Aerospace engineer Jobs in Los Angeles, CA

Executive Business Development "Hunter"

Large Precision Aerospace Structures | Contract Engagement

Engagement Type: Independent Contractor / Executive Consulting (with conversion potential) Location: Hybrid Greater Los Angeles, CA (on-site cadence + program/customer travel) Reports To: CEO / Board, in coordination with Value Driven Solutions (sponsor) Sponsor: Value Driven Solutions Private Equity

About the Company

The Company is a fast-growing, PE-backed aerospace manufacturer specializing in large, capital-intensive precision machining of complex aerospace structures. Our competitive advantage lives in our machine centers large-envelope, single-setup capability on parts most of the supply base cannot hold. Backed by Value Driven Solutions, we are scaling deliberately: the asset is the franchise, and growth is measured by how hard and how smartly that asset is loaded.

The Mandate

This is not a quota-and-PO-count seat. We are hiring a Hunter a senior business development executive who thinks like an owner of the asset base and treats spindle hours as the scoreboard.

Your job is to fill the machines with the right long-cycle work: programs that fit our envelope, fit our capacity roadmap, and fit our cash profile. You will pursue and capture multi-year campaigns, position the Company early in program design and make-vs-buy decisions, displace at-risk incumbents, and build a qualified backlog tied directly to the loading curve. You will shape deals so that long-cycle work protects margin and cash not just revenue.

If you have hunted large precision structures into the primes and tier-1s, can speak credibly to fixturing and large-part metrology, and have built backlog that kept capital equipment loaded for years, this engagement is built for you.

What Success Looks Like The Asset-Loading Mindset

You will be measured on the health of the loading curve, not the length of the pipeline report. Success means:

• Our large machine centers stay loaded at target utilization, with spindle hours trending up and idle capacity converted to qualified backlog.
• New captures fit the work envelope, the capacity roadmap, and the cash profile we win the work we should win, not just the work we can book.
• Backlog is durable and long-cycle, anchored in programs where the Company is designed in, not bid in at the back end.
• Every deal is structured to protect margin and cash across a multi-year horizon.

Core Responsibilities

1. Load the Asset. Treat growth as keeping large, capital-intensive machine centers loaded. Manage to spindle hours and utilization as primary indicators of health not raw volume or purchase-order count. Convert open capacity into qualified, profitable backlog.

2. Run Long-Cycle Campaigns and Captures. Own multi-year program capture from first contact through award. These are campaigns, not transactions sustained, relationship-driven pursuits measured in quarters and years.

3. Get Designed In Early. Pursue programs where large structures are engineered in, and position the Company at the requirements and make-vs-buy stage before the work is competed. Win on engineering credibility and timing, not just price.

4. Bring Large-Envelope Technical Fluency. Speak credibly to customers and engineers about work envelope, single-setup capability on large parts, fixturing, large-part metrology, and material behavior. You are the bridge between the customer's hardest structural problems and our capability to hold them.

5. Work the Hunting Grounds. Know the primes and tier-1s that consume large precision structures, and hold trusted, current access into the relevant programs and supply-chain organizations. Relationships are an asset you bring on day one and expand through the engagement.

6. Take Market Through Displacement. Monitor competitor exits, capacity gaps, and at-risk programs. Run disciplined qualification campaigns to win second-source positions and capture work shaken loose by an incumbent's weakness or exit.

7. Shape Deals for Margin and Cash. Structure terms to protect the Company on long-cycle work progress and milestone billing, material pass-through, cancellation protection, and escalation. Apply working-capital and risk-based thinking to every engagement so that backlog strengthens the balance sheet rather than straining it.

8. Build and Defend Backlog. Own a backlog-and-loading report tied to the capacity curve. Qualify hard. Pursue only what fits the envelope, the roadmap, and the cash profile and have the discipline to walk away from work that doesn't.

Qualifications

Required

• Demonstrated track record capturing long-cycle, multi-year aerospace programs involving large, complex machined structures.
• Existing, trusted relationships across aerospace primes and tier-1s, with access into active programs and supply-chain organizations.
• Technical fluency in large-envelope precision machining: work envelope and single-setup considerations, fixturing, large-part metrology, and material behavior.
• Experience positioning a supplier early at requirements definition and make-vs-buy rather than competing at the back end.
• Commercial sophistication in long-cycle deal structures: milestone/progress billing, material pass-through, cancellation and escalation terms, and working-capital impact.
• Owner's mindset toward capital equipment utilization; comfort managing to spindle hours, loading curves, and utilization targets.
• Self-directed operator who can build a qualified backlog with minimal infrastructure and reports candidly on what fits and what doesn't.

Preferred

• Prior experience in a PE-backed, high-growth manufacturing environment.
• History of winning second-source and displacement campaigns.
• Established presence in or familiarity with the Southern California aerospace ecosystem.

Engagement Terms

• Structure: Independent contractor / executive consulting engagement, with potential conversion to a permanent executive role based on performance and mutual fit.
• Location & Schedule: Hybrid, based in the Greater Los Angeles area, with regular on-site presence and travel to customer, prime, and program sites as captures require.
• Compensation: Competitive engagement fee with a performance/capture-based incentive structure tied to qualified backlog and loading outcomes. Specific terms negotiated based on experience.
• Sponsor Relationship: This role is sponsored by Value Driven Solutions on behalf of its portfolio company and works in close coordination with Company leadership and the deal team.