Enterprise Account Executive— Aerospace & Defense

Luminary Cloud • San Mateo, CA

10d • Onsite

About The Position

As an Enterprise AE for Aerospace & Defense, you are Luminary's primary revenue driver into aerospace OEMs, eVTOL/UAM companies, space launch providers, propulsion manufacturers, and defense prime contractors. You own the full sales cycle — from prospecting and executive relationship development through commercial close — and partner tightly with the Lead Delivery Engineer to ensure seamless GTM-to-delivery handoff. You are equally comfortable in a room with a chief engineer debugging a simulation workflow and in a room with a CFO walking a multi-year program roadmap.

Requirements

• 5–10 years of enterprise B2B sales experience, with a demonstrated track record of closing six- and seven-figure deals in a complex, long-cycle environment.
• Domain fluency in aerospace or defense engineering — enough to earn credibility with simulation engineers, chief engineers, and program managers on the first call. You don't need to run CFD; you need to understand what's hard about it.
• Experience selling engineering software, simulation software, or AI/ML tools into aerospace, defense, or adjacent technical buyers. CAE, CFD, FEA, PLM, HPC, or digital twin experience is directly relevant.
• Comfort with technical complexity — Physics AI is not a commodity; you can translate physics-based modeling into business value and vice versa.
• U.S. Person required.
• CRM rigor and pipeline discipline — you build, manage, and close your own pipeline.
• Collaborative orientation — Luminary's GTM motion is tightly coupled with delivery; you work seamlessly with LDEs and technical teams throughout the sales cycle.
• Self-starter mentality, persistent through long cycles, willing to travel 25–40% to customer sites and industry events.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience selling to aerospace OEMs (Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer, Textron), eVTOL/UAM (Joby, Archer, Wisk, Beta, Lilium), space (SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Relativity, Stoke), or propulsion (GE Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Safran).
• Prior experience selling to defense primes (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing Defense, Raytheon/RTX, General Dynamics, L3Harris) or defense agencies (DARPA, AFRL, NRL, ONR).
• Background in, or deep familiarity with, high-fidelity simulation: CFD, FEA, aeroelasticity, MDO, or certification-relevant analysis.
• Experience navigating ITAR/EAR, DFARS, or government acquisition frameworks in commercial engagements.
• Active or obtainable U.S. security clearance preferred for accounts with cleared program requirements.
• Track record of building net new pipeline in greenfield or early-market technical verticals where education is part of the sale.

Responsibilities

• Own a territory across Aerospace & Defense — prospecting, qualifying, and closing net new logos while expanding existing accounts.
• Drive complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales cycles from first conversation to signed SOW, navigating technical buyers (chief engineers, simulation leads, program managers), economic buyers, and procurement.
• Partner with the Solution Engineer to align on use case scoping, SOW structure, and delivery capacity before and during the sales cycle — maintaining continuity through GTM-to-delivery handoff.
• Lead commercial conversations with technical credibility: hold a substantive conversation with engineering teams about simulation workflows, AI-driven analysis, and where Physics AI creates competitive leverage.
• Build and maintain executive relationships across engineering and program leadership — VP Engineering, Chief Engineers, Directors of Simulation and Analysis, and Program Managers — at target accounts.
• Develop account plans and territory strategy; manage pipeline in CRM with rigor and forecast accurately.
• Represent Luminary at industry conferences, customer on-sites, and events (AIAA, AIA, AUVSI, SpaceTech, NDIA, etc.).
• Navigate ITAR/EAR and government acquisition considerations in commercial dialogue with defense accounts.
• Bring market and customer signal back to Product and GTM leadership — you are a primary sensor for competitive dynamics, buyer pain, and emerging use cases in the vertical.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed