Strategic Business Development Lead (Robotics)

Palo AltoFullTimePosted Jul 14, 2026

Who we are

Odyssey is an AI lab pioneering general world models: causal, multimodal systems that learn to predict and interact with the world over long horizons. This foundational technology promises to revolutionize robotics, science, healthcare, education, gaming, defense, and beyond.

Odyssey’s founders previously pioneered the most complex application of physical AI: self-driving cars. They’ve now brought together a world-class research team from DeepMind, Tesla, Waymo, Meta, Apple, and Wayve, who have made significant contributions to language models (DeepMind Gemini), video models (DeepMind Veo), world models (Wayve GAIA), and autonomous systems (Tesla FSD).

Odyssey has raised significant venture capital from GV, Amazon, AMD, EQT, NVIDIA, Natural Capital, In-Q-Tel, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Guillermo Rauch, Garry Tan, Kyle Vogt, and researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, MSL, Recursive, and Thinking Machines.

What we're looking for

We're hiring a Strategic Business Development Lead to build our robotics commercialization function from the ground up; identifying opportunities, closing the partnerships that anchor our go-to-market, and hiring the team to scale it.

What you'll do

  • Set commercial strategy and revenue milestones, building the processes and operating rhythm to support both.

  • Own strategic deals currently in motion and build a pipeline well beyond.

  • Structure and negotiate the partnerships central to our go-to-market, particularly around commercializing robotics opportunities, including edge deployment, SDK integration, and co-sell motions with major cloud and robotics partners.

  • Partner with Data Operations to structure two-way deals with key accounts, where data acquisition and product sales are negotiated together increasing the overall value generation for our customers.

  • Work with Product and Research to translate new model capabilities into commercial offerings, and help define new product lines as demand emerges.

  • Work directly with the founders on structure and priorities as the function takes shape.

Who you are

  • You have experience in Robotics either internally or commercially and understand the market dynamics in a rapidly changing technology landscape

  • You're technically credible and learn quickly. You can explain model architectures to a customer and translate value transactions into commercial terms. Deep experience in robotics, hardware, or complex technical infrastructure is required.

  • You've carried revenue that materially affected a company's trajectory, with individual deals large enough to move the business.

  • You've hunted, structured and closed complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships.

  • You hire well, sequence roles thoughtfully, and develop the people around you.

  • You're effective working alongside founders in ambiguous, early-stage environments, and comfortable defining structure rather than waiting for it.

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