VP of Business Development - Aerospace & Industrial Coatings (Part-Time / Flexible)

Company:

Advanced Coating Technologies (ACT) - Valencia, CA

About ACT:

Advanced Coating Technologies is an AS9100-certified PVD, CVD, and DLC coating services company based in Valencia, California. We serve aerospace, defense, medical device, firearms, and precision tooling customers with high-performance surface coatings. We are the only FFL-certified coating company on the West Coast. Our facility includes Platit PVD systems, in-house testing (Tribo Meters, Fisherscope X-ray), and a team with PhD-level materials science expertise. We offer industry-leading 24/48-hour turnaround on standard coating jobs.

The Opportunity:

We are looking for a results-driven business development leader to join us on a fractional (part-time) basis to build and own our B2B sales engine. This is not a strategy consulting engagement. We need someone who will personally open doors, convert leads, close deals, and install the sales discipline our growing operation needs.

What You Will Do:

Your first priority will be fixing our lead conversion process. We have Google Ads generating a steady flow of inbound leads for coating services, but we are not converting them effectively. Leads are not being followed up systematically, our CRM (Pipedrive) is underutilized, and there is no structured follow-up cadence. You will audit the current pipeline, build a conversion process, enforce CRM discipline with the existing team, and immediately start closing the opportunities sitting in front of us.

Your second priority will be building a B2B outbound engine targeting Tier 2/3 aerospace machine shops and precision manufacturers in Southern California. The SoCal aerospace corridor (Chatsworth, Camarillo, El Segundo, Antelope Valley) is home to hundreds of shops that need coating services. You will build a target account list, conduct direct outreach, visit shops, run trial proposals, and convert prospects into recurring coating customers.

Your third priority (Phase 2, approximately month 3-4) will be expanding scope to include Cobra Carbide, targeting carbide tooling distributors and direct industrial accounts to reduce customer concentration risk.

What Success Looks Like:

In the first 30 days, you will have audited every Google Ads lead from the past 90 days, identified where leads are dying in the funnel, and built a follow-up process that the team is executing daily in Pipedrive.

By month 3, you should have a pipeline of 10-15 aerospace and industrial prospects in various stages, with at least 2–3 trial coating jobs submitted.

By month 6, the target is 3-5 new B2B accounts with first orders placed and a repeatable outbound process you could hand off or scale.

Who You Are:

You have 8-15 years of experience selling industrial services, precision manufacturing, coatings, or tooling into aerospace, defense, or specialty industrial accounts. You have worked at a coating house, tooling distributor, precision machining shop, or specialty manufacturing services company (not at a large OEM corporate sales desk). You know the Tier 2/3 aerospace supply chain in Southern California and ideally have an existing network of contacts among shop owners, purchasing managers, and manufacturing engineers at these companies.

You understand that selling coatings or manufacturing services to a machine shop is a trust-and-trial process: you earn a test run, you prove turnaround time and quality, you earn the reorder, and you build a recurring relationship. You are comfortable working independently without a sales team, SDR, or marketing department supporting you. You pick up the phone, you visit shops, and you follow up relentlessly.

You also have the leadership presence to walk into our facility and set expectations with the existing team on CRM usage, lead follow-up standards, and accountability. You do not need to manage a sales team, but you do need to enforce a standard.

Engagement Structure:

This is a fractional/part-time engagement, approximately 15-20 hours per week. Compensation is a monthly retainer of $5,000–$8,000 plus a commission on new business you bring in (structure to be discussed based on experience). Initial engagement is 6 months with mutual option to extend, increase scope to include Cobra Carbide, or transition to full-time if mutual fit.

This role is based in Southern California. You will need to be local to or willing to regularly travel to Valencia, CA and the greater LA/SoCal aerospace corridor.

To Apply:

Send a brief note explaining why this role fits your background, along with your LinkedIn profile or resume. We are particularly interested in hearing about your experience selling into aerospace machine shops or similar industrial service accounts in the SoCal region. No cover letter needed — just tell us your story in a few sentences.