It isn’t rare for work at Elbit Systems to involve both technological training and business savvy, yet Avi Rubenbach stands out. Over the years Avi has become a one-man hub of company-wide knowledge.
Presently his position is contracts and sales unit manager in the Aerospace Division, responsible for coordinating the division’s business with the US, and therefore for business amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars per year. His team also provides consulting services to various group divisions.
“After years of leading engineering programs, I became deeply familiar with the various technologies sold to the US. I therefore came to appreciate what’s important to the American customer and to fully understand his decision-making processes,” he says.
Throughout his career, Avi stood out for his ability to handle diverse projects and technologies in the division. He joined the Aerospace Division engineering department in 1998 as a computer science student at the Technion.
Following graduation he began working full-time as a software engineer, advancing to management positions as a team leader and a field manager and later to program management of the Apache software system.
“The Apache software was the first project I managed from the business side as well, in 2007. That was when the business chapter in my career began.
There were periods when I was involved in marketing and business development, but I spent most of the time in program management – Apache, Boeing and later in large multinational programs in Asia and Europe. There was definitely a lot of traveling,” Avi says.
His last position as a program manager was the BrightNite system upgrade and SOCAT upgrade, which were integrated in the Puma helicopters of the Romanian Air Force. He has held his current position since 2020, working out of the division premises in Haifa.
Presently Avi has one son, 5, with his wife Keren. The couple has three older children from previous marriages: her two daughters and another son of his. “My older son brought me back to an old hobby: surfing,” says Avi. “I grew up in Nahariya and surfed a lot — my buddies and I were constantly in the sea. It was great fun to get back to that with my son after all these years. We surf together whenever we can.”
Throughout his various jobs, his passion was always the interface with people, different business cultures, and diversity. “For me, Elbit was a school of management; through experience in all stages of the supply chain, from the fledgling stage to sales. As a contract and sales manager for the American market, I enjoy all worlds: managerial, business, technological and human”.
“For me, Elbit was a school of management; through experience in all stages of the supply chain, from the fledgling stage to sales. I enjoy all worlds: managerial, business, technological and human”