Director of Product Sales and Commercialization

Salary Range: 220000 to 270000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Sales Strategy & Commercialization

Develop and execute sales and commercialization strategies across Aether's established products, differentiated technologies, and IP offerings.

Drive sales growth for existing products by identifying new customers, markets, applications, and opportunities for repeat or follow-on orders.

Develop commercialization strategies for emerging technologies, including product positioning, market readiness, customer validation, and transition to repeatable sales.

Establish product-specific go-to-market plans addressing target customers, market demand, competitive positioning, pricing approaches, sales channels, and revenue opportunities.

Work with Product, Engineering, and Manufacturing leadership to understand product capabilities, production readiness, delivery constraints, and opportunities to scale sales.

Provide market and customer input to product roadmaps, investment priorities, and decisions regarding product development and commercialization.

Market Development & Customer Engagement

Identify, develop, and qualify customer opportunities across the Department of Defense, defense industry primes, OEMs, and other relevant markets.

Build relationships with Government program offices, acquisition organizations, technical decision-makers, and industry partners to understand mission requirements, funding priorities, and procurement approaches.

Lead customer-facing product sales engagements, including capability discussions, demonstrations, technical interchange meetings, and commercialization discussions.

Develop compelling product value propositions that communicate mission benefits, integration advantages, cost/schedule considerations, and differentiation from competing solutions.

Product Sales Pipeline & Opportunity Conversion

Build and manage a qualified sales pipeline across Aether's established products, differentiated technologies, and emerging IP offerings.

Lead the development and advancement of product sales opportunities, including direct sales, repeat orders, follow-on contracts, product integration, and technology commercialization.

Lead commercial customer engagements, including product discussions, quotation development, pricing coordination, and order development, in collaboration with Finance, Contracts, and applicable business units.

Partner with Capture Leads and business unit leadership on complex Government pursuits requiring formal capture strategies, proposals, teaming, or acquisition planning.

Coordinate with Product, Engineering, and Manufacturing to validate product availability, technical applicability, production capacity, cost, and delivery commitments.

Maintain visibility into product sales opportunities, bookings, forecasts, and customer demand through Aether's established CRM and Growth processes.

Acquisition Strategy & Contracting Pathways

Identify and develop executable acquisition strategies that enable Government and industry customers to procure Aether's products and differentiated solutions.

Work with Growth, Contracts, and business unit leadership to evaluate applicable acquisition pathways, including SBIR Phase III authority, IDIQ task orders, GSA MAS, Other Transaction Authority (OTA), and other appropriate contracting mechanisms.

Develop product-specific sales and pricing strategies, including direct sales, repeat orders, licensing where applicable, and other procurement models, in coordination with Product, Finance, and Contracts.

Identify opportunities for sole-source follow-on business where appropriate, repeat product orders, additional funded applications, and expanded adoption of existing Aether offerings.

Coordinate with strategic partners, OEMs, and prime contractors to establish teaming, integration, and distribution approaches that expand market access.

Product Marketing & Sales Enablement

Partner with Communications/Marketing and Product leadership to develop and maintain an enterprise product catalog covering established products, differentiated solutions, and commercializable IP, along with supporting sales collateral, capability briefs, demonstration materials, and customer-facing product information.

Establish consistent product positioning, messaging, and value propositions aligned with target customer requirements and mission applications.

Identify appropriate industry events, customer demonstrations, technical forums, and targeted marketing activities that support product commercialization and qualified opportunity development.

Provide market intelligence, competitive insights, and customer feedback to inform product marketing priorities and sales campaigns.

Cross-Functional Coordination

Work closely with Product, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Operations leadership to ensure proposed product sales and applications are technically feasible, commercially supportable, and aligned with approved product capabilities, production capacity, and delivery requirements.

Coordinate with Product Leadership, Solutions Engineering and other technical subject-matter experts to support customer discovery, demonstrations, solution development, and technical qualification.

Collaborate with Capture Leads to ensure product sales activities are integrated with established customer relationships, capture strategies, and proposal processes.

Provide Growth leadership with visibility into product market opportunities, commercialization progress, customer demand, and barriers to product adoption.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

Clearance: Ability to obtain a Secret Clearance (Active Secret Clearance preferred)

Education & Years of Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Aerospace or a related technical discipline; equivalent highly relevant experience may be considered and 10+ years of relevant experience in aerospace or defense product sales, business development, technology commercialization, or related commercial leadership roles.

• Demonstrated experience selling technical products, hardware, software, or integrated solutions to Government customers, defense contractors, OEMs, or other aerospace and defense markets.
• Strong understanding of DoD acquisition processes, procurement pathways, funding environments, and defense contracting practices.
• Experience translating complex technical capabilities into customer value propositions, sales strategies, and executable business opportunities.
• Demonstrated ability to develop customer relationships, identify requirements, qualify opportunities, and advance pursuits toward funded awards.
• Experience collaborating with engineering, product management, capture, finance, contracts, and program delivery organizations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level briefings, customer presentations, and strategic partner engagements.
• Ability to manage multiple product sales opportunities and priorities in a dynamic growth environment.
• Ability to travel regularly for customer engagements, industry events, technical demonstrations, and strategic partner meetings.

PREFERRED ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Experience developing and expanding sales of manufactured aerospace/defense products, software-enabled solutions, and emerging technologies across multiple customers or market segments.
Experience developing repeatable product sales models within organizations historically focused on engineering services or non-recurring engineering (NRE).
Familiarity with military aviation, avionics, mission systems, Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), autonomy, or related defense technology markets.
Experience supporting SBIR Phase III commercialization, sole-source acquisition strategies, OTA pathways, or other nontraditional defense acquisition approaches.
Experience developing product pricing, licensing, sustainment, and follow-on revenue strategies.
Experience working with Government program offices, major defense primes, OEMs, and technology integration partners.
Demonstrated experience building and managing product-focused sales pipelines and forecasts.
Existing customer and industry relationships across Army Aviation, Air Force, Navy/NAVAIR, or other relevant DoD communities.
Experience launching new defense products or expanding adoption of established technology across multiple customers or platforms.