Vice President, Strategic Accounts, Aerospace & Defense
Reports To: Chief Commercial Officer
Location: Hybrid. Open to candidates near LA, Phoenix, Bay Area, Denver, San Antonio, Atlanta, Louisville, Cincinnati, Columbus (OH), Chicago, Detroit, Boston, or Las Vegas.
Compensation: Competitive base plus 20-25% target bonus, with equity participation.
Eligibility: U.S. citizenship required. No visa sponsorship.
About the Client
A private-equity-backed manufacturer of engineered protective packaging is building out its Aerospace & Defense vertical and is hiring the leader to drive it. The company sells tailored packaging and supply chain solutions to the largest Primes and their Tier 1 suppliers.
About the Role
Selling into A&D Primes is not a cold outreach problem. The Primes work with partners who already speak their language: partners who understand the supply chain, materials flow, packaging specifications, and program-side procurement cadence from the inside. We are looking for someone who spent the bulk of their career inside a Prime, or a deeply Prime-embedded Tier 1, and is now ready to take that fluency to the supplier side.
Responsibilities
- Build and execute the A&D go-to-market strategy. Target accounts include Lockheed Martin, Raytheon/RTX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris, General Dynamics, their Tier 1 suppliers, UAV and space platform companies, and DoD-adjacent industrial customers.
- Convert insider relationships and supply chain credibility into multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts.
- Translate Prime-side technical and compliance requirements into something internal Operations and Engineering teams can deliver against.
- Partner with internal Quality and Operations leaders on AS9100 readiness, Prime-led facility audits, and ITAR / CMMC posture.
- Hire and build the A&D commercial team behind you as the book grows.
Requirements
Must-Haves
- 10+ years in A&D supply chain, program procurement, materials, packaging engineering, or strategic sourcing, with meaningful tenure inside a Prime or a deeply Prime-embedded Tier 1.
- Active, named relationships with Prime supply chain, procurement, or program office decision-makers.
- Proven ownership of multi-million-dollar contract relationships, whether on the buy side or the sell side.
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Industrial Engineering, or related discipline.
- U.S. citizen.
Nice-to-Haves
- Sustained tenure (five-plus years) in a single supply chain, logistics, materials, or program-procurement role at a Prime or major Tier 1.
- Prior commercial or strategic accounts experience selling industrial services into the A&D ecosystem.
- Fluency with AS9100, NIST 800-171, CMMC, or ITAR. You do not need to have personally built a QMS, but you should be conversant.
- Veteran or DoD acquisition background.