Fractional Business Development Director – Engineering & Manufacturing

Fractional Business Development Director – Engineering & Manufacturing

AK3D LLC Contract / Fractional | Approximately 10 Hours per Week

$75–$125/hour + Uncapped CommissionRemote / Hybrid – Melbourne, FL preferred, but experience takes priority

About AK3D

AK3D is an engineering and advanced manufacturing company based in Melbourne, Florida. We help companies take products from concept through production through mechanical engineering, CAD/design, prototyping, additive manufacturing, and related manufacturing services.

We work primarily with businesses that need technically capable partners rather than commodity vendors. Our customers and target markets include companies in the marine, aerospace/defense, and broader industrial/manufacturing sectors.

We are now looking to build a more structured, repeatable business-development function to support continued growth.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Fractional Business Development Director to work directly with the owner approximately 10 hours per week.

This is not a traditional sales representative position.

We are looking for a seasoned business-development professional who has spent a meaningful portion of their career selling technical products, engineering services, manufacturing capabilities, or similar B2B solutions.

The initial priority will be to help us build the business-development system itself: strategy, target markets, prospecting methods, CRM structure, pipeline management, follow-up processes, metrics, account-development strategy, and eventually delegation.

We want someone who can bring experience and judgment to the table, teach us what works, help implement it, and participate in business development where their involvement creates the most value.

Our objective is not to permanently outsource business development. We want to develop an internal capability and a repeatable system that can scale with the company.

What You’ll Help Build

Working directly with the owner, you will help:

• Evaluate our current customer base, positioning, capabilities, and growth opportunities
• Define ideal customer profiles and priority market segments
• Develop a practical business-development strategy for engineering and manufacturing services
• Build a structured prospecting and account-development process
• Establish pipeline stages, activities, KPIs, and reporting
• Develop our CRM and business-development workflow in Odoo
• Establish effective prospecting, follow-up, and relationship-management processes
• Develop messaging, outreach strategies, capability presentations, and sales tools
• Identify high-value target accounts and decision-makers
• Develop strategies for entering and expanding strategic accounts
• Establish processes for referrals, partnerships, networking, trade shows, and industry events
• Help qualify opportunities and determine where AK3D should focus its resources
• Participate in customer outreach, meetings, proposals, negotiations, and closing when appropriate
• Help determine which activities should remain with leadership and which can eventually be delegated to sales or administrative staff
• Coach the owner and team on effective technical business development
• Create a repeatable system capable of supporting significant year-over-year growth

Our broader objective is to continue scaling the company aggressively, with a long-term goal of approximately 2-3x year-over-year growth while maintaining strong customer relationships and profitable work.

Who We’re Looking For

The ideal candidate has 15+ years of experience in business development, technical sales, strategic accounts, sales leadership, or a related commercial role.

You may have previously worked as a:

• Director or VP of Business Development
• Director or VP of Sales
• Technical Sales Executive
• Strategic Account Executive
• Manufacturing Sales Leader
• Engineering Services Business Development Leader
• Independent/Fractional Sales or Business Development Consultant

We are particularly interested in experienced professionals who have accumulated substantial industry knowledge and relationships and are now interested in a flexible, high-impact fractional engagement.

Relevant Industry Experience

Strong preference will be given to candidates with experience selling into or working with:

• Aerospace & defense
• Marine / boatbuilding / marine OEMs
• Industrial manufacturing
• Engineering services
• Contract manufacturing
• Product development
• Custom manufacturing
• OEMs and Tier suppliers

Experience in additive manufacturing / 3D printing is a plus but is not required.

We care considerably more about your understanding of technical B2B sales, manufacturing customers, relationship development, and long sales cycles.

What Matters Most

We are looking for someone who:

• Understands how engineers, purchasing teams, program managers, executives, and manufacturing organizations make buying decisions
• Has personally developed meaningful B2B accounts
• Understands both relationship-based selling and structured outbound business development
• Can distinguish profitable opportunities from revenue that isn’t worth pursuing
• Knows how to build and manage a disciplined sales pipeline
• Has experience developing sales processes rather than simply following an existing corporate process
• Can mentor and transfer knowledge rather than keeping the sales process dependent on themselves
• Is comfortable working directly with a founder/owner
• Can operate independently without requiring significant management
• Is comfortable working with CRM systems and sales metrics
• Can balance strategy with practical execution

An existing network within aerospace, defense, marine, OEM manufacturing, engineering, or advanced manufacturing would be highly valuable.

Engagement Structure

This is an ongoing independent contractor / fractional position, initially expected to require approximately 10 hours per week.

Scheduling is flexible.

Candidates located near Melbourne, Florida / Florida’s Space Coast are preferred because of the value of occasional in-person collaboration and local industry relationships. However, we will prioritize relevant experience, industry knowledge, and track record over location.

Some customer meetings, industry events, trade shows, or travel may become appropriate as the business-development program develops.

Compensation

Base consulting rate: $75–$125/hour, depending on experience

Plus uncapped commission / performance compensation for qualifying new business.

We expect compensation to be weighted toward performance while still providing a meaningful base for the strategic, process-development, CRM, and mentoring components of the engagement.

Specific commission structure and account attribution will be agreed upon with the selected candidate.

What Success Looks Like

During the initial phase, success is not measured solely by immediate sales.

We expect the right person to help us establish:

• Clearly defined target markets and ideal customers
• A prioritized target-account strategy
• A functional and measurable CRM pipeline
• Consistent prospecting and follow-up processes
• Defined business-development KPIs
• Better visibility into opportunities and next actions
• A systematic approach to developing strategic accounts
• A process that other team members can eventually execute
• Increasing qualified opportunities, RFQs, new customers, and recurring revenue

Ultimately, the goal is to create a repeatable business-development engine that does not depend entirely on either the consultant or the owner.

To Apply

Please don’t send only a generic resume.

Along with your resume or professional background, briefly answer the following:

• How many years have you worked in business development, sales, or commercial leadership involving engineering, manufacturing, or technical products/services?
• Which industries have you sold into? Please specifically identify any experience with aerospace, defense, marine, OEM manufacturing, industrial manufacturing, engineering services, or additive manufacturing.
• Describe one business-development or sales system you personally helped build or significantly improve. What changed as a result?
• Describe one or two significant B2B accounts you personally helped develop. What was your role in opening and growing those relationships?
• What types of decision-makers have you typically sold to?
• Do you currently have relationships within aerospace, defense, marine, engineering, or manufacturing organizations that may be relevant to this role? Please describe generally; specific names are not required at this stage.
• Have you previously mentored an owner, executive, or sales team in developing a repeatable business-development process?
• Are you comfortable with an engagement of approximately 10 hours per week combining a base consulting rate with meaningful performance-based compensation?
• Where are you located?

We are less interested in generic sales experience and more interested in finding someone who understands how technical and manufacturing business is actually won and can help us build that capability internally.

Pay: From $100.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Cell phone reimbursement
• Flexible schedule

Work Location: In person