Director, Defense Business Development – Europe & Middle East
Machina LabsAdvanced Manufacturing company
RemoteDirector
Innovation Endeavors
NVentures
Lockheed Martin Ventures
Woven Capital
Balerion Space Ventures
Strategic Development Fund
Sales & Account Management
About the role
TL;DR
Drive business development for Machina Labs in the European defense market.
- •About Machina Labs Engineering moves at software speed.
- •Manufacturing doesn't.
- •Machina Labs is changing that.
- •We build intelligent, software-defined factories that produce complex metal structures directly from digital design.
- •By integrating advanced metal forming, robotics, and automated production inside a flexible factory architecture, we enable customers to move from prototype to production in weeks, not years.
- •Backed by Lockheed Martin, Toyota, and NVIDIA, we're building the manufacturing infrastructure that defense, aerospace, and advanced mobility programs will run on.
- •If you want to work on hard problems that matter and see them fly, drive, and defend, this is the place.
- •Machina is looking for a Director of Defense Business Development
- •Europe & Middle East to establish and grow our presence with European defense primes, with the opportunity to expand into the Middle East over time.
- •This is our first dedicated international business development role and will operate with significant autonomy.
- •You’ll identify the programs and partners where Machina’s technologies and factories can have the greatest impact, build trusted relationships across European defense companies, and turn those relationships into technical engagements, proof-of-concept programs, qualification programs, and ultimately production opportunities, either fulfilled by Machina factories or deployed at customer sites.
- •This is not a traditional sales role.
- •We’re looking for someone who can operate credibly with engineers, program leaders, manufacturing teams, and senior executives and understands how complex defense systems move from development into production.
- •You will work closely with Machina’s leadership, defense subsidiary, business development, engineering, and manufacturing teams.
- •This is a remote position based in Europe, with significant travel throughout the region and periodic travel to Machina’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
- •Candidates must reside in Europe.
- •What You'll Do Build Machina’s business across the European defense market, with an initial focus on major primes and missile, hypersonic, and strike programs.
- •Identify the programs and technical problems where Machina can have the greatest impact, then turn those opportunities into POCs, qualification efforts, and production programs.
- •Build trusted relationships across engineering, program, manufacturing, and business leadership at our target customers.
- •Develop the account and market strategy for Europe, including where we play, who we partner with, and where we invest.
- •Serve as Machina’s eyes and ears in the region, bringing back market intelligence that shapes our longer-term European strategy.
- •Work closely with our U.S.
- •BD, engineering, and manufacturing teams to move opportunities from conversation to execution.
- •What We're Looking For Strong technical foundation, ideally an engineering background followed by experience in business development, capture, program leadership, or another customer-facing role.
- •Deep understanding of missile, hypersonic, strike, propulsion, weapons systems, or closely related aerospace/defense technologies and how they are designed and manufactured.
- •Demonstrated experience building business with European defense primes and navigating complex technical organizations.
- •Experience moving opportunities beyond relationship-building into technical evaluation, qualification, and production.
- •Ability to operate independently, set strategy, and create momentum without an established local team or playbook.
- •Strong communication skills and the ability to build credibility with both technical and executive audiences.
- •Willingness to travel extensively throughout Europe and periodically to Machina’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
- •Strongly Preferred Experience working inside a major European defense prime, missile manufacturer, or critical subsystem supplier.
- •Existing relationships across European missile, hypersonic, strike, or advanced weapons programs.
- •Experience in advanced manufacturing, aerospace structures, propulsion, or complex metal assemblies.
- •Experience in a startup, growth-stage defense technology company, or similarly fast-moving environment.
- •Additional European language proficiency.
- •What Success Looks Like During your first year, you will: Establish Machina’s target-account and program strategy across the European defense market.
- •Build senior and technical relationships across our highest-priority European primes.
- •Develop several proof-of-concept programs with credible paths toward qualification and production.
- •Build a qualified pipeline of longer-term production opportunities.
- •Help Machina understand where a future European manufacturing or Edge Factory presence could create strategic value.
- •This role may be based anywhere in Europe.
- •Candidates are not limited to the locations listed above.
Required skills
Business DevelopmentSalesMarket AnalysisSalesforceHubSpotNegotiationPartnership ManagementCRMSolution SellingSales OperationsPipeline ManagementLead Generation
Nice-to-have skills
Enterprise SalesAccount ManagementB2B SalesCustomer ServicePresentation SkillsMentoringCoaching
Domain expertise
defenseaerospace
Tech stack
PythonJavaScriptTypeScriptJavaC++C#GoRustRubyPHPSwiftKotlinScalaRSQLBashCObjective-CPerlLuaElixirClojureHaskellDartReactVue.jsAngularNext.jsSvelteHTML
