CEO / Business Co-Founder (f/m/d) role at startup IXPLAIN

Job description

IXPLAIN Kaiserslautern, Germany (DFKI) | On-site / Hybrid | Co-Founder / Equity | Deep Tech / Explainable AI About iXplain iXplain is an AI platform for time series analysis that doesn't just detect what is happening in sensor data, but explains why. It combines state-of-the-art machine learning (classification, forecasting, regression, anomaly detection) with Explainable AI and a neuro-symbolic rule engine to turn raw industrial signals into clear, actionable recommendations, already demonstrated in water quality monitoring, energy grids and automotive production. The opportunity iXplain grew out of DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) and has a functional demonstrator, shown at Hannover Messe 2025, with live discussions underway in the water and manufacturing sectors. The technology is proven; the company is not yet founded. We are looking for a CEO / Business co-founder to turn a validated research demonstrator into a company, own the commercial relationship with our first industrial partners, and build the business around technology our 3-person research team has already built. Tasks What you will own Company build-up - Lead the incorporation of iXplain as a company and define its go-to-market strategy and business model. - Own fundraising strategy and investor relations for the seed stage. Commercial validation - Validate iXplain with real industrial partners in water, energy and automotive/manufacturing, turning early discussions (post-Hannover Messe 2025) into paying pilots. - Define how iXplain integrates into customers' existing workflows and systems. Business leadership - Build the commercial organization, pricing and sales process from scratch alongside the technical co-founders (Dr. Dominique Mercier, CTO; Dr. Tobias Wirth, Advisor). - Represent iXplain to investors, partners and industrial customers as CEO. Requirements What you bring Core experience - Entrepreneurial / business leadership experience, ideally as a founder or in early-stage B2B SaaS or industrial-tech commercialization. - Track record in business development and closing deals with industrial or enterprise customers. - Comfortable operating without a playbook, pre-product-market-fit. Especially valuable - Domain expertise in water, energy, or automotive/manufacturing industries. - Experience fundraising from VCs or deep-tech grants (e.g., EXIST, German public…