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United States
Remote only
Not Available
Senior Business Developer – Manufacturing & Industrial Automation
Agentic voice AI is reshaping how work gets done on the industrial frontline, and we are responding to a deep unmet need: giving frontline workers — and the machines and systems they run — a voice that holds up in the tough, noisy, connectivity-poor conditions of the factory floor, warehouse, and field. This is about opening new markets from the ground up. To do it, we are bringing together a team that combines the top commercial and technical talent, with the domain expertise these markets demand. The pace is fast, the technology is new and exciting, and your work moves the business.
Your Impact
• Engage senior decision-makers across the manufacturing and industrial automation ecosystem — rugged device and wearable makers, connected-worker and MES/MOM platforms, voice-picking and WMS vendors, and SCADA/HMI and EAM/CMMS software leaders — from fast-moving startups to established global names.
• Qualify, size, and close opportunities, leveraging the company’s technical, commercial, and partnership resources to increase win rates and accelerate deal closure.
• Bring the experience and judgment to prioritize opportunities with the greatest commercial potential.
• Drive co-sell partnerships and customer deals from first contact through to close, owning the full cycle — across device and platform OEMs, systems integrators, and ISVs.
• Operate as a standalone commercial engine inside a small, entrepreneurial team, with enough technical fluency to hold your own on how manufacturing operations, industrial automation, and edge voice AI for frontline work.
Why Join the Team
• You get in early on a market about to scale and help define how agentic voice AI for the industrial frontline is won.
• This is a new business, so you shape the commercial playbook rather than inherit one. How we sell and partner is still being written, in large part by you.
• You bring the autonomy of a start-up and the credibility of an established company to every conversation, with the capital, customer relationships, technology, and brand behind you.
• Decisions come fast, obstacles get cleared, and you hold real authority over your part of the business.
What You Bring
• A track record in sales, business development, or venture capital — ideally selling into or alongside manufacturing, industrial automation, or enterprise/OT software. You know how to find, qualify, and win.
• Fluency in manufacturing and industrial automation — Industry 4.0 / smart manufacturing, MES/MOM, SCADA/HMI, IIoT, connected-worker platforms, or the OT/IT stack — ideally
on the software or software-integration side; experience with voice, conversational, or edge AI is a strong plus.
• Structured, professional, and immediately credible in front of founders and senior leaders.
• An entrepreneurial instinct, comfortable with ambiguity, speed, and full ownership of outcomes.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites, plants, and industry events).
Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of quota-carrying sales, business development, or partnership experience selling technology into or alongside manufacturing, industrial automation, or enterprise/OT software markets.
• Demonstrated track record of sourcing, qualifying, and closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals and partnerships.
• Working fluency in the manufacturing and industrial automation landscape (Industry 4.0, MES/MOM, SCADA/HMI, IIoT, connected-worker, or OT/IT).
• Willingness and ability to travel to customer sites, plants, and industry events (approximately 30%).
• Authorized to work in the country of hire without current or future employer sponsorship.
Preferred Qualifications
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree.
• Experience selling embedded, edge, or voice/conversational AI, or building SaaS/platform partnerships through an ISV or co-sell motion.
• An existing network across rugged-device, wearable, connected-worker, WMS, MES/SCADA/HMI, or EAM/CMMS vendors and systems integrators.
• Experience standing up a new market, product line, or territory from the ground up in a start-up or intrapreneurial environment.
• Proficiency with CRM and pipeline tools and a structured sales methodology
• Additional language capability for global, multilingual markets.
• Familiarity with Microsoft and NVIDIA partner ecosystem and motions.
Location & Travel
• Location: Remote — United States, Canada.
• Travel: approximately 30% to customer sites, plants, and industry events.
What we offer
Cerence Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNC and www.cerence.com) is the global industry leader in creating unique, moving experiences for the automotive world. Spun out from Nuance in October 2019, Cerence is a new, independent company that has quickly gained traction as a leader in the automotive voice assistant space, working with all of the world’s leading automakers – from Ford and Fiat Chrysler to Daimler, Audi and BMW to Geely and SAIC – to transform how a car feels, responds and learns. Its track record is built on more than 20 years of industry experience and leadership and more than 500 million cars on the road today across more than 70 languages.
As Cerence looks to the future and continues an ambitious growth agenda, we need someone to join the team and help build the future of voice and AI in cars. This is an exciting opportunity to join Cerence’s passionate, dedicated, global team and be a part of meaningful innovation in a rapidly growing industry.
Cerence is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, citizenship status, sexual orientation, protected military or veteran status, genetic information and other protected classifications. Cerence Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.
All prospective and current Employees need to remain vigilant when it comes to executing security policies in the workplace. This includes:
- Following workplace security protocols and training programs to familiarize with the ways to maintain a safe workplace.
- Following security procedures to report any suspicious activity.
- Having respect for corporate security procedures to allow those procedures to be effective.
- Adhering to company's compliance and regulations.
- Encouraging to follow a zero tolerance for workplace violence.
- Basic knowledge of information security and data privacy requirements (e.g., how to protect data & how to be handling this data).
- Demonstrative knowledge of information security through internal training programs.
