Commercial Director

Job description

We are a fast-paced business with ambitious growth plans; so if you are dedicated, enthusiastic and always seeking ways to improve, you'll enjoy a career with us! Ontic is a leading global aerospace OEM trusted by the world’s aviation leaders. Ontic’s Chatsworth, CA, site specializes in precision engineering, MRO, and new solutions for parts at risk of obsolescence. With over 1,400 employees across four time zones and seven sites, we have more than doubled in size since 2019 and are continuing to grow at pace. Our team is looking for a Commercial Director at our Chatsworth Location. The Commercial Director will provide strategic and operational leadership across the commercial function, with responsibility for driving profitable organic growth, strengthening key customer relationships, maximizing the value of Ontic’s portfolio, and developing a high-performance commercial organization. This position will lead commercial strategy across sales, business development, pricing, customer and key account management, commercial operations, forecasting, and market intelligence , while partnering closely with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, and other functions to ensure commercial commitments are executable and aligned with business objectives. The successful candidate will bring significant aerospace, aviation, defense, and/or MRO commercial experience and combine strong customer and market knowledge with data-driven decision-making, commercial judgment, and senior leadership capability. Commercial Director’s Responsibilities: Commercial Strategy & Growth Develop and execute the commercial strategy in alignment with Ontic’s strategic and financial objectives. Identify and pursue opportunities for profitable organic growth across existing customers, new customers, markets, products, and MRO services. Develop and maintain robust customer account plans, market development plans, and growth program plans. Utilize market intelligence, customer insights, competitive information, data, and analytics to proactively identify new business opportunities. Evaluate market trends, customer requirements, competitive activity, and emerging opportunities to inform commercial priorities and investment decisions. Ensure large, strategic, and complex sales, distribution, and commercial opportunities are appropriately evaluated, modeled, and approved in accordance with company policies. Partner with senior leadership to establish annual commercial objectives, sales targets, bookings expectations, and long-term growth plans. Sales & Business Development Provide leadership and oversight of sales and business development activities, ensuring opportunities are effectively qualified, prioritized, pursued, and converted. Maintain visibility of the global sales pipeline, bookings, revenue outlook, and book-to-bill performance. Lead regular pipelines, bookings, forecast, and opportunity reviews with sales teams, key account managers, and business leaders. Establish disciplined processes for assigning and managing new leads and opportunities, including assessment of timing, win probability, commercial value, and resource requirements. Lead and support major customer negotiations and strategic business opportunities. Develop methodologies and processes to improve forecasting accuracy and provide meaningful short- and long-term visibility of commercial performance. Monitor sales effectiveness and implement actions to improve win rates, customer retention, revenue growth, and profitability. Customer & Key Account Management Provide executive oversight of key customer relationships with a strong focus on customer satisfaction, retention, advocacy, and long-term value creation. Build and maintain strong relationships with key customers, OEMs, operators, distributors, and other strategic stakeholders. Serve as a senior commercial escalation point for major customer accounts and strategically important commercial matters. Ensure key account strategies and customer engagement plans are aligned with company growth objectives. Develop and maintain customer dashboards and performance measures to provide visibility of account health, opportunities, risks, commitments, and customer satisfaction. Work with Marketing and other functions to develop customer insight and competitive intelligence processes, including win/loss analysis and relevant customer relationship measures. Pricing, Proposals & Contracting Provide strategic leadership for pricing and ensure pricing decisions support growth, competitiveness, profitability, and long-term customer value. Support the development of pricing strategies, commercial models, service packages, and value propositions. Lead or support negotiations for major commercial agreements, contracts, long-term agreements, and strategic customer opportunities. Ensure contractual and commercial risks are appropriately identified, evaluated, communicated, and mitigated. Provide oversight of the RFQ and quotation process, including opportunity qualification, pricing strategy, quote governance, follow-up, and closure. Establish processes to understand the reasons behind wins, losses, and unresponsive quotations and use these insights to improve future commercial performance. Ensure major commercial opportunities are appropriately modeled and approved in accordance with company approval policies. Commercial Operations, Data & Analytics Develop and maintain globally consistent commercial and sales processes, tools, governance, and reporting standards. Implement and optimize sales reporting platforms that provide timely visibility of pipeline, bookings, forecasts, conversion rates, book-to-bill, and other critical commercial KPIs. Lead the implementation and continuous improvement of CRM and other commercial systems, including process design, rollout, adoption, governance, and training. Ensure the quality and integrity of commercial and sales data through appropriate governance, audits, mapping, and reconciliation of conflicting data sources. Analyze commercial and sales performance trends and translate data into actionable recommendations for senior leadership. Develop dashboards and reporting that enable effective decision-making and accountability across commercial organization. Establish and monitor leading and trailing commercial performance indicators. Cross-Functional Leadership Play an active role in the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process, ensuring commercial forecasts and customer requirements are effectively communicated and aligned with operational capacity. Partner closely with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, and other functions to ensure customer commitments can be successfully delivered. Work with Finance to monitor revenue, bookings, margins, budgets, forecasts, and overall commercial performance. Ensure appropriate resources are aligned to execute commercial plans and strategic customer commitments. Collaborate across functions to resolve customer issues, improve service delivery, and strengthen overall customer experience. Lead and support strategic commercial projects, transformation initiatives, and other business priorities as required. Leadership & Team Development Lead, coach, mentor, and develop commercial leaders and team members, creating clear accountability and high performance. Build a commercial culture centered on customer focus, commercial discipline, collaboration, accountability, and measurable results. Establish clear objectives and performance expectations across the commercial organization. Identify capability gaps and provide coaching, training, and development opportunities to strengthen commercial effectiveness. Foster strong collaboration across sites, functions, and geographies. Act as a visible senior leader within the organization and contribute to broader business strategy and decision-making. Commercial Director Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in business, Engineering, Marketing, Business Administration, or a related discipline required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred. 10+ years of progressive commercial, sales, business development, key account management, or commercial operations experience, with significant experience within aerospace, aviation, defense, MRO, or a closely related highly regulated industry. Demonstrated experience leading commercial strategy and delivering profitable revenue growth. Strong understanding of the aerospace aftermarket and/or MRO environment, including customer requirements, market dynamics, competitive landscape, and commercial models. Strong pricing experience, preferably involving manufactured aerospace or defense products and/or aftermarket/MRO services. Proven track record in sales, business development, strategic account management, and complex commercial negotiations. Experience negotiating significant customer contracts, commercial agreements, and complex technical and contractual matters. Strong understanding of sales planning, pipeline management, forecasting, bookings, revenue, margin, and commercial KPIs. Experience with CRM platforms and the implementation or optimization of commercial systems, tools, and processes. Strong analytical capability with demonstrated ability to use data, market intelligence, and financial information to develop commercial recommendations and make informed decisions. Experience working collaboratively with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, and other business functions. Demonstrated experience building, leading, coaching, and developing successful commercial teams. Exceptional communication, presentation, influencing, and stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with customers and senior executives. Excellent negotiation skills with the ability to manage complex commercial, technical, and contractual discussions. Commercially creative and strategically minded, with the ability to identify opportunities and translate them into executable growth plans. Results-oriented with a strong focus on measurable outcomes, customer satisfaction, profitable growth, and operational execution. Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, cross-functional, and geographically dispersed organization. Preferred Experience: Experience within an aerospace OEM, aftermarket, component MRO, aviation services, or aerospace manufacturing environment. Experience with commercial and government contracting. Knowledge of applicable U.S. and international import/export requirements and trade compliance considerations. Experience working across multiple sites, business units, or international markets. Experience developing or transforming commercial operations, CRM, sales processes, analytics, and reporting capabilities. Demonstrated experience managing strategic OEM, airline, defense, government, distributor, or other major aerospace customer relationships. Our Benefits: Comprehensive medical insurance Competitive PTO, holiday pay, and sick leave Company 401K plan with up to 4% matched contribution Annual bonus program (varies by level and discretionary based on company and individual performance) Flexible working arrangements Paid volunteering opportunities Access to mental health champions across our sites Commitment to development Employee referral program #LI-Onsite EOE/Minority/Female/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Disability/Veteran Compensation Pay Range $180k-$220k Please click here to review Ontic's California Consumer Privacy Act policy . Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing Inc. is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex including sexual orientation and gender identity, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This position must meet export control compliance requirements. To meet export control compliance requirements, a “U.S. Person ” as defined by 22. C.F.R. §120.15 is required. “U.S. Person” includes U.S. Citizen, lawful permanent resident, asylee, or refugee.