Key Account Manager — Aerospace

Frigate; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 4,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Frigate Engineering Services, based in India, seeks a seasoned aerospace supplier account owner to drive vendor registrations and account growth. You will manage a portfolio of OEMs and Tier-1s, navigate audits, approvals, and RFQ processes, and collaborate with design and quality teams from drawing stage onward.

Willingness to travel 12–15 days a month is essential. Preferred locations are Bangalore or Hyderabad, with full-time commitment and direct reporting to the founder, as the business

Qualifications

• Mechanical or production engineering degree with aerospace exposure.
• Experience with supplier approvals, registration packs, and audits.
• Ability to read drawings, discuss GD&T, tolerances and finishes.

Responsibilities

• Get Frigate onto the approved vendor list at each account and manage audits.
• Navigate the qualification ladder: tooling/fixtures, non-critical parts, then flight-critical work.
• Bring in RFQs and quote them with the costing engineer.
• Collaborate with customer design and quality teams from drawing stage onward.
• Own delivery, quality escalation, and payment follow-through for accounts.

Skills

GD&T knowledge

Reading drawings

Vendor qualification experience

Travel readiness

Education

Mechanical or Production Engineering degree

Job description

Bangalore / Hyderabad preferred Reports to the Founder Full-time

Frigate Engineering Services builds and sources precision mechanical parts for aerospace and allied high-reliability industries. We are setting up an AS9100 facility for machined aluminium and titanium parts, chassis, enclosures and cold plates, and we already export build-to-print parts to a US Tier-2. We are looking for someone to own our key accounts.

What you’ll own the accounts and the part families

• A portfolio of named accounts: OEMs, Tier-1s and system houses across airframe, engine, avionics and electronic systems
• Part families including machined housings and structural details, chassis and enclosures, sheet metal assemblies, cold plates, and tooling, jigs and ground support equipment
• Support to our export accounts on documentation: first article inspection packs, material certificates and traceability

What the job actually is day to day

• Get Frigate onto the approved vendor list at each account, and run the audits and paperwork that go with it
• Work the qualification ladder deliberately: tooling and fixtures, then non-critical parts, then flight-critical work. You’ll know that a fixture PO in month 3 is what makes a critical-part RFQ possible in month 18
• Bring in RFQs and quote them with our costing engineer
• Sit with customer design and quality teams from the drawing stage, not just with purchase
• Own delivery, quality escalation and payment follow-through for your accounts

What we’re looking for the person, not the job title

• Mechanical or production engineering degree, 6–12 years in aerospace or high-reliability manufacturing
• You’ve been on one side or the other of supplier approval — as a buyer, a supplier quality engineer, a programme manager, or the person at a hop who got approved. You know what a registration pack, an audit and a first article report involve
• You can read a drawing, discuss GD&T, tolerances and surface finishes, and tell a good machining vendor from a bad one
• You’re comfortable owning a number, not just a relationship
• Based in Bangalore or Hyderabad preferred, and willing to travel 12–15 days a month

Bonus nice to have

• Exposure to special processes: anodising, chemical conversion coating, NDT, heat treatment and NADCAP
• Experience setting up a new supplier’s approvals from scratch

What you get

• Competitive fixed pay plus a variable tied to vendor registrations and account gross margin
• You report to the founder and you’re building a business unit, not managing one