Solsta
Business Development Engineer
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The Role
This role is ideal for a technically strong engineer or physicist who enjoys customer interaction, problem-solving, and shaping early-stage product concepts. Extensive traditional sales experience is not a requirement and is a secondary consideration to strong technical depth and a willingness to adopt the Solsta Design & Manufacturing Division’s commercial approach.
This role is distinct from Solsta’s distribution sales roles and requires a technical, consultative, project-driven approach rather than catalogue-based selling.
Key Responsibilities
Market Engagement & Lead Generation
- Identify, plan, attend, and exhibit at relevant industry events across the UK and Europe
- Engage prospects with technical credibility as both attendee and exhibitor
- Generate and qualify leads aligned with Solsta’s design and manufacturing capabilities
Opportunity Development
- Follow up on leads promptly and progress them to structured project initiation
- Understand customer applications, pain points, and technical requirements, translating them into clear internal briefs
- Take ownership of opportunities already generated and partially matured by the Commercial Manager
Customer Interface & Project Progression
- Act as the primary point of contact for customers throughout feasibility, POC, design, validation, and NPI
- Coordinate with engineering and project management to scope and cost projects accurately
- Maintain structured communication with customers, ensuring clarity and expectation management
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Commercial Structuring & Internal Collaboration
- Support the creation of costed proposals and commercial justifications
- Apply structured commercial discipline – Qualifying opportunities, managing expectations, and maintaining a clear, realistic pipeline
- Maintain accurate and timely CRM records to support forecasting and reporting
- Ensure smooth handover to account management once products transition to BAU
Performance & Outcomes
Success will be measured by
- Establishment and progression of a high-quality project pipeline
- Conversion of opportunities into funded development programmes
- Delivery of projects into BAU production
- Revenue and gross-margin generation, including an 18–36-month BAU tail (TBD)
Key Skills & Experience
Essential
- Strong technical foundation in optoelectronics, photonics, biomedical instrumentation, diagnostics, or optical defence systems
- Broad technical literacy across optics, electronics, mechanics, and systems engineering, with the ability to learn quickly in unfamiliar domains
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to build rapport with technical and commercial stakeholders
- Curiosity, humility, and willingness to learn Solsta D&M’s commercial methodology
- Comfortable operating autonomously in a home-based role, managing time, travel, and customer engagements with minimal supervision
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple concurrent opportunities
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity and influencing progress in situations where not everyone moves at the same pace. Able to maintain a constructive, solutions-focused approach when faced with resistance or competing priorities
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Desirable
- Experience in applications engineering, field service, systems engineering, or customer-facing technical role
- Experience with NPD/NPI processes
- Familiarity with regulated or quality-driven environments (ISO13485, defence standards, etc.)
- Exposure to costing, scoping, or early-stage product development
- Eligibility for UK security clearance (BPSS or higher) advantageous
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