Socket.dev

About the role

We are looking for a Director of Business Development who will report directly to our Chief Business Officer and serve as an operational anchor for our growth efforts. In this role, you will lead a nimble, dedicated business development and execution team (including marketing and outbound support) to expand Motivo's market footprint. We're looking for experience selling in one of our core industries (automotive, industrial automation, aerospace/defense, AgTech) and an entrepreneur’s mindset that adopts our clients’ vision as your own.

The responsibilities for this role require a balance of independent execution and cross-functional leadership. You will be 100% responsible for driving and capturing our new client growth (accounting for roughly 30% of our business), while simultaneously collaborating with and influencing our internal Product Management (PM) teams who manage our active clients and drive current client pipeline growth (the remaining 70%).

With new client development, you will identify and engage potential clients with targeted outreach to excavate the heart of their challenges, qualifying the company and the project during this discovery phase. You will work with the client to craft and develop a vision for the product, grounding an execution plan with data from industry-specific research. The role requires developing and refining concepts, creating presentations to communicate ideas, leading brainstorming sessions, and crafting the right verbal and visual story to align all stakeholders—bridging the gap seamlessly between early-stage client commitment and our internal PM handoffs.

What you'll do

• Lead and Mentor: Oversee and coordinate a small, high-impact growth team (including marketing, research, and outbound roles) to direct targeted, industry-specific campaigns each quarter.
• Drive New Business: Take primary accountability for sourcing, qualifying, and winning new client partnerships to hit dedicated growth targets.
• Collaborate Internally: Work closely with Motivo's internal Product Managers to deeply understand our technical capabilities, cross-pollinate pipeline opportunities, and ensure an exceptionally smooth transition of new accounts.
• Generate and Nurture Leads: Generate new business opportunities by identifying early-stage industry trends, technological investments, and new entrants ahead of the curve.
• Storytelling & Estimation: Lead the creation of Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimates, working with the engineering team to build a compelling narrative that balances technical risk with high-value entry points for new clients.
• Represent Motivo: Serve as a key point of contact between Motivo and target institutions, and represent Motivo at major national industry events and conferences.
• Maintain Sales Rigor: Effectively utilize CRMs to track capture rates, lead generation, and metrics, providing leadership with data-informed sales forecasts.

Qualifications

• Industry Insight: Stay current with industry and competitive research to enable rich client dialogue; maintain an understanding of client business challenges, industry trends, and markets; demonstrate breadth and depth of knowledge to position and map company capabilities that align to client business objectives.
• Proven Track Record: 5+ years of experience within the Automotive, Robotics, AgTech, Industrial Automation, or Aerospace industry—ideally blended with account management or project management experience within an engineering services environment.
• Technical Literacy: A foundational baseline in engineering and technology to confidently navigate complex conversations with startup founders, enterprise board members, and highly technical PMs.
• Product Development Mindset: Proven ability to effectively demonstrate complex technology, teach new clients about the product development lifecycle, and articulate the value proposition of specialized technical solutions.
• Strong Business Acumen: Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable using data and metrics for continual improvement.
• Ability to Travel: Regular domestic travel to attend key national conferences, evaluate client facilities, and network to bring in high-quality leads.

Benefits

We’re convinced that the team and the projects are hands-down the best part of working at Motivo. To support that, we offer a solid benefits package including high-quality insurance, a 401(k) match, generous vacation time, and our Monday–Thursday 4/10 work week. We offer profit-sharing bonuses, which are tied to overall company performance, because we believe in winning together; we’re transparent about the company’s numbers, and when our hard work drives financial success, employees may share in the upside.

• high-quality insurance
• a 401(k) match
• generous vacation time
• our Monday–Thursday 4/10 work week
• profit-sharing bonuses

Base Salary Range: $140,000 - $160,000

Salary is dependent on experience, knowledge, and interview performance