Director of Life Sciences - California

Rust Automation & Controls

10h•$125,000 - $150,000•Onsite

About The Position

We are hiring a Director of Life Sciences – California to lead and grow our life sciences business across the Bay Area and surrounding biotech hubs. This is a senior individual contributor role with significant autonomy, visibility, and influence. While this role includes new customer development, it is ideally suited for someone who already brings existing relationships in Bay Area biotech, pharma manufacturing, and CDMOs and is excited to turn those relationships into long-term partnerships centered on the diverse offerings of our manufacturing partners. You will own the life sciences portfolio in California, driving growth through a combination of project-based selling and recurring, relationship-driven business, supported by a strong inside sales, applications engineering, and project team based out of Salt Lake City. You will report directly to the Regional Vice President and work closely with senior management to shape strategy in this vertical.

Requirements

5+ years of experience selling into the life sciences market (biotech, pharma manufacturing, and/or CDMOs required)
Existing Bay Area life sciences relationships you can activate
A strong communicator who builds trust easily and enjoys being face-to-face with customers
Self-motivated, organized, and comfortable operating independently
Service-oriented mindset, you care deeply about customer outcomes, not just closing deals
Technically curious and credible (you don’t need to be an engineer, but you know how to navigate technical conversations)
Cheerful, grounded, and collaborative, not a “lone-wolf” or hard-charging, ego-driven seller
Someone who values long-term relationships, stability, and culture, not just the next logo

Responsibilities

Own and grow Rust Automation’s life sciences business in California, with a heavy focus on the Bay Area
Leverage existing biotech and pharma relationships to accelerate market entry and credibility
Develop new strategic accounts while expanding presence within existing customers
Sell a portfolio centered on: Valves and instrumentation Service capabilities, including calibration, commissioning, and loop verification—often a key door-opener in regulated life sciences environments
Engage regularly with: Process engineers Utilities engineers Maintenance & reliability teams Procurement and sourcing
Manage long-cycle, specification-driven project opportunities while building repeat and preferred-vendor business.
Serve as a trusted, visible presence at customer sites. This is a field-based, customer-facing role with direct account responsibility.
Local day travel primarily, approximately two overnight trips per month.