Responsibilities
What you'll own
- Build a qualified pipeline of polymer-optics programs in automotive DMS/OMS and ADAS, medical-device imaging and illumination, and tactical/defense sensors.
- Lead technical-commercial conversations with optical engineering, supply chain, and program management at OEMs and Tier 1s.
- Partner with the optical and mechanical design lead on early scoping and DFM commitments customers can take to their internal review.
- Own the proposal end-to-end: capability fit, schedule, capacity, certifications, and the evidence we can put behind every claim.
- Represent Sandia at SPIE, Photonics West, AutoSens, and Vision-class events with technical depth, not booth-side gloss.
Requirements
What we're looking for
- Seven or more years selling precision components to engineering buyers — optical, mechanical, or sensor systems.
- Comfortable explaining mold tooling, coatings, and metrology evidence to a skeptical optical engineering audience.
- Track record opening programs with Tier 1 automotive, medical-device, or defense primes.
- ITAR-eligible per the role's defense-program exposure.
Nice to have
Useful, not required
- Direct polymer-optics or injection-molding background.
- Existing relationships at automotive cabin-sensing or medical-imaging OEMs.
More about the role
Context
About the role
We sell on substance. The Director of Business Development opens programs where Sandia’s edge — design, molding, coating, and metrology under one roof — actually moves the customer’s risk profile. You’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with the optical and mechanical design lead and with the senior quality manager; you’ll own the customer-facing narrative end-to-end.
What success looks like
- A pipeline weighted toward programs where Sandia’s failure-mode coverage is differentiating, not commodity quoting.
- Proposals that survive technical scrubbing at the customer because the evidence behind each claim is documented.
- A predictable rhythm at SPIE, Photonics West, AutoSens, and Vision events that compounds year over year.
How to apply
Send a short note and resume to the address linked above. Tell us one program you opened where the optical or process specifics — not the relationship — were the reason you won.