Head of Business Development and Strategy

Vorticity • Redwood City, CA

14h

About The Position

Vorticity is bringing the world’s first Scientific Processing Unit (SPU) to market, a new class of silicon designed to revolutionize scientific and industrial computing. As Head of Business Development and Strategy , you will work directly alongside the CEO and Hardware Lead to define our go-to-market path, engage early customers, and establish our commercial foundation. You will operate as a founding commercial leader, helping to lead the rollout of a breakthrough computing platform from first customer engagements to defining the market itself. This is a senior individual contributor role, ideal for someone who thrives on autonomy and high-level collaboration. This role combines strategic insight, technical curiosity, and sales acumen. You will identify high-value markets, establish relationships with leading organizations in scientific and industrial computing, and shape the go-to-market strategy.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in business development, partnerships, or enterprise sales, ideally in semiconductors, HPC, AI hardware, or scientific computing.
• Strong understanding of the scientific and high-performance computing ecosystem (e.g., HPC centers, national labs, simulation workloads).
• Demonstrated ability to develop relationships with technical decision-makers.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex technology into business value.
• Entrepreneurial mindset — comfortable operating in an early-stage environment.

Nice To Haves

• Technical background (e.g., in computer engineering, physics, or applied mathematics).
• Experience bringing new hardware or deep-tech products to market.
• Existing network in HPC or research computing communities.
• Experience with pre-launch customer engagement, pilot programs, or early-access partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Market Development: Identify and prioritize market segments and customer profiles where our silicon platform offers the most value (e.g., energy, finance, materials, climate, or AI research).
• Go-to-Market Strategy: Collaborate with product and engineering teams to align product positioning, pricing, and launch strategies with market demand.
• Partnerships: Identify strategic partnerships (software vendors, integrators, or OEMs) that can accelerate adoption.
• Customer Outreach: Engage early adopters, research institutions, and industrial partners to validate product-market fit and secure pre-launch commitments or letters of intent (LOIs).
• Pipeline Management: Develop and maintain a robust sales pipeline leading up to launch.
• Feedback Loop: Translate customer feedback into actionable insights for product and marketing teams.
• Thought Leadership: Represent the company at conferences, technical symposia, and partner events to build credibility in the scientific computing community.

Benefits

• Opportunity to join a cutting-edge hardware startup redefining scientific computing.
• Competitive compensation and equity package.
• Direct impact on product strategy and early customer success.
• Collaborative, high-velocity work environment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed