Startup Adoption Business Manager

hackajob is collaborating with Emerson to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

Description

The Startup Business Manager serves as NI’s business and technical leader within the U.S. MedTech startup ecosystem. This role is responsible for establishing NI as a trusted, long‑term platform partner to venture‑backed startups and accelerator programs—starting from early R&D through validation, scale, and commercialization.

This is a hands‑on, externally facing role that blends ecosystem relationship management, technical enablement, and early commercial ownership. The ideal candidate brings strong credibility with engineers and startup leaders, understands early‑stage MedTech development realities, and can navigate internally across engineering, applications, and sales teams to remove friction for customers.

The role is designed for a professional with 5 years of experience who can operate independently, influence without authority, and represent NI with confidence across accelerators, investors, and startup leadership teams.

In This Role, Your Responsibilities Will Be

• Build Trust and Presence in the MedTech Startup Ecosystem
• Establish and maintain an embedded NI presence within priority U.S. MedTech accelerators.
• Act as NI’s primary interface to accelerator leadership, technical mentors, and cohort companies.
• Participate in accelerator activities including cohort kickoffs, office hours, workshops, and recurring technical sessions.
• Provide early technical guidance, ecosystem connections, and practical R&D perspectives to startup teams.
• Broker structured access to NI Application Engineering and domain experts (e.g., design reviews, architecture sanity checks).
• Capture ecosystem‑level insights, patterns, and unmet needs to inform NI positioning, offerings, and internal enablement.
• Reduce Barriers to Entry for Early‑Stage R&D Engineers
• Drive the creation of NI’s startup‑focused onboarding motion, including accelerator kits, OEM starter configurations, loaner hardware, and sponsorship programs.
• Define and maintain startup‑friendly hardware configurations, software bundles, and reference architectures.
• Coordinate access to short‑term demo or loaner hardware for early prototyping and feasibility work.
• Partner with internal teams to provide extended or accelerator‑aligned NI software licensing.
• Serve as the primary technical and operational point of coordination during early NI adoption.
• Identify common friction points experienced by startups and proactively drive improvements across tools, documentation, patterns, and processes.
• Lead the commercial conversion motion from evaluation to purchase using predefined configurations, pricing, and procurement paths.
• Coordinate closely with NI Sales & BU Leadership to ensure startup‑appropriate pricing and buying experiences.
• Enable Startup Scale, Validation, and Investment Readiness
• Guide startups in defining scalable test architectures that support progression from early R&D to validation and OEM use—without re‑platforming.
• Provide continuity as NI’s point of coordination as startups mature, helping prevent late‑stage technology resets.
• Support investor‑ready technical positioning by helping startups anticipate diligence expectations from investors and acquirers.
• Optimize test and verification workflows to accelerate iteration, validation cycles, and time‑to‑market, including regulatory readiness.
• Enable reuse of validated NI software, configurations, and test systems as startups scale.
• Identify risks that could delay commercialization, validation, or acquisition readiness and work cross‑functionally to mitigate them.
• Capture successful startup journeys as internal and external case studies to support future enablement and ecosystem growth.
  
  

For This Role, You Will Need

• Bachelor's in engineering or other technical discipline
• Excellent communication, relationship‑building, and stakeholder management skills
• 30% travel required
• Legal authorization to work in the US - visa sponsorship is not provided
  
  

Preferred Qualifications That Set You Apart

• 5 years of professional experience in technical business development or related expertise, or 3 years with a Master's degree
• Experience with NI Technology
• Experience in MedTech, life sciences, or regulated hardware/software environments
• Familiarity with accelerator programs, venture capital expectations, or startup funding stages
• Experience supporting validation, verification, or compliance‑driven development workflows
• Prior exposure to test automation, instrumentation, or embedded systems platforms
• Demonstrated experience working directly with startups, R&D engineers, or early‑stage product teams
• Experience navigating matrixed organizations and coordinating across engineering, sales, and commercial teams
• Startup ecosystem or accelerator engagement
• Applications engineering, systems engineering, or technical program management
• MedTech, test & measurement, or regulated product development environments
• Strong technical fluency—able to engage credibly in system architecture, test strategy, and platform discussions (hands‑on coding not required)
• Proven ability to operate independently in externally facing roles with ambiguous problem spaces
• Comfortable owning early‑stage commercial motions without traditional quota pressure
  
  

Success Profile

• NI is viewed by founders and accelerator leaders as a trusted, pragmatic partner, not just a vendor. Startups can onboard quickly and confidently onto NI platforms with minimal friction.
• Fewer startups re‑platform away from NI as technical and organizational complexity increases.
• Internal teams benefit from clearer insight into startup needs and ecosystem trends.
• The role creates measurable pipeline, long‑term design wins, and scalability.
  
  

Our Culture & Commitment To You

At Emerson, we prioritize a workplace where every employee is valued, respected, and empowered to grow. We foster an environment that encourages innovation, collaboration, and diverse perspectives—because we know that great ideas come from great teams. Our commitment to ongoing career development and growing an inclusive culture ensures you have the support to thrive. Whether through mentorship, training, or leadership opportunities, we invest in your success so you can make a lasting impact. We believe diverse teams, working together are key to driving growth and delivering business results.

We recognize the importance of employee wellbeing. We prioritize providing flexible, competitive benefits plans to meet you and your family’s physical, mental, financial, and social needs. We provide a variety of medical insurance plans, with dental and vision coverage, Employee Assistance Program, 401(k), tuition reimbursement, employee resource groups, recognition, and much more. Our culture offers flexible time off plans, including paid parental leave (maternal and paternal), vacation and holiday leave.