3D Alliances: How 20 Years in AM Shapes Modern Hiring

Hiring in additive manufacturing is not like hiring in other manufacturing sectors. The skillsets are specific, the market is global, and the pool of candidates who actually know the difference between metal binder jetting and directed energy deposition is small.

Gil Lavi spent twenty years inside that market before founding 3D Alliances, a company that now combines channel recruitment, marketing, and talent acquisition for AM hardware, software, and materials firms. Eight of his eleven-person team previously worked at 3D printing companies or resellers. That shared background matters more than any recruiter could claim from a distance.

A talent pipeline built from the inside

3D Alliances operates across 81 countries with a network of more than 3,100 resellers. The company started with channel recruitment, then expanded into managing those partners, and talent acquisition followed naturally. The argument is simple: if you already know a client's products, challenges, and culture, you are better positioned to find people who fit.

Lavi put it plainly: when someone asks him to recruit a channel manager, he has done that job for twenty years. He knows the internal politics, the day-to-day realities, and the qualities that actually predict success.

Two clients, two different problems

Recent placements show the range of what 3D Alliances handles. XJET, the Israeli metal and ceramic 3D printing company, needed a Senior Regional Sales Manager to manage channel partners across Asia after expanding that network. The CEO said 3D Alliances understood the technology, knew the channel partners, and could identify candidates quickly.

Mastrex, a US-based LPBF machine maker, needed to build its first North American sales and pre-sales team from scratch. The CEO wanted professionals who could work in a fast-changing environment. 3D Alliances filled those roles within weeks.

What roles are hardest to fill

According to Lavi, most open roles in AM are not impossible to source. They are time-consuming. The real difficulties are geographic. Hiring in Japan, South Korea, or China requires more than a translated job description. Language gaps, cultural differences in work pace, and local market knowledge all change the timeline and the fit.

The roles that matter now and next

Production, applications, process, and manufacturing engineering roles are in highest demand right now. The industry is moving from prototyping to serial production, and companies need engineers who can keep machines running at volume without constant intervention.

Lavi sees that trend continuing. Over the next five to ten years, he expects growth in automation, robotics, AI and data, digital manufacturing, and process monitoring roles. Those positions are all about scaling production, which is exactly where the market is heading.