Sales Business Development Manager

You know aerospace. Now you want to get closer to where the business gets won.

Maybe you’ve spent the last few years in Business Development, Sales, Engineering, Program Management, Customer Account Management or another customer-facing aerospace role.

You understand the industry. You can follow a technical conversation. You know that winning new business in aerospace takes a lot more than making a sales call.

And you’re ready for more.

This is an opportunity to join a small, highly visible North American team working directly with major aerospace and defense customers and with business leaders, technical teams and manufacturing operations across the U.S. and Europe.

We’re not necessarily looking for someone who has already spent 20 years building an aerospace BD career.

We’re looking for someone who could.

Someone smart. Curious. Technically capable. Comfortable with customers. Interested in how aerospace companies actually make buying decisions. And motivated by the opportunity to learn the business, build relationships and become increasingly responsible for identifying and winning new opportunities.

What You’ll Be Doing

You’ll help find where the next business is coming from. You’ll work with customers, internal teams and business leaders to identify opportunities, understand requirements and determine where our capabilities can solve a customer need.

You’ll get inside the customer organization. Aerospace business development is built on relationships. You’ll develop connections across customer organizations, learn who influences decisions and build the credibility that earns you access to better conversations.

You’ll learn the technology — not just the sales pitch. You don’t need to be the engineer in the room. But you do need enough technical aptitude to understand the products, ask intelligent questions, follow engineering discussions and connect customer requirements with internal capabilities.

You’ll help turn opportunities into actual business. You’ll participate in the pursuit process from early customer conversations through RFI/RFP activity, proposal development, internal coordination, negotiations and ultimately the award.

You’ll connect a lot of moving pieces. Winning an aerospace program can involve Engineering, Operations, Quality, Contracts, Finance and business teams in multiple locations. You’ll help bring the right people together and keep opportunities moving.

You’ll work across an international organization. The Bellevue team works closely with operations and business teams throughout North America and Europe. You’ll learn how to navigate a global organization and bring the right capabilities forward for the customer.

And yes, you’ll get out of the office. Customer meetings, industry events, trade shows and travel are part of the job. Travel within the U.S. and internationally will be required.

Who We Think Could Be Great at This

We’re intentionally keeping the profile broader than a traditional senior BD search.

You may have 3–7 years of aerospace experience, ideally with some exposure to Business Development, Sales, Account Management, Programs, Engineering or another role that put you close to customers and new business.

More important, you bring:

• An aerospace or aerospace/defense background and an understanding of how the industry works.
• Strong technical aptitude. You can understand technical products, specifications and discussions even if you aren’t an engineer.
• Some experience with business development, customer relationships, proposals, capture or new-business opportunities.
• The ability to walk into a room with engineers, executives or customers and communicate credibly with each.
• Genuine curiosity. You want to understand the customer’s business, aircraft, programs, challenges and priorities.
• Strong relationship-building skills. You like getting to know people and developing relationships over time.
• The confidence to ask questions and the humility to know when you still have something to learn.
• The ability to coordinate across functions without needing formal authority over everyone involved.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• The organization and follow-through to manage multiple opportunities without letting details disappear.
• A bachelor’s degree. A technical, engineering or business-related degree could be particularly relevant, but we care about what you can do with what you know.

French or German language capability would be a plus, but it is not required.

What This Role Is NOT

This is not a high-volume sales job.

You won’t spend your day making hundreds of cold calls or trying to close transactional deals.

Aerospace business development happens over longer cycles. It requires understanding the customer, recognizing opportunities early, developing credibility, bringing the right technical and business people into the conversation, and staying engaged until an opportunity becomes something real.

And this is not a role where we expect you to arrive knowing everything.

We expect you to arrive ready to learn.

Why This Role Is Interesting

You’ll be joining a Bellevue-based team that sits close to some of the most important aerospace customers in North America while working with capabilities and operations across a much larger international organization.

That means exposure.

To customers. To senior leaders. To technical teams. To major programs. To how decisions get made. And to how significant aerospace business is actually pursued and won.

For someone who already knows aerospace but is still early enough in their career to want a much bigger runway, this could be an unusually good place to build it.

Location

This position is based in Bellevue, Washington and requires the ability to work from the Bellevue office. Travel within the United States and internationally will be required.

Next Steps

If this looks interesting, we'd love to hear from you! Please follow this link to complete some additional questions and submit your resume: https://tally.so/r/vGlQjg

Thank you!