Customer Business Development Director/Manager (Remote)

Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary

Provide leadership and direction to deliver a successful business development strategy to include developing and retaining long-term relationships with a major customer by serving as the top-level business development, sales and strategy owner for a customer. This role has significant revenue responsibility for capturing new business and capitalizing on existing and follow on business.

This is a remote role with heavy travel.

Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for the long-term customer strategy for Boeing Commercial Aircraft and Business Jet customers.
• Lead and define the strategy for the customer(s) business to achieve above market growth. Accountable for defining and implementing growth and sales strategy with customer(s), including pre-sales and insight selling.
• Provides proactive internal and customer-focused capture strategies in the pursuit of new opportunities. Encompasses pricing, competition, SWOT analysis and taking responsibility over an extended capture phase to position the business to win.
• Accountable for Lifecycle Gate pre 0-3, from identifying to winning the opportunity. Leads the proposal team to develop the winning proposition. Provides the customer with liaison support within and across the business on new opportunities. Stays in close contact with the customer to ensure capture of opportunities.
• Build and maintain effective customer and industry network. Maintain and develop customer program, supply chain / purchasing, engineering, technology and strategy contacts.
• Tracks and understands customer organizational changes and how those changes affect business and partnership agreements. Seeks to understand the customer’s decision making process and key decision makers.
• Collaborates with VP Programs and VP Business Line Strategy to gather and analyse intelligence regarding customers’, markets, products, services as well as relevant future trends and drivers.
• Identifies business development opportunities by studying competitor products, technical problems, market intelligence, and identifying trends. Pursues teaming and partnering alliances with other companies. Maintains a working knowledge of key variables affecting the marketplace and key aerospace customers.
  
  

Job Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor degree in Engineering, business or related field
• Broad knowledge and experience of the commercial aerospace industry and market
• Product knowledge within the aerospace industry
• Broad network across the commercial aerospace industry
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• GKN Aerospace Experience
• Existing relationships and network with Boeing Commercial Aircraft as customer
• Ability to operate and influence at appropriate levels both internally and externally
• Good interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to anticipate future trends based on market intelligence
  
  

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working

Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We are the place where human dreams, plus human endeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.