Business Development Manager Industry & Academia Partnerships

Business Development Manager

Industry & Academia Partnerships

Own the partnerships that bring real industry problems and engineering talent into Indias largest AI-powered startup ecosystem — and run the programmes that deliver on them.

LOCATION

Bangalore — On-site

TYPE

Full-time

EXPERIENCE

3–5 years

COMPENSATION

6-9 LPA fixed + performance incentives

REPORTS TO

Head — Industry Connect / Head — Academia Connect

TRAVEL

40–50% (across South India) — fully reimbursed

ABOUT ROOMAN TECHNOLOGIES

Rooman Technologies is building Indias largest AI-powered startup ecosystem, connecting fresh engineering graduates with industry founders through a unique training-to-internship-to-startup model. Under the AI Solutions for All campaign, we work with MSMEs, industry associations and engineering colleges to collect real-world problem statements and build AI-powered solutions against them.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a dual-mandate role, and we want to be upfront about that.

You will spend roughly half your time on partnerships and business development — signing up MSMEs and industry associations as pilot partners, building relationships with engineering college leadership, and converting both into paying programme partners. The other half you will spend on programme operations — actually running the workshops you sell, coordinating training batches, and keeping the CRM, reporting and follow-through tight enough that the pipeline compounds instead of leaking.

If you enjoy owning an outcome end-to-end rather than handing it over after the signature, this role will suit you. If you want a pure hunting role with no delivery responsibility, or a pure coordination role with no target, it will not.

WHAT YOULL OWN

Partnerships & Business Development

• Identify, engage and onboard MSMEs as pilot partners for AI product development
• Build and manage relationships with industry associations — FICCI, FKCCI, KASSIA, ASSOCHAM and others — across Karnataka and South India
• Build partnerships with engineering colleges, from placement officers up to college leadership, and drive student enrolments into the AI for All and IT Ignite programmes
• Collect, document and score real-world problem statements from partners using our internal scoring framework
• Present to business owners, association representatives, principals and faculty panels — and to large student groups
• Support negotiation and closure of partnership agreements, programme contracts and co-branded event arrangements
• Generate case studies and testimonials from pilot partners for marketing use
• Build and maintain a clean CRM of industry and academic contacts, problem statements and engagement history

Programme Operations & Delivery

• Run industry workshops end-to-end: venue, association liaison, speaker coordination, attendee management and post-event follow-up
• Coordinate training batch scheduling, faculty allocation and attendance tracking for programmes sold into your accounts
• Hand curated problem statements to the Project Management team and track them through to delivery
• Own weekly and monthly reporting on pipeline, conversions, workshop outcomes and enrolment numbers
• Resolve partner and college queries, and keep documentation and compliance records current
• Work with Marketing on campaign inputs, collateral needs and regional lead generation

WHAT WERE LOOKING FOR

• 3–5 years in B2B sales, business development, inside sales, EdTech or institutional sales, student counselling, or corporate relations
• Experience working to a defined target and reporting against it — whether enrolments, accounts, placements or revenue
• Comfortable both in a one-to-one business meeting and in front of a 200-student auditorium
• Hands-on experience with a CRM (Zoho, HubSpot or Salesforce) and genuine discipline about keeping it current
• Strong organisational skills — you can run a workshop for 80 attendees and follow up on your pipeline in the same week without dropping either
• Willing to travel 40–50% across Karnataka and South India
• Fluent in English and Kannada; Hindi is a strong advantage
• Graduate in any discipline; MBA is a plus but not a requirement

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience in EdTech, IT training, skilling or technology product sales
• Exposure to MSME, industry association or engineering college environments in any capacity
• Working understanding of the AI/technology landscape — enough to hold a credible conversation about what AI can and cannot solve for a mid-sized business
• Experience running events, workshops or training programmes
• Own two-wheeler or car for regional travel

HOW SUCCESS IS MEASURED

This is a target-carrying role. You will own quarterly targets for industry partnerships signed, workshops delivered, problem statements collected and student enrolments generated, with a performance incentive tied directly to them. Specific numbers are shared and agreed at the offer stage — we would rather set them with you than hand them to you.

WHAT WE OFFER

• 6-9 LPA fixed, plus a performance incentive linked to partnership and enrolment targets
• Travel, accommodation and communication expenses fully reimbursed — your fixed pay is yours to keep
• A genuinely wide brief — you will touch industry, academia, training and product in the same month
• Direct access to leadership and short decision cycles; your ideas get tested, not filed
• A clear growth path: this role is the training ground for vertical leadership as the ecosystem scales
• Hands-on exposure to applied AI and the startup ecosystem — experience that is difficult to buy elsewhere at this stage of a career