European BD Lead: AI Materials & Defense Partnerships

Aether Bio, Inc.; United States, Northern America, Americas; Hybrid; USD 108,000 - 211,000; Full time

Job summary

Aether Biomachines is seeking an experienced EU Business Development Lead to expand our presence in the European aerospace, defense, and industrial ecosystems. This role blends strategic partnerships with deep technical engagement and long-cycle sales in a regulated environment.

You will navigate complex procurement, build trusted relationships with conservative buyers, and lead multi-year collaborations across R&D, materials, and product teams.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in business development, application development, strategic partnerships, or commercial roles in the 3D printing materials space selling into military OEMs and defense primes.
• Demonstrated success in complex, multi-stakeholder technical sales (12–36+ month cycles).
• Strong familiarity with the EU military/defense procurement and supplier ecosystem.
• Ability to credibly engage with engineering teams, R&D leadership, CTO offices, and technical program managers.
• Proven ability to build a market from ground zero and operate with high autonomy.
• Experience operating in regulated or security-conscious environments with high expectations around rigor, documentation, and risk mitigation.

Responsibilities

• Market Development across multiple markets.
• Develop a strategic plan to expand presence in European military/defense, transportation and industrial markets.
• Map the EU ecosystem: primes, Tier 1/Tier 2 suppliers, additive manufacturing OEMs, service bureaus, research agencies, defense innovation units, industrial conglomerates.
• Identify early commercial pathways where Aether’s materials capabilities drive step-change performance.
• Lead partner engagements across R&D, advanced materials groups, CTO offices, innovation labs, and engineering teams.
• Navigate long procurement cycles, qualification processes, and multi-layered stakeholder environments.
• Structure collaborations, pilot projects, PoCs, joint development agreements, and multi-year technical partnerships.
• Work closely with scientists to define technical workstreams and project scopes.
• Translate customer engineering challenges into internal problem statements.
• Assess feasibility, risks, and potential paths from prototype → qualification → deployment.
• Engage with EU and national agencies (e.g. ESA, DLR, CNES, ONERA, UK DSTL, Fraunhofer, etc.) to identify strategic partnership opportunities.
• Represent Aether in dual-use and advanced materials consortiums and industry events.
• Track funding mechanisms, pilot programs, and government-backed innovation pathways.
• Build and manage a robust pipeline across priority verticals.
• Provide structured feedback to leadership to guide the product development roadmap and technical investment areas.
• Work collaboratively with the BD and Product Development Teams.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

Complex technical sales

New market development

Regulated environments

Job description

Aether Biomachines is seeking an experienced EU Business Development Lead to expand our presence in the European aerospace, defense, and industrial ecosystems. This role blends strategic partnerships with deep technical engagement and long-cycle sales in a regulated environment.

You will navigate complex procurement, build trusted relationships with conservative buyers, and lead multi-year collaborations across R&D, materials, and product teams.