Business Development & Partnerships Lead - Detroit, USA

About Complete Robot

We are an early-stage, venture-backed company building AI-enabled systems for automated physical environments.

The company works with software, hardware, machine data, and commercial partners in real-world deployment settings.

About the role:

We are looking for a Midwest Business Development & Partnerships Lead to build commercial relationships across Michigan and the broader Midwest. This role becomes especially important after demo readiness. The goal is to turn a working product demonstration into pilots, customers, and regional partnerships.

For candidates who can start immediately, there may be an opportunity to join the founding team in San Francisco, stay with the team, and build together from a prestigious San Francisco accelerator environment. This is subject to availability, travel and logistics, role fit, and mutual agreement.

A strong candidate could grow into a regional GM or US launch leadership role.

Responsibilities:

• Build the Midwest commercial pipeline.

• Develop relationships with operators, convenience retail groups, payment partners, venue owners, industrial campuses, hospitals, universities, logistics centers, and workplace service providers.

• Identify high-quality pilot opportunities.

• Turn demo interest into pilot agreements, letters of intent, partnerships, and customer commitments.

• Lead meetings, demos, customer discovery, and partner conversations.

• Gather market feedback and translate it into product and deployment requirements.

• Help define pilot economics, customer success metrics, and the regional launch playbook.

Required Experience:
Direct experience in at least one of the following is required:

• Vending machine industry

• Micro-markets

• Convenience stores / c-store industry

• Payments / merchant acquiring / POS / payment terminals

• Unattended retail

• Retail automation

• Self-service kiosks

• Office coffee service

• Route-based operations

• Food service automation

• Workplace services

• Industrial site services

• Strong network in Michigan, the Midwest, or the US vending / convenience / payments / unattended retail ecosystem.

• Ability to sell into traditional industries and build trust with operators and location owners.

• Ability to understand machine economics, payment workflows, service operations, inventory, uptime, and operator concerns.

• English fluency required.

• Willingness to travel across the Midwest and occasionally to company or investor meetings.

Must Haves:

• Experience with vending operators, micro-market operators, c-store groups, payment providers, industrial campuses, hospitals, universities, logistics centers, or workplace service companies.

• Experience selling or launching hardware-plus-software products.

• Experience with field pilots, route operations, retail tech, or machine deployments.

• Experience building a new territory from scratch.

Success in the first 90 days:

• You map the Midwest market and identify priority pilot targets.

• You create a qualified list of partners and customers.

• You secure decision-maker meetings.

• You help turn the product demo into serious pilot conversations.

Success in the first 6-12 months:

• The company has active or contracted pilots in Michigan or the Midwest.

• The company has strong operator, venue, and payment partner relationships.

• You are on track to become a regional commercial leader.