Startup Adoption Business Manager

About the role

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.

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
• Create 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.

Qualifications

• 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

Preferred Qualifications

• 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