Industrial Robotics & Drones Sales Director

Aptiv • Troy, MI

1d

About The Position

The Adjacent Market sales team engages customers in collaborative, strategic, and long-term partnerships that unlock the full value of Aptiv’s robotics, drone, autonomy, and intelligent systems technologies. We strive to be the premier provider of integrated hardware, software, and services solutions—partnering with customers at the senior leadership level to shape vision, drive measurable outcomes, and accelerate transformation across robotics (AGVs/AMRs) and unmanned systems markets (UAVs). As an Industrial Robotics & Drone Sales Director, you will own a quota‑bearing, hunter‑focused role responsible for developing new pipeline, penetrating new markets, and driving growth across a broad portfolio. This role sells into a diverse customer base, ranging from large industrial & Warehouse OEM’s to mid‑market and early‑stage companies that are scaling rapidly. While this role is primarily centered on hardware solution selling, success requires a full‑solution mindset—bringing together hardware, software, and services to solve complex customer challenges across both established and emerging organizations. You will bring a strong point of view to customer engagements, orchestrate internal and partner resources, and manage opportunities across the full lifecycle—from pipeline creation to predictable quarterly closure. Ideally, you bring a strong Robotics background and rolodex that will help us achieve our growth initiatives.

Requirements

• Minimum 12 years of robotics, or industrial technology sales experience, including substantial experience with hardware‑centric solutions and demonstrated competency in solution selling across hardware, software, and services.
• Proven track record selling into Product Management, Engineering, Operations, and/or IT organizations—consistently exceeding annual quota and driving large, complex program wins.
• Demonstrated ability to break into new markets, create pipeline from scratch, and close net‑new business across both established enterprises and early‑stage customers.
• Strong sense of urgency and bias for action.
• Quick learner capable of ramping rapidly in fast‑moving technical domains.
• Pipeline Discipline: Comfortable working both ends of the pipeline—creating early‑stage demand and driving late‑stage predictability.
• Organizational Excellence: Skilled in deal orchestration across complex enterprises as well as lean, fast‑growing organizations.
• Complex Program Leadership: Experience owning and driving multi‑stakeholder, multi‑year strategic programs.
• Passion for Market Expansion: Motivated by entering new markets, supporting scaling customers, and building new business from the ground up.
• Communication & Influence: Ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, from founders to senior executives.
• Team‑Driven: Strong collaborator who partners with internal stakeholders to uncover opportunities and win together.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
• Willingness to travel as required for customer visits, trade shows, and industry events.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without requiring visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

• Strong Robotics background and rolodex
• Expertise in robotics, drones, autonomy, or unmanned systems strongly preferred.
• Experience selling into industrial, aerospace, or defense customers is a strong plus.
• Understanding of cloud, edge, embedded systems, safety‑critical, and mission‑critical environments.
• Advanced degree a plus.

Responsibilities

• Accurately forecast, manage, and exceed quota targets across robotics and drone customers.
• Build new pipeline in previously untapped or underdeveloped markets; identify whitespace opportunities and drive net‑new customer acquisition across industrial, defense, and emerging technology sectors.
• Sell into a wide spectrum of organizations, including: Large industrial enterprises and defense contractors, Mid‑sized technology firms, Early‑stage and scaling robotics and drone companies.
• Proactively uncover upsell and expansion opportunities within existing accounts by aligning with internal delivery, engineering, and customer success teams.
• Engage and influence senior executives, founders, and technical leaders, including coordination with internal Executive Sponsors.
• Lead with a full‑portfolio approach—from hardware to software and services—to build differentiated value across robotic and unmanned systems use cases.
• Develop actionable territory and account plans to drive sustainable growth across both new and existing customers at varying stages of maturity.
• Understand customer organizational structures, power maps, budget owners, and key influencers in both enterprise and startup environments.
• Maintain account ownership and renewal/expansion opportunities.
• Delivering forecast (Weekly), Account plans, pipeline reviews, opportunity reviews and close plans, including risk assessments.
• Build strong relationships through industry insight, technical understanding, and business‑outcome alignment.
• Analyze public information such as press releases, funding announcements, earnings, and industry trends to anticipate customer needs and competitive dynamics.
• Orchestrate cross‑functional teams across engineering, product, services, legal, and partners to ensure the right resources are applied at the right stage of the sales cycle.
• Represent Aptiv at key robotics, drone, autonomy, defense, and industrial trade shows and conferences to identify prospects, generate new pipeline, gather competitive intelligence, and strengthen brand presence.
• Maintain a disciplined approach to prospecting and weekly funnel creation; this role is responsible for generating substantial new outbound pipeline across robotics and drone markets.
• Identify, qualify, and advance both new customer opportunities and expansion opportunities within existing accounts to drive total account value.
• Manage the full sales cycle—from early‑stage pipeline development to predictable quarterly forecast and closure.
• Maintain real‑time accuracy in Salesforce (SFDC) to drive operational rigor and transparency.
• Collaborate with marketing, inside sales, SDR teams, Aptiv- Wind River & Winchester sales teams, Customer Success, engineering, delivery, and product teams to scale pipeline and uncover new customer needs.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to identify emerging opportunities, validate customer requirements, and create winning strategies.
• Build a strong “win together” culture by aligning internal teams early and often throughout the deal cycle.
• Execute the sales strategy to progress deals through all stages and win large, complex robotics or drone‑based autonomy programs.
• Champion Aptiv’s entry into new sectors and emerging robotics, drone, and unmanned systems segments.

Benefits

• Shape the future of robotics, drones, industrial automation, aerospace, defense, and next‑generation autonomous systems.
• Competitive base salary with uncapped performance‑based incentives.
• Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and retirement benefits.
• Significant opportunities for advancement within a leading technology company.
• Work with cutting‑edge robotics, drone, and embedded technologies alongside a team committed to excellence and innovation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees