--- title: 'Business Development Manager / Lead or Director at Trener' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-manager-lead-or-director-trener-san-jose-qm2edrkzw8g5' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # Business Development Manager / Lead or Director at Trener - **Company:** Trener - **Location:** San Jose, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-05-19 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/trener-robotics/98f290fa-71b3-4ae1-b53f-0286652ec2b7 ## Job description Business Development Manager / Lead or Director Location: San Jose, Bay Area, California At Trener, we are redefining how industrial robots are programmed. For decades, industrial automation has relied on rigid, point-to-point programming that requires significant engineering effort and limits flexibility. Our AI platform enables robots to perceive, reason, and execute complex manufacturing tasks autonomously, helping manufacturers deploy intelligent automation faster and with less manual programming. We are looking for a Business Development Manager who is an equal parts relationship builder, market strategist, and opportunity creator. This role is responsible for generating new business opportunities while also identifying emerging customer needs that can inform the next generation of robotic skills and product offerings. You will work at the front edge of the market, listening closely to manufacturers, uncovering unmet automation challenges, and helping Trener determine where to expand next. ## Your Mission Your mission is to open doors and uncover what the market needs next. You will identify and engage enterprise manufacturers, build relationships with decision-makers, and create qualified opportunities for the commercial team. Just as importantly, you will surface recurring customer pain points and unmet needs that can shape new robotic skills, applications, and product offerings. You will help customers and Trener answer two essential questions: - Where can AI-driven robotics create meaningful business value today? - What automation challenges represent the next major opportunity for Trener? ## What You Will Do Generate and Qualify Opportunities - Identify target accounts in manufacturing, industrial automation, and robotics. - Conduct outbound prospecting through email, LinkedIn, phone, referrals, and industry events. - Build relationships with engineering, operations, manufacturing, and executive leaders. - Qualify customer challenges, priorities, and business drivers. - Schedule discovery meetings, facility visits, and executive introductions. Surface Strategic Market Insights - Listen for recurring pain points and unmet automation needs across enterprise accounts. - Identify patterns that suggest opportunities for new robotic skills, applications, and product offerings. - Share market intelligence with sales, product, and engineering teams to help shape roadmap priorities. - Maintain a strong understanding of competitive offerings and emerging market trends. Collaborate to Advance Opportunities - Partner with Application Engineers to scope technical opportunities and define Proofs of Value. - Work closely with sales leadership to prioritize target accounts and strategic initiatives. - Maintain accurate pipeline and activity data in the CRM. - Support trade shows, conferences, and customer events. ## What We Are Looking For - 5–10 years of experience in business development, sales development, strategic prospecting, or market development. - Experience selling technical products or services to manufacturing, industrial, or enterprise customers. - Strong curiosity and ability to uncover underlying customer problems. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills. - Ability to connect technical challenges to business outcomes. - Highly organized, self-directed, and comfortable in a fast-moving startup environment. What Will Set You Apart - Experience in robotics, industrial automation, manufacturing software, or AI. - Familiarity with CNC machining, machine tending, or factory operations. - Experience working with enterprise accounts and complex buying cycles. - Ability to identify patterns across customer conversations and translate them into strategic insights. - Experience with working and developing partner networks - Interest in shaping product direction, not just generating pipeline. What Success Looks Like Success in this role is not measured solely by meetings booked or leads generated. Success means: - Creating a steady flow of high-quality opportunities. - Building trusted relationships with manufacturing and operations leaders. - Identifying unmet customer needs and emerging automation use cases. - Informing new robotic skills and product offerings. - Helping Trener expand both revenue and product-market fit. ## Why Join Trener - Work at the forefront of Physical AI and industrial robotics. - Help shape the future of manufacturing automation. - Influence both commercial growth and product strategy. - Join a well-funded, fast-growing company with global ambitions. - Collaborate with experts in robotics, AI, and industrial automation. - Build a role that combines business development, strategic discovery, and market intelligence. Join Us If you enjoy opening doors, understanding complex customer problems, and helping shape what a company builds next, we would love to hear from you. At Trener, business development is more than pipeline generation. It is how we discover where the market is headed and how our technology can create the greatest impact. ## About Trener ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Industrial robotics automation / Physical AI software - **Target customers**: B2B – manufacturing companies, system integrators, and shop-floor operations running high-mix, low-volume production - **Mission**: Replace rigid, scripted robot programming with training-based, autonomous execution to make industrial automation more flexible and scalable. ## Products & Services - **Acteris**: The core intelligence layer for industrial robots – a vendor-agnostic platform that provides vision, language, and action understanding to enable skills-based programming, natural language task specification, real-time adaptation, and production monitoring. Compatible with ABB, Universal Robots, and FANUC, with more brands planned. - **T-Labs**: Dedicated R&D engine that develops new robot skills using vision-language-action models, simulation, and data-efficient training pipelines. Feeds production-ready capabilities into Acteris. - **T-Job, T-Agents, T-Vision, T-Sim, T-Monitor, T-Skill, T-Sense (coming soon)**: Specific modules within Acteris for job orchestration, agentic control, vision perception, simulation, monitoring, skill execution, and haptic sensing. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding of $38.2M across four rounds (Pre-Seed, Seed, Seed extension, Series A) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Engine Ventures, IAG Capital Partners, Emergent Ventures - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew 350% year-over-year to 31 employees (LinkedIn data) - Won the Industry Startup Forum Award at Advanced Factories 2026 - Winner of ABB Startup Challenge 2024 - Expanding to additional robot brands beyond ABB, Universal Robots, and FANUC - Opened offices in San Jose (US HQ) and Barcelona (new hybrid location) ## Competitive Advantages - **Robot-agnostic intelligence layer**: Works across multiple robot brands (ABB, UR, FANUC) without requiring hardware replacement – can retrofit existing workcells. - **Physical AI approach**: Replaces traditional point-to-point programming with Vision-Language-Action models, enabling robots to handle variability and changeovers autonomously. - **Skills, not scripts**: Deployable, reusable robot skills that can be commissioned and scaled across cells, reducing deployment time and maintenance. - **Partner-led commissioning**: Standardized integration suite allows trusted partners to deploy consistently, enabling faster scaling. ## Strategic Focus - Scale deployment of Acteris across more production environments, particularly high-mix, low-volume manufacturing. - Expand robot brand compatibility to additional leading industrial robot manufacturers. - Continue building T-Labs to advance embodied intelligence and skill learning. - Grow the partner ecosystem and sales channels (recent hires like VP of Sales Jacob Pascual Pape indicate commercial acceleration). ## Why Work Here - **Cutting-edge technology**: Work on Physical AI, foundation models, and real-world robotics – a rare intersection of AI and industrial automation. - **Global team**: Offices in San Jose (US), Trondheim (Norway), and Barcelona (Spain) with employees across 6 countries. Hybrid work model (in-office in San Jose and Barcelona, with remote flexibility in some roles). - **Growth trajectory**: Young company (founded 2024) with rapid headcount growth and strong investor backing – opportunity to shape the product and culture early. - **Award-winning environment**: Recognized at Advanced Factories 2026 and ABB Startup Challenge, signaling industry credibility. - **Open roles**: Currently hiring for Integration Engineers (software and field), Technical Sales Engineers, QA Engineers, Business Development Managers, Channel Managers, and Application Engineers – indicating scaling across engineering, sales, and operations. ## Sources 1. [trener.ai](https://trener.ai/) 2. [trener.ai/company](https://trener.ai/company) 3. [trener.ai/platform](https://trener.ai/platform) 4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/trener-robotics) 5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/trener-robotics) ## Other roles at Trener - [Robotic Research Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotic-research-engineer-trener-san-jose-y9b25v6nz46g) — San Jose, CA - [Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cloud-infrastructure-engineer-trener-san-jose-24qjfesc8wsz) — San Jose, CA - [Product Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/product-marketing-manager-trener-san-jose-rjkrg2f9h6w0) — San Jose, CA - [Senior Software Engineer, Integration Suite](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-integration-suite-trener-trondheim-vsxa47w0tmbb) — Trondheim, Norway - [Robotics Software Engineer Vision-Language-Action Models](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-engineer-vision-language-action-models-trener-trondheim-6244hmbs3jv5) — Trondheim, Norway