Business Development
About Rain:
At Rain AI, we’re creating a future with abundant and scalable artificial intelligence. We're building the world’s most cost and energy efficient hardware for AI. Our products achieve an order of magnitude improvement over the status quo by co-designing every layer of the AI stack, from circuits to algorithms. Our ultimate goal is to become the dominant hardware company of the AI era.
Rain AI is currently a Series A stage startup and backed by world leaders in AI. Our seed round was led by Sam Altman (OpenAI). In addition, our current VC partners include Y Combinator, Daniel Gross, Jaan Tallinn, Founders X Fund, Airbus Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and Deepwater.
About the Role:
We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Business Development lead to join our team and lead business development, sales, and partnership efforts for our AI chip product portfolio. You would have a large degree of independence and influence at Rain AI and have an immense opportunity to directly impact one of the most important topics across AI & semiconductor.
The ideal candidate will have demonstrated success in strategizing and executing AI chip commercialization, facilitating large revenue growth, preferably within a startup environment, and experience in building and leading high-performing teams.
While this a remote role (in the U.S.), we have a slight preference for the Bay Area.
Responsibilities:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive business development strategy, focused on driving revenue growth and market penetration for Rain's AI chip and IP product portfolio
- Leveraging your existing network and expertise in AI and semiconductors, identify, evaluate, pursue, and close new business opportunities, partnerships, and collaborations with ecosystem partners, including OEMs, hyperscalers, cloud companies, and AI companies
- Collaborate closely with key stakeholders to align business development and sales efforts with product development and strategic corporate goals while maintaining a lean and focused team structure
- Develop and execute sales strategies, including key customer engagements, product marketing, product pricing, and margins, to maximize revenue and profitability
- Monitor industry trends, competitor activities, and emerging technologies to inform business development and sales strategies
- Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing business development team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and excellence, while maintaining a lean and focused team structure
- Reporting to our Head of Product, and regular touchpoints with our CEO and the full senior leadership team
Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field; advanced degree preferred (PhD in a technical field)
- Minimum of 10 years of experience (5+ as director-level+) in business development, sales, and marketing within the AI, semiconductor, or related technology industries
- Proven track record of successfully driving large revenue growth and market penetration in the AI chip space
- Exceptional network within the AI compute markets (edge and cloud)
- Demonstrated ability to build from scratch and lead high-performing teams while maintaining a lean and focused team structure, with experience in hiring and talent development
- Strong understanding of the AI compute market
- Experience in developing and executing go-to-market strategies, establishing strategic partnerships, and managing P&L to drive revenue and profitability
- Self-motivated, independent, and goal-oriented, with a strong work ethic and a passion for innovation in the AI space
- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels
- Demonstrated history of closing multiple complex deals with creative or bold terms, while maintaining the best interests of the company
- Detail-oriented and able to run a structured deal process, effectively shepherding all internal and external stakeholders through the various phases of a deal (ideation, pitching, negotiating, structuring, closing, implementing)
- Pragmatic and big-picture-oriented, able to optimize for what is most important, get deals done, and recognize when it is best to walk away from a deal that is not in the company's best interests
Preferred Qualifications:
- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field
- Demonstrated history of winning large government contracts in the semiconductor space
- Experience driving deals in the IP licensing space
- Startup experience
Our Benefits:
- Medical Insurance with 100% coverage of employee premiums
- Dental and Vision Insurance
- 401k match
- Unlimited PTO + all federal holidays
- Two weeks off around Christmas and New Years
- Summer “shutdown”: one week-off for all employees
- Work from anywhere in the United States
- $500 of office equipment per year
- And more!