Startup Adoption Business Manager

Emerson•Austin, TX

2h•Onsite

About The Position

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.

Requirements

Bachelor's in engineering or other technical discipline
5 years of professional experience in technical business development
Experience with NI Technology
Excellent communication, relationship‑building, and stakeholder management skills
30% travel required
Legal authorization to work in the US - visa sponsorship is not provided

Nice To Haves

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

Responsibilities

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.