Strategic Business Development Lead

Company Overview

Applied Brain Research Inc. (ABR) is a pioneer in next-generation AI for edge devices, built on nearly a decade of research in brain-inspired computing. ABR’s patented State Space Models (SSMs) deliver breakthrough efficiency for streaming, time-series AI workloads—including Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Text-to-Speech (TTS), real-time translation, and on-device language models—across consumer, medical, industrial, and automotive applications.

ABR operates a software licensing and royalty revenue model. Our models are deployed as embedded software running on third-party edge processors from leading silicon vendors including Nvidia, NXP, Qualcomm, Alif Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, Renesas, and others. We do not sell hardware; we sell best-in-class neural network IP that OEMs and device makers integrate into their products.

ABR is at an inflection point. Our technology is proven, our models are benchmarked against the best in the industry, and early customer traction is building. We are now seeking a seasoned business development leader who deeply understands embedded software, AI deployment on edge hardware, and the commercial dynamics of IP licensing to scale ABR into a market-defining company.

The Opportunity

This is a high-impact role responsible for building customer traction that establishes ABR as a leading provider of embedded AI models for edge devices, starting with ASR and TTS. The Business Development Lead will identify and engage target customers, structure and drive meaningful proof-of-concept (POC) engagements, and build the relationships with OEMs and silicon partners that validate ABR’s technology in real-world deployments. This role is a critical contributor to ABR’s go-to-market strategy and will work closely with the CEO and leadership team to shape commercial direction based on direct market and customer insight.

The ideal candidate has spent years navigating the intersection of embedded software, semiconductor ecosystems, and AI—and understands how software IP gets licensed, integrated, and deployed on constrained edge devices. This is not a role for a traditional hardware sales executive or someone whose experience is limited to SaaS or cloud software.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Engagement & POC Development

• Identify, qualify, and engage OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and device manufacturers whose product roadmaps align with ABR’s embedded AI capabilities
• Structure, negotiate, and drive paid proof-of-concept (POC) and pilot engagements that demonstrate ABR’s performance advantages on customers’ target hardware and use cases
• Manage active POC engagements end-to-end: define success criteria with customers, coordinate ABR engineering resources, track milestones, and drive toward clear go/no-go outcomes
• Build a track record of successful POCs that demonstrate clear customer traction and validate ABR’s technology for licensing and royalty commitments
• Maintain clear reporting on engagement status, POC progress, and customer commitment signals for the CEO and leadership team

Go-to-Market Strategy

• The role will not be responsible for the Go-to-Market Strategy but will be key in supporting and developing the strategy
• Identify the highest-value market segments and use cases where ABR’s SSM-based models address key customer pain points by delivering clear competitive differentiation on edge hardware
• Provide input on product positioning, pricing strategy, and packaging for ABR’s IP licensing offerings across different processor families and customer tiers
• Create and execute co-marketing programs with silicon partners to drive inbound demand from their customer bases

Silicon Partner Ecosystem

• Build and manage deep technical and commercial relationships with edge processor ecosystem (ARM, Nvidia, NXP, Qualcomm, Alif, STMicroelectronics, Renesas, and others)
• Drive joint go-to-market initiatives including reference designs, benchmark publications, developer ecosystem integrations, and co-selling motions
• Coordinate with ABR engineering on partner platform integration activities and drive promotion on partner platforms to create pull-through demand from OEM customers
• Represent ABR in partner and ecosystem events

Technical Selling & Voice of Customer

• Lead customer engagements in pre-sales activities, working closely with ABR’s engineering team to support evaluation, benchmarking, and integration in alignment with expectations
• Manage paid proofs of concept (POCs) and pilot programs, ensuring customers experience ABR’s performance advantages firsthand on their target hardware
• Serve as the primary commercial relationship owner across all customer touchpoints including technical reviews, contract negotiations, and executive alignment
• Serve as a structured voice-of-customer channel: translate customer requirements, deployment constraints, and competitive insights back to ABR’s product and engineering teams to inform model optimization and roadmap priorities (note: product management decisions remain with the product team)

Market Intelligence & Strategic Planning

• Maintain deep awareness of the competitive AI landscape (both cloud and on-device) including present (ASR, TTS) and longer term (e.g. SLM) application spaces
• Track market trends in edge AI adoption, processor roadmaps, and customer buying patterns to inform ABR’s strategic direction
• Provide structured feedback to the CEO and leadership team on market opportunities, competitive threats, and strategic positioning

Required Qualifications

Non-Negotiable Experience

• 8–15 years of business development, strategic sales, or partnership experience in embedded software licensing, edge AI preferred (cloud/SaaS, hardware component experience not relevant)
• Demonstrated track record of structuring and closing meaningful NRE-based POCs, IP licensing and/or royalty-based revenue deals with OEMs or device manufacturers
• Reasonable fluency in embedded software deployment: how software models are compiled, optimized, and integrated onto edge processors with constrained compute, memory, and power budgets
• Strong working knowledge of the edge processor landscape including architectures (MCUs, MPUs, NPUs, DSPs) and the ecosystems of plyers such as ARM, Nvidia, NXP, Qualcomm, Alif, ST, Renesas and others
• Fluency in the AI/ML model landscape for edge and cloud: ASR, TTS, translation, voice activity detection, keyword spotting, on-device LLMs, and the competitive dynamics among model providers
• Experience navigating complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles involving engineering, product, procurement, and executive decision-makers at OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers
• Comfort operating in an early-stage, venture-backed environment with the ability to build processes from scratch and move fast with limited resources

Technical Literacy

• Ability to credibly discuss neural network architectures (State Space Models, Transformers, RNNs), model optimization techniques (quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation), and deployment frameworks (ONNX, LiteRT, proprietary SDKs)
• Understanding of real-time processing constraints, latency requirements, and power/performance tradeoffs specific to edge AI workloads
• Familiarity with software development kits (SDKs), APIs, and the tools customers use to evaluate, benchmark, and integrate third-party AI models
• Sufficient technical depth to lead discussions between ABR engineering and customer engineering teams and to translate business requirements into actionable product feedback

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Advanced degree (MBA, MS, or PhD) in a technical or business field is a strong plus

Measuring Success

Performance in this role will be evaluated against clear, quantitative metrics:

• Number and quality of paid POC engagements initiated with qualified OEM and device manufacturer customers
• POC-to-commitment conversion rate: percentage of POCs that result in a customer signaling intent to license or proceed to production integration
• Strength of customer references and traction evidence available to support ABR’s Series A fundraise
• Customer progression from POC to production deployment
• Strategic partnership development with key silicon vendors measured by joint go-to-market activity and partner-sourced pipeline
• Quality and accuracy of market intelligence feeding back into ABR’s product and corporate strategy

Travel

This role predominantly operates remotely through online meetings, but does require regular travel for customer meetings, silicon partner engagements, industry conferences/tradeshows, and internal ABR collaboration. Primary travel regions include US, Canada, and APAC with occasional travel to Europe and Middle East.

ABR Core Values

At ABR, we hold dear our core values and consider them critical to the success of our team and all its key stakeholders:

Innovation: Great ideas come from trial and error.
We recognize risk-taking as critical to long-term value creation, especially for very difficult problems. We dedicate time and effort to innovate, recognizing its unpredictable and interactive nature. Our team is empowered to take risks that generate learning fundamental to future breakthroughs.

Customer Success: Our customers’ success is our success.
We are committed to developing leadership products that enable our customers to easily integrate ABR’s world-class AI into their products. We aim to deliver the best customer experience, fully supporting our customers’ needs and making decisions that improve their results.

Team Play: Collaboration is key to reaching our goals.
We cultivate teamwork and value the strengths each team member brings. We know that the most successful teams are those that are inclusive and truly value diversity. We enjoy learning from and supporting others on our team. We are open in our communication amongst all key stakeholders to help align and accelerate our journey to success.

Commitment to Excellence: We strive to deliver beyond expectations.
We understand the challenging nature of our business and the high standards of our customers, partners, and investors. We know that success doesn’t come easily and so we plan, execute, and deliver above and beyond expectations.

Kindness: We treat everyone with respect and kindness.
We enjoy what we do and stay centered even when grappling with the largest of challenges. We are direct, candid, and constructive in how we provide feedback, always with the aim of helping those we interact with. We value the people we work with and act accordingly.

Application Process

Please submit your resume and cover letter detailing your relevant experience in embedded software licensing, edge AI business development, and how you have embodied our core values.