Business Development Engineer
DEVELOP LLC | Verona, Wisconsin | Full-Time | In-Person
WHO WE ARE
DEVELOP LLC is an engineering company that designs and builds custom machines and robotic integrations for manufacturers across the country. We are a FANUC Authorized Systems Integrator and an A3 Certified Robot Integrator based in Verona, Wisconsin, and we are building a company that compounds year over year.
We are not trying to be the biggest. We are trying to own the machine building market in North America. We do it by being the best, earning long-term client relationships, and building a team that gets stronger every year.
We pride ourselves on the length of our client relationships. We invest heavily in them -- that is why our deals take time to close and why they last for years once they do. We prove value and earn trust early in the relationship so we can capture the long-term work where high margin and high value meet. That is the model, and everyone here plays the long game.
WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS
We have more deals in the pipeline than the existing team can manage alone. This seat exists to give our leads and potential customers the support they deserve, convert more of these deals, and increase our volume as the operations side of the business scales to support it. We are hiring up to two people -- a senior business developer ready to run now, and the right junior we are willing to train
Our commercial system is already running. Leads arrive marketing qualified through our BANT+S strategy -- budget, authority, need, timeline, and fit are screened before they reach you. The pipeline is full and getting fuller. What we need is the person who owns it.
These are commercial relationships that trend toward multi-million-dollar annual accounts. The founder is carrying this today, and the volume has outgrown one person. You are stepping into a functioning machine, not an empty room -- your job is to work the pipeline, develop the relationships, and close the engagements that put our engineers in front of the right clients.
WHAT YOU DO
You are a business developer and closer who understands manufacturing well enough to earn credibility with people who have spent their careers making things. You open and develop the accounts. The founder expands them. As you mature in the seat, expansion transfers to you.
Hit the Road
-- Take marketing qualified meetings and turn them into relationships
-- Represent DEVELOP at 3 to 8 trade shows annually -- you are on the floor, in the conversations, building the pipeline
-- Travel to client facilities. Walk their lines. See their problems where they live. Expect 30-50% of your time on the road between client visits, discovery engagements, and trade shows -- you are based in Verona, but this is a road job, not a desk job.
Listen and Educate
-- Sit across from a manufacturer and hear what they are actually trying to solve, not just what they say they need
-- Ask the question underneath the question. The problem a client describes is rarely the problem they have.
-- Always find the big why. Why do they want to automate? Growth, capacity, quality, labor -- the real driver shapes everything downstream.
-- Lead our roadmap and assessment engagements end to end -- you sell them, you run the discovery on site, and you present the findings, with our engineers behind the technical depth. Education is the product at this stage, and you are the teacher: how automation projects actually work, what scoping means, and why the first step matters
-- DEVELOP is a growth-minded company and we look for growth-minded people and organizations to work with. Recognize them when you find them.
-- Sketch a 2D concept on a whiteboard or a napkin right there in the meeting to confirm you understood
Qualify and Protect the Pipeline
-- Run deeper qualification on every lead using our BANT+S framework -- and score honestly
-- Know a real opportunity from a tire-kicker within one conversation
-- Protect the engineering team's time by filtering out misaligned projects before they cost us anything
-- Maintain HubSpot so every deal has a clear owner, stage, and next action at all times
Close
-- Your primary close is a paid scoping engagement -- or a scoped machine when it is similar to machines we have already built
-- Engineers do the technical depth. You get them in the room with the right client.
-- Pass large complex builds and strategic expansions to the founder. Own everything else.
-- Build a book of accounts that grows year over year -- where the customer calls you first
HOW SUCCESS WORKS HERE
Our sales cycle runs 6 months to 3+ years, and we measure the role accordingly -- on the relationships you build and the pipeline behind them, not a monthly quota.
Success early on looks like manufacturers who trust you: plants walked, problems understood, prospects educated on how automation projects actually work, and scoping engagements closed that put our engineers in front of the right clients. Revenue follows relationships on this cycle -- we know that, we have lived it, and there is no revenue expectation while you ramp. If you are closing scoping engagements and building qualified pipeline, you are succeeding -- even before the builds convert.
We walk through the full scorecard together in the first conversation, and we set the junior ramp as its own curve.
WHO YOU ARE
An engineer with strong business instincts, or a business developer with genuine passion for engineering and manufacturing. Either degree, either background -- you need both sides of the table.
Three things are non-negotiable:
-- Manufacturing credibility. Senior seat: minimum five years in or around manufacturing -- on the floor, in the shop, in the process. Junior seat: real manufacturing exposure -- shop floor, co-op, technical program, or a family that makes things. You know how things get made and you respect the people who make them. This cannot be trained and we will not bend on it.
-- You listen more than you talk. Not as a technique -- as an instinct. Our entire model runs on understanding what a manufacturer actually needs before proposing anything.
-- You are a closer. You ask for the business without flinching, you handle a no without folding, and you move a deal forward when a nicer person would let it drift.
What great looks like in this seat:
-- The most curious person in the room -- you ask better questions than anyone at the table and you are genuinely excited by the answers
-- Optimistic. The real kind, from believing the work matters and the people around you can build something great.
-- Hungry to grow a business, not just hit a quota
-- Disciplined on pipeline. Open loops bother you. The CRM is updated because you cannot stand it otherwise.
-- Patient enough for a long cycle, persistent enough that nothing goes quiet
-- Honest with clients when we are not the right fit and honest with the team when something is not working
Helpful but not required:
-- Technical sales or business development experience in automation, industrial equipment, or engineered products
-- Familiarity with FANUC robotics, machine automation, or controls systems
-- Engineering degree or business degree with deep manufacturing exposure
-- HubSpot or similar CRM experience
HOW YOU GET PAID
Base salary depends on the seat. Senior: $110,000 to $140,000 -- five-plus years in manufacturing and a proven record of closing technical or engineered sales. Junior: $60,000 to $80,000 -- exposure and instinct, we train the rest. Both depend on experience, and both seats earn on top of base through our 2-4-8-10 model: fixed close fees plus the 10% company profit sharing pool.
Every deal you close earns a fixed fee, split 50/50 -- half to you at contract execution, half into the company profit sharing pool. And you participate in that pool too: 10% of company profit is shared across the entire team. When you close, everyone wins. When we all execute, everyone wins again. We walk through the full fee structure in the first conversation.
THIS IS NOT FOR YOU IF
-- You talk more than you listen
-- You need a fast close to feel like you are doing your job
-- You will oversell a client to make a number
-- You think manufacturing is a stepping stone to something better
-- You need a large company structure and support to operate
-- You are looking for a remote role or a lifestyle job
-- You want to sell from behind a desk
-- You are not genuinely curious about how things get built
THE DETAILS
Location
Verona, Wisconsin -- in person, plus client travel and trade shows
Reports To
President
Base Salary
Senior $110,000 to $140,000 | Junior $60,000 to $80,000 -- depending on experience
Incentive Model
2-4-8-10 -- uncapped close fees, 50/50 split with the profit pool
Profit Sharing
10% of company profit (excluding one-time capacity reservation fees) shared across the entire team -- you participate fully
401(k) Match
3.5% company match
Health Insurance
100% of employee health premium company paid. Vision, dental, and other elective coverage employee paid. Dependent coverage employee paid.
Trade Shows
3 to 8 annually
Travel & Expenses
Expect 30-50% travel. All business travel company paid -- flights, lodging, meals. Personal vehicle reimbursed at the IRS standard mileage rate; vehicle allowance reviewed as road miles build
Sales Cycle
6 months to 3+ years -- patience is a requirement, not a preference
HOW WE OPERATE
Every person on this team shares three characteristics:
-- Mission and team first -- we play offense and move together
-- High-velocity -- decisive, fast, and momentum-driven
-- Disciplined execution -- pride in the craft, follow-through, and the right details at the right time
And every person on this team takes these critical actions, most days, to keep us moving forward:
-- Good attitude -- positive energy is contagious
-- Keep stakeholders and teammates updated -- no surprises
-- Leave a clean workspace so we can crush tomorrow
Sales and engineering are not two departments here. We are a single unit on the same team, and both sides are aligned on every sale. Engineers deliver the work that earns the next engagement. You find the clients worth delivering for. The comp structure, the profit pool, and the way we run meetings all exist to keep it that way.
We are a handshake-trust company that executes to contract standards. We do not make promises we cannot keep. We do not take shortcuts on quality. We are building something that compounds and everyone here is part of that.
Pay: $60,000.00 - $140,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
