Senior Sales Director - Mobility, Industrial, and Advanced Technology

Job Summary:

The Sr. Sales Director - Mobility, Industrial, and Advanced Technology leads USA Rare Earth's commercial growth across the mobility, industrial, and advanced technology markets, including automotive and motor manufacturing. This senior role owns an end-to-end book of business, from strategic account planning and new program capture through demand forecasting and year-over-year account growth. The ideal candidate brings deep relationships with OEMs across these markets, understands technical, longer-cycle industrial sales, and operates independently while collaborating closely with Product Management, Engineering, Operations, and other internal leaders to win and grow programs.

Primary Target Markets:

• Automotive and motor manufacturing
• Industrial and commercial electric motors
• Industrial automation and robotics
• Humanoid robotics and autonomous systems
• HVAC compressors and motion control systems
• Factory automation and conveyor systems
• Material handling and warehouse robotics
• Other industrial equipment applications
• Pumps, valves, and fluid control systems

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Sales Leadership & Account Ownership

• Drive demand generation and close orders with OEM customers across the assigned region.
• Rapidly build U.S. market position and brand awareness across target verticals.
• Own and grow an end-to-end book of business across these focus markets, serving as the primary relationship owner for key accounts and target programs.
• Develop and execute account plans aligned to annual revenue targets.
• Build and maintain executive-level relationships with customer engineering, procurement, and program management organizations.
• Guide customers through material qualification and program approval processes, coordinating internal resources to support technical evaluations.
• Lead development of MOUs, joint development agreements (JDAs), and supply agreements to secure 2026 and beyond volume commitments.
• Represent USA Rare Earth at tradeshows, conferences, and customer events to build brand presence and generate new opportunities.

Demand Planning & Forecasting

• Own end-to-end demand planning and forecasting for assigned accounts, coordinating closely with Operations, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing to align production capacity with customer program timelines.
• Deliver monthly forecasting and demand plans, maintaining forecast accuracy of 80% or greater.
• Translate customer program schedules, ramp curves, and volume forecasts into actionable production plans.
• Monitor demand trends across mobility, industrial, and advanced technology markets, including electrification and automation adoption, to inform company-wide planning.

Customer & Pipeline Management (CRM)

• Maintain rigorous CRM discipline ensuring account, opportunity, and pipeline data reflect current status.
• Identify and qualify new opportunities, maintaining CRM pipeline coverage of at least 10 times (10x) annual revenue targets.
• Develop pipeline and convert opportunities into purchase orders.
• Track and report on pipeline health, win and loss trends, and account growth against annual targets.
• Develop and maintain multi-year account plans and pursuit roadmaps for strategic customers.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Deal Execution

• Collaborate with Application Engineering and Product Marketing to align technical solutions with customer needs.
• Lead contract negotiations, pricing strategy, and commercial terms for new and renewal business.
• Partner with executive leadership on strategic planning, market entry, and investment prioritization for the segment.

Market Intelligence & Strategy

• Monitor the competitive landscape, program timelines, and industry trends across automotive, mobility, industrial, and advanced technology markets.
• Provide voice-of-customer feedback to Product, Engineering, and Leadership to inform roadmap and capacity decisions.
• Contribute to long-range strategic planning for the segment.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Proven track record of building and growing complex, technical accounts within long sales-cycle industrial markets.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, comfortable engaging with senior customer and internal stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage a full sales cycle, from prospecting through contract negotiation and account growth.
• Skilled in industrial demand planning and forecasting, with the ability to translate customer programs into production-aligned forecasts.
• Proficiency with CRM platforms (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales preferred; Salesforce.com or Hubspot acceptable), with disciplined pipeline management process.
• Strong collaborator and independent thinker, comfortable operating with autonomy in a fast-paced, growth-stage environment.
• Working knowledge of automotive, industrial motor, automation, and robotics OEM supply chains.
• Familiarity with humanoid robotics, factory automation, material handling, and fluid control equipment markets.
• Understanding of electrification trends, motion control architectures, and automation and robotics actuator technologies.

Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, Engineering or a related field required. MBA or other advanced degree preferred.
• Experience: 10+ years of progressive commercial or sales experience, including 5+ years focused on mobility, industrial, advanced technology, or an adjacent industry.
• Demonstrated success managing complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles and growing account revenue year over year.
• Experience with industrial demand planning and forecasting in a manufacturing or industrial supply environment.
• Proven CRM proficiency (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales or Salesforce.com).
• Existing relationships with automotive, industrial motor, automation, robotics, or related OEM manufacturers strongly preferred.
• Ability to travel 60% or more to support customer engagements, tradeshows, and other internal meetings.

Physical Demands

The work environment will primarily be a home office or typical office environment, combined with frequent customer-site and travel-related environments. Noise level: normal office noises.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, or skills required of personnel so classified. The reporting relationship may not reflect the most recent changes to the corporate reporting structure.

USA Rare Earth proudly supports Equal Employment Opportunities. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination based on disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

If you require assistance with the application process due to a disability, please contact people@usare.com to discuss reasonable accommodations.