:
• Innovation-Focused BD: Contributing to business development efforts centered on innovation, ensuring JHNA’s capabilities are aligned with the government’s strategic priorities and emerging needs.
• Innovation Artifact Development:
• Document Creation: Assisting in the development of key capture artifacts such as customer profiles, capture plans, and technology capability briefs.
• Tailored Marketing Material Support:
• Customization: Helping to tailor existing marketing materials, including slick sheets, white papers, or innovation overviews, to specifically address identified government pain points or unique mission requirements.
• Strategic Research Alignment:
• Policy Analysis: Conducting supporting research by analyzing federal strategy documents (e.g., National Defense Strategy, DoD modernization plans) to strategically position the value proposition of JHNA’s innovations.
• Proposal Development:
• Proposal Production & Submission: Contributing to the overall process of producing and submitting compelling and compliant proposal responses.
• Subcontractor Proposal Support (as Sub):
• Coordination: Coordinating JHNA’s specific contributions to proposals where a prime contractor leads, including formatting inputs, conducting compliance checks, and tracking internal deadlines.
• Prime Proposal Subcontractor Management:
• Team Coordination: When JHNA acts as the prime contractor, supporting the coordination of subcontractor teammates, which involves managing data calls, tracking input submissions, and verifying compliance.
• Proposal Production Support:
• Assembly & Quality Control: Assisting with various aspects of proposal production, such as formatting, proofreading, creating required sections (e.g., Tables of Contents, cover pages), and assembling complete and compliant proposal packages.
• Internal Reviews & Decision Gates:
• Oversight Management: Supporting the management of internal oversight and approval processes before making critical bid/no-bid decisions or submitting proposals.
• Gate Review Presentations:
• Material Preparation: Assisting in the preparation of presentation materials, slides, and opportunity summaries for internal gate reviews, which are crucial milestones in the BD process.
• Action Item Follow-Up:
• Accountability & Momentum: Tracking and following up on all business development or proposal-related tasks identified during team meetings, thereby helping to maintain project momentum and accountability.
• Post-Submission & Process Improvement:
• Knowledge Institutionalization: Contributing to the institutionalization of knowledge, refining internal processes, and preparing for future pursuits.
• Internal BD Process Documentation:
• Best Practices: Documenting lessons learned, creating templates, and outlining best practices to ensure that knowledge is effectively transferred and accessible for future Business Development Interns and CRMs.