Commercial Development Manager

Foundation Alloy; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful work

Salary increases with inflation

Equity

Unlimited vacation

Flexible schedule

Health/dental/vision

Voice in future benefits

Job summary

Foundation Alloy is building the most advanced metal alloy company, driving growth across space, aerospace, defense, energy and industrial markets. You will support business development, identify opportunities, and coordinate cross-functional teams to advance pilot programs, proposals, and commercialization discussions.

The role requires 4+ years in BD or related fields, excellent communication, and a strong interest in high-growth startups within advanced materials and metallurgy.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in business development, sales, partnerships, or related roles in startups or deep tech.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management with technical and commercial audiences.
• Entrepreneurial, highly organized and able to work in fast-paced environments.
• Experience with CRM systems and channel/partner coordination is a plus.
• Willingness to travel ~25% for meetings and events.

Responsibilities

• Support business development and customer growth across aerospace, defense, and industrial markets.
• Identify and progress new opportunities, strategic accounts, and applications.
• Manage outbound engagement, prospecting, follow-ups, meetings, and opportunity tracking.
• Coordinate distributor and partner relationships, including international partners.
• Drive programs from initial engagement through pilot validation and commercialization.
• Prepare proposals, quotations, and other commercial documentation; collaborate with engineering and operations.

Skills

Business development

Sales

Relationship-building

Project management

Analytical thinking

Startup experience

Travel

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

CRM software

Distributor coordination

Job description

Foundation Alloy is building the most advanced metal alloy company in the world. Our mission is to unlock performance that legacy materials and processes simply cannot deliver, enabling the next generation of critical hardware across space, aerospace, defense, energy, and industrial applications.

Our proprietary MetalsFIRST platform eliminates melting entirely, using mechanical alloying and rapid sintering to produce alloys with ultra-fine grain structures and exceptional properties. We are already deploying initial materials, including our Molyclast alloys (MC700, MC1200, and MC-X) and specialty steels.

We are a Boston-area company commercializing deep materials science developed at the intersection of advanced manufacturing and frontier materials science. We move fast, operate with high technical rigor, and are scaling the infrastructure to bring these materials into production.

What you'll be working on:

• Support business development and customer growth initiatives across aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, energy, and industrial markets
• Identify, develop, and progress new customer opportunities, strategic accounts, and application areas
• Manage outbound customer engagement activities including prospecting, follow-ups, meeting coordination, and opportunity tracking
• Support management of distributor and channel partner relationships, including coordination with international partners
• Drive customer programs from initial engagement through pilot validation and commercialization discussions
• Coordinate customer proposals, quotations, presentations, statements of work (SOWs), and other commercial documentation
• Partner cross-functionally with engineering, manufacturing, and operations teams to support customer success and technical execution
• Represent Foundation Alloy at customer meetings, trade shows, conferences, and industry events
• Conduct market and competitive research to identify emerging applications, industries, and commercialization opportunities

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in business development, sales, partnerships, management consulting, engineering, program management, or related roles within startups, industrial technology, or deep tech environments
• Strong interest in building a career in business development, commercialization, and go-to-market leadership within a high-growth startup
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and project management skills with the ability to engage technical and commercial stakeholders
• Entrepreneurial, highly organized, and comfortable operating in fast-paced, ambiguous startup environments with evolving priorities
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with attention to detail and operational rigor
• Interest or experience in advanced manufacturing, metallurgy, advanced materials, aerospace, defense, robotics, semiconductors, or related industrial technologies is strongly preferred
• Experience with CRM systems, distributor or channel coordination, and international business environments is a plus
• Willingness to travel (~25%) for customer meetings, conferences, and strategic engagements
• Bachelor’s degree preferred in business, engineering, materials science, operations, economics, or related fields

Culture

We don't look for profiles that "fit" with our culture. We look for people that add to who we are - people with the initiative, positive approach to problem solving, and passion for something (anything!) that will make them both high impact and exciting to work alongside from day one. We know that these people come from all walks of life, with all backgrounds and levels of experience. If you're excited about the work we can do together, please reach out. We enthusiastically welcome team members of all races, colors, religions, ages, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, national origins, different abilities, genetics, veteran statuses, and former incarceration statuses.

Compensation and Benefits

The success of this company will be grounded in the long-term productivity of our team. To provide everyone with the physical, mental and financial safety to operate at their long-term best, we provide the following:

• Meaningful, challenging, impactful work, and opportunities to grow within the company at all levels
• Competitive salary, guaranteed to rise with inflation at a minimum each year
• Equity - People at every level will have an impact, and should benefit from their work
• Unlimited paid vacation, with a very strong expectation that employees take a minimum of 15 days off per year, and a full week off at least once per year
• Flexible working style. Most jobs will require people to be present in person or in office most of the time, but in general we care about what’s getting done, not when or where you’re doing it
• Top tier health, dental and vision insurance with limited employee contributions
• A voice in future benefits. This is the beginning, and we will work together to keep adding new, better ways to provide for everyone in the company