Manager - Business Development (Aerospace & Defence)

Aetos Innovation Labs | Bengaluru | Full time

Experience: Minimum 4–5 years in B2B sales, with prior aerospace/defence experience. Not open to freshers or to candidates from unrelated industries.

TL;DR: We are hiring someone to grow our aerospace and defence business across India. You will sell to DRDO labs, HAL divisions, defence PSUs, private OEMs and their suppliers. The deals are long, the buyers are engineers, and the procurement process takes patience. If you have sold into this sector before and know how these customers actually buy, read on.

The Role

You will own the aerospace and defence market for Aetos. That means finding opportunities, meeting scientists and programme managers, understanding their problem well enough to shape a solution, and taking it through to a purchase order.

Two things make this different from most sales jobs. You are selling to engineers, so you earn credibility by understanding their problem, not by running through a deck.

You will not be doing this alone. Our technical team will back you on demos, trials and proposals. What you bring is the relationships, the market knowledge and the patience to work a defence sales cycle from start to finish.

What This Role Is NOT

- Not an inside sales job. You will be on the road, at labs and customer sites.
- Not a role for a general B2B seller. Without prior aerospace or defence experience, the learning curve here is too steep.
- Not only about relationships. You need to follow the technical discussion well enough to hold your own with a senior scientist.
- Not an account farming role. There are existing accounts to grow, but a large part of this job is opening new ones.

Key Responsibilities

Short-term (first 12 months)





- Build and work a pipeline across DRDO labs, HAL divisions, defence PSUs, private aerospace and defence OEMs, and their suppliers
- Map accounts properly: who uses the tools, who specifies, who approves, who releases the budget
- Run customer meetings and technical discussions, with our engineers supporting on the technical depth
- Travel across India to customer sites, labs, exhibitions and industry events

Medium to long-term (1–3 years)

- Build long-term relationships at senior levels within key programmes
- Bring market feedback back to us on what capabilities to build and which partnerships to pursue
- Find and develop new segments within the sector
- Build and lead a sales team as the business grows

Key Result Areas (KRAs)

These are the results we expect from this role:

- New accounts opened within the sector
- Health of the pipeline, measured by conversion and not just by volume
- Accuracy of forecasting and discipline in maintaining the CRM
- Strength of customer relationships, seen through repeat business and references
- Revenue achieved against target

What You Bring

- 4–5+ years in B2B sales or business development, with a good part of it in aerospace and defence
- A working knowledge of how DRDO, HAL, defence PSUs and private defence OEMs buy, including tendering and procurement
- Existing relationships in the sector that you can put to use




- Technical aptitude: an engineering background and a proven ability to handle technical conversations
- Experience managing a long sales cycle, often 6 to 18 months, without losing momentum
- Willingness to travel widely across India
- Clear and confident communication, written and spoken
- Discipline in managing a pipeline and keeping records updated

Good to Have

- Engineering degree, ideally Mechanical, Aerospace, or Electronics
- Experience selling CAE, CAD, PLM or other engineering software
- Experience selling engineering services or project-based work
- Familiarity with simulation areas such as structures, CFD, electromagnetics or EMI/EMC
- Exposure to Ansys or similar simulation tools

Why Join Us

- Own the market, not a small slice of a territory, and have a real say in how we go after it
- Sell for a group with over two decades of engineering experience and an established customer base
- A technical team that will stand with you in front of a customer
- A small, senior setup where your results are visible and your growth is not stuck behind a hierarchy

Basic Terms of Employment

- Permanent, full-time role, based in Bengaluru with pan-India travel
- Compensation: Fixed salary plus performance-linked variable. Commensurate with experience.

How to Apply

Apply on LinkedIn, or send your CV and a short note on the toughest defence or aerospace deal you have closed, to [email protected].

About Aetos Innovation Labs

Aetos Innovation Labs is an authorized Ansys technology partner and engineering services company. We solve real engineering problems for customers across aerospace, defence, automotive/EV, energy, drones and naval.

📌 Business Development Manager (Bengaluru)
🏢 Aetos Innovation Labs
📍 Bengaluru