Fractional Semiconductor Business Development Lead — Edge AI Accelerator

# Semiconductor Design-Partner Sales Leader — Edge AI Accelerator **Oplexa | Remote, U.S.-Focused | Six-Month Contract** ## About Oplexa Oplexa is developing a purpose-built semiconductor accelerator for private, low-power AI inference at the edge. Our transformer compute architecture and processing elements have been validated through cycle-accurate simulation and FPGA testing. Oplexa Edge 1 is currently pre-tapeout, with the core architecture progressing toward production silicon. We are building strategic relationships with customers whose workloads and deployment requirements will influence the evaluation platform, software stack, product roadmap and production silicon. We are seeking an experienced semiconductor business-development leader capable of securing multimillion-dollar design-partner, NRE, pilot and production agreements. ## The Mission Build Oplexa’s strategic design-partner pipeline and close paid agreements with organizations deploying private AI at the edge. This is not SaaS sales, lead generation or appointment setting. You must understand: * Semiconductor design-win cycles * Pre-tapeout customer engagement * Technical evaluation programs * NRE and strategic-development agreements * OEM qualification and production commitments * Executive, engineering and procurement negotiations ## Priority Markets * Defense, aerospace and autonomous systems * Industrial automation and robotics * Telecommunications and private 5G * Smart cameras and physical-security systems * Medical and regulated edge devices * Sovereign and private AI infrastructure ## Target Customer Profiles * Defense primes and autonomous-system companies * Robotics, drone and industrial-equipment manufacturers * Telecom operators and edge-platform vendors * Camera, video-analytics and security-device manufacturers * Medical-device and regulated-equipment manufacturers * OEMs requiring private, offline, deterministic AI inference * Organizations requiring low-power, battery-operated AI acceleration ## Your Responsibilities * Build 75–100 highly qualified strategic target accounts * Reach VP, CTO, engineering and business-unit decision-makers * Generate warm introductions through existing industry relationships * Identify customer models, workloads, power limits and deployment volumes * Quantify each opportunity’s NRE and production-revenue potential * Lead commercial engagement from introduction through signature * Coordinate technical evaluations with Oplexa engineering * Negotiate NDAs, LOIs, design-partner and development agreements * Develop pilot, NRE and production-commitment opportunities * Maintain a quantified weekly pipeline and closing forecast * Capture customer requirements for hardware and software roadmaps * Build each design partner into a multimillion-dollar production opportunity ## Six-Month Success Targets ### First 30 Days * 75 qualified strategic accounts identified * 15 warm executive introductions * 8 qualified customer meetings * 3 customers progressing toward NDA or technical evaluation * $5 million or more in initial qualified pipeline ### First 90 Days * 15–20 qualified executive and technical meetings * 5–7 NDAs or structured technical evaluations * 3–5 active commercial opportunities * 1 paid strategic design-partner agreement * $10 million or more in qualified pipeline ### Six Months * 2–3 paid strategic design-partner agreements * $1 million–$3 million in contracted development, NRE or pilot revenue * $10 million–$25 million in qualified commercial pipeline * At least one partner progressing toward production commitment * $50 million or more in identified three-to-five-year production potential Exceptional performance beyond these targets will earn accelerated commissions and milestone bonuses. ## Commercial Agreements You Will Sell ### Strategic Design-Partner Agreement **Target value: $250,000–$1 million** The customer receives: * Early architecture and software-stack access * Customer-workload evaluation and benchmarking * Product-roadmap participation * Engineering and integration support * Evaluation-platform access when available * Preferred production engagement * Negotiated production pricing and allocation ### NRE and Custom-Development Agreement **Target value: $1 million–$5 million+** For customers requiring: * Workload-specific optimization * Custom interfaces or platform integration * Security or deterministic-performance capabilities * Defense or regulated-program requirements * Specialized software, compiler or model support * Customer-funded engineering development ### Paid Pilot Program **Target value: $500,000–$2 million** The pilot may include: * Evaluation systems when available * Customer-model integration * Application benchmarking * Power, latency and throughput validation * Software and compiler optimization * Field-testing support * Production-qualification planning ### Production Design Win **Target potential: $5 million–$25 million annually** Convert successful partners into multiyear silicon customers through: * Forecasted unit volumes * Production pricing * Supply and capacity planning * Technical support commitments * Product-lifecycle agreements * Multiyear purchasing frameworks ## Required Experience You must have: * Seven or more years selling semiconductors or deep-tech hardware * Personally closed semiconductor design wins, NRE or development agreements * Experience managing opportunities valued above $1 million * Existing relationships with U.S. OEM, defense, industrial or telecom buyers * Experience selling pre-production hardware or semiconductor roadmaps * Managed the full cycle from executive introduction through contract signature * Worked directly with CTOs, engineering leaders, procurement and legal teams * Ability to explain three relevant closed deals and their approximate values * Professional references capable of verifying your role in those transactions ## Strongly Preferred Background Experience with one or more of: * Edge-AI accelerators * Embedded processors or semiconductor IP * Vision, robotics or autonomous-system hardware * FPGA, ASIC or SoC platforms * Defense and aerospace programs * Industrial or telecommunications edge infrastructure * OEM semiconductor design wins * NRE and strategic-development contracts * Early-stage or pre-tapeout semiconductor startups ## Compensation * Six-month base contract with milestone payments * Commission on collected design-partner, NRE and pilot revenue * Accelerated commission for early signed agreements * Major milestone bonus after $1 million in contracted revenue * Additional bonus for exceeding pipeline and production-design-win targets * Potential long-term or full-time sales-leadership opportunity The compensation structure is designed for an experienced semiconductor closer. Strong performance should generate earnings significantly above the base contract.