Senior Sales Director, Aerospace & Defense

🕒 September 12

🇺🇸 United States – Remote

⏰ Full Time

🟠 Senior

🤑 Sales

👻 Ghost score 18%

What it means: how likely this posting is sitting open without active hiring.How to read it: 60% or higher means we think this is a ghost. Lower scores are less of a worry.How we score it: age, reposts, open roles vs team size, how fast jobs close, and whether pay is listed.Fine print: an estimate from public data, not a judgment of the company. Real jobs can score high, so treat it as a hint, not a fact.

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USA Rare Earth, LLC

WebsiteLinkedInAll Job Openings

11 - 50 employees

Founded 2019

🏭 Manufacturing

⚡ Energy

🎖️ Defense

Manufacturing • Energy • Defense

USA Rare Earth, LLC is a leading supplier of critical rare earth magnets, focused on establishing one of the largest rare earth magnet manufacturing facilities in the United States. With a commitment to onshoring rare earth metal making capabilities, the company aims to support various fast-growing industries including defense, robotics, electric vehicles, and renewable energy. USA Rare Earth is also developing proprietary processing technologies and has a unique deposit in West Texas, which hosts a significant number of rare earth elements and high-tech metals.

📋 Description

• Lead USA Rare Earth's commercial growth within the aerospace and defense market • Own an end-to-end book of business, from strategic account planning and new program capture through demand forecasting and year-over-year account growth • Identify and engage OEMs and integrators integrating rare earth magnets into mission-critical systems • Serve as primary relationship owner for key accounts and target programs • Lead technical sales efforts and manage the full-cycle government contracting process through program award • Develop and execute account plans aligned to annual revenue targets • Build executive-level relationships with customer engineering, procurement, and program management organizations • Guide customers through material qualification and program approval processes • Lead development of MOUs, JDAs, and supply agreements • Convert early-stage agreements into production slot orders and purchase orders • Represent USA Rare Earth at defense tradeshows, industry briefings, and customer meetings • Own demand planning and forecasting for assigned accounts • Deliver monthly forecasting and demand plans, maintaining forecast accuracy of 80% or greater • Translate customer program schedules, ramp curves, and volume forecasts into actionable production plans • Monitor aerospace and defense demand trends, budget cycles, and program awards • Maintain CRM account, opportunity, and pipeline data • Maintain CRM pipeline coverage of 10 times annual revenue targets • Track and report pipeline health, win/loss trends, and account growth • Develop multi-year account plans and pursuit roadmaps • Collaborate with Contracts, Application Engineering, Program Management, Quality, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Marketing, and executive leadership • Negotiate and close business under FAR/DFARS-compliant terms • Lead contract negotiations, pricing strategy, and commercial terms • Monitor competitive landscape, program timelines, and industry trends • Provide voice-of-customer feedback to Product, Engineering, and Leadership • Contribute to long-range strategic planning for the aerospace and defense segment

🎯 Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, Engineering or a related field required • 10+ years of progressive commercial or sales experience • 5+ years focused on aerospace and defense or an adjacent industry • Demonstrated success managing complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles and growing account revenue year over year • Experience with industrial demand planning and forecasting in a manufacturing or industrial supply environment • Proven CRM proficiency (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales or Salesforce.com) • Existing relationships with aerospace and defense primes, Tier 1 or Tier 2 suppliers, or defense agencies strongly preferred • Active or prior security clearance is a plus, though not required • Ability to travel 60% or more • Proven track record of building and growing complex, technical accounts within long sales-cycle, highly regulated industries • Strong executive presence and communication skills • Demonstrated ability to independently manage a full sales cycle, from prospecting through contract negotiation and account growth • Skilled in industrial demand planning and forecasting • Proficiency with CRM platforms (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales preferred; Salesforce.com or Hubspot acceptable) • Working knowledge of aerospace and defense procurement processes, including prime contractors, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, and government contracting practices (FAR/DFARS) • Understanding of export control regulations (ITAR/EAR) • Familiarity with MIL-SPEC qualification processes and long program qualification cycles

🏖️ Benefits

• Equal employment opportunities • Reasonable accommodations according to applicable federal, state, and/or local laws • Home office work environment • Remote work in the United States