ABOUT LIA
The Laser Institute of America (LIA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit professional association for laser safety and technology. Since 1968, we have served laser professionals across science, industry, and manufacturing through education, certification, standards, and events. Our members and customers include safety professionals, engineers, researchers, medical professionals, business leaders, educators and the organizations that employ them.
THE ROLE
We're looking for a business development leader to grow LIA's revenue primarily through account-based sales: cultivating and closing corporate memberships, event sponsorships and exhibitor commitments, and in-house and online course training sold directly to organizations, with a small percentage of channel sales. This is a build-from-the-ground-up role: your first priority is selling and owning the revenue targets, building the pipeline and relationships from scratch, and personally closing our highest-value deals. As you learn the business, you'll grow into helping shape our growth plan over time.
This is consultative, account-based selling, not transactional order-taking. You'll own the big relationships, learn the business, and design how we grow them, spending your time selling rather than on administration. Day-to-day registrations and order processing stay with our support team, so you can focus on growth. This role reports to the Director of Operations and helps inform LIA's growth plan, which is owned by the leadership team (Executive Director, CFO, and Director of Operations); you own the revenue targets and the pipeline to hit them.
No lasers required. You don't need a background in lasers. You need to know how to build a book of business from scratch, find and win the right accounts, and turn relationships into results.
This is an office-based role, not remote or field-based: you'll work primarily from a desk at our Central Florida office, with approximately 10-15% travel to industry events and key client visits.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
• Own and grow revenue across corporate memberships, event sponsorships and exhibitors, and consultative training and partnership deals
• Drive the revenue plan. Translate LIA's growth strategy, set with leadership, into a revenue roadmap and pipeline, and own the measurable membership and sponsorship targets
• Build the pipeline. Prospect, qualify, and grow a book of business from the ground up, and keep it organized with our existing tools
• Package new offerings. Identify, package, and price new partnership programs (membership tiers, sponsorship packages, bundles, referral programs)
• Steward partnerships. Develop strategic partnerships with corporate members, sponsors, photonics clusters, sister societies, and industry coalitions
• Manage key accounts across the full lifecycle: win, onboard, renew, upsell, and re-engage
• Represent LIA at industry conferences and tradeshows, including lead generation and post-event follow-up
• Partner with marketing/communications, which drives audience growth and inbound leads, while you focus on pipeline, relationships, and closing
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
REQUIRED
• 4+ years in business development, partnerships, membership, or sponsorship sales, with a track record of carrying and hitting revenue/growth targets
• Proven ability to build a book of business from scratch by prospecting and closing new accounts, and to grow and retain existing ones
• Strong consultative, multi-stakeholder selling and relationship-building skills
• Self-directed and accountable to results without close supervision
• Highly organized, comfortable with technology, and quick to adopt new tools
• Able to define, track, and report to KPIs
• Central Florida-based and able to commute reliably to the LIA office in east Orlando
• Able to travel domestically approximately 10-15% of the time
NICE TO HAVE
• Fluency utilizing AI tools responsibly to work efficiently
• Experience with association, nonprofit, membership, or event-sponsorship sales cycles
• Experience selling to industrial, manufacturing, medical, or research markets
• Knowledge of optics/photonics and/or the associated community
• Can speak the language of the laser industry
WHY THIS ROLE
• Build something: grow LIA's revenue and relationships from the ground up, with room to shape how we sell
• Work directly with senior leadership in a lean, mission-driven organization
• A salaried role with a performance bonus tied to real growth, not commission churn
• Sell a product portfolio with genuine value to the professionals who use it
• Competitive benefits
Company DescriptionLIA, founded by pioneers in laser science, has been a leader in laser applications and safety for over 50 years. We support our members and the laser community with training, conferences, publications, and standards, fostering innovation and collaboration within our global membership network.Company DescriptionLIA, founded by pioneers in laser science, has been a leader in laser applications and safety for over 50 years. We support our members and the laser community with training, conferences, publications, and standards, fostering innovation and collaboration within our global membership network. Read Less