The Benchmade ad is asking for someone with a lot more experience in engineering and fabrication than simply drawing a knife. They're talking about prototyping, work streaming/process design and substantial knowledge of all the major manufacturing techniques.
If you show up with your sketch pad (or lap top) and a bunch of knife shapes as your only qualifications, it won't be enough for that position.
I do full-hand made forged knives and I do projects using CAD and vendors--and stuff in between. These are different skills entirely, but a foundational understanding of what makes a good knife from experience is essential.
It's not just about coming up with a cools shape. There are functional design considerations that may not be obvious to someone that doesn't make knives, and there are cost/manufacturing considerations that must affect every aspect of your design philosophy if you're making something from some level of production. For instance, you may call out a 1/16 radius on a particular contour. You may NEED that 1/16 or you may be able to open that up to 1/4 and save a pile of money in machining. These are decisions that you keep in mind while you're doing your design so you don't paint yourself into a corner with your shapes and come up with something that you can't make cost effectively. They're talking about fine blanking which has it's own benefits and limitations. If you don't know the processes you can't reliably design for them.
On the other hand, you could have a boatload of engineering/manufacturing experience and know nothing of knives and make stupid design choices from ignorance. There are plenty of examples of this. These designers tend to come from aerospace or similar and think "It's only a knife" and under-design critical areas and cut costs in the very areas they shouldn't --simply because they don't know any better.
So no, you don't have to be a proficient hand-made knife maker, but you should have experience using and making knives AND in manufacturing, or your designs will tend to be naive or simply untenable for production.
Having said all that, drawing a shape with a few specifics and pitching it off to Asia to work out the details and put it into production is an approach that has been used by some well-known manufacturers. However, if they're looking for shapes, they may be inclined to either mimic existing successful designs, partner with designers with a track record (usually successfully making their own knives), or generate their own shapes. So unless you're bringing a track record or a lot of the right kind of experience, it may be an uphill climb.
My 2 cents,
Good Luck!
