Head of Ecosystem

Who we are looking for

You will own and build the ecosystem‑led growth engine for Cadonix’s cloud‑based ECAD and wire harness design SaaS product. This role is responsible for creating market presence and adoption in segments where traditional enterprise sales motions do not naturally reach: education, startups, incubators and accelerators, online engineering communities, and industry partner networks. The Head of Ecosystem Growth is the public‑facing advocate for the product, designs and runs strategic partner and community programs, and is accountable for converting ecosystem engagement into measurable user acquisition, activation, and partner‑sourced pipeline.

Working closely with Product Marketing, Product, and Sales, this person turns positioning and launch strategy into real market motion through partnerships, programs, demos, webinars, referrals, early champions, and customer stories. This is not a social media or events role; it is a market‑development role for a new technical SaaS product in a specialized engineering domain.

Own ecosystem growth strategy: target selection, sequencing, and resource allocation across education, startups, incubators, accelerators, and online technical communities.

Build partnerships with universities, student engineering teams (Formula SAE, Baja, robotics, capstone), hardware accelerators, incubators, maker communities, design consultants, and industry organizations.

Launch scalable programs
: EDU licenses, startup credits, student packages, ambassador programs, design challenges, webinars, hackathons, and referral loops.

Serve as external advocate across Linked In, You Tube, Reddit, Discord, forums, conferences, and events; host webinars, run demos, and engage authentically in technical discussions.

Drive measurable outcomes
: trial signups, activated users, partner‑sourced leads, referrals, design partners, testimonials, and case studies.

Engage technical users (founders, engineers, students, educators, consultants, manufacturers) to understand workflows, gather feedback, and identify champions.

Collaborate with Product Marketing to translate positioning into channel campaigns; provide field feedback to refine messaging.

Partner with Product and Sales to source design partners, surface product gaps, and generate qualified opportunities.

Maintain credible social/community presence aligned with product narrative; coordinate with Product Marketing.

Track and report signups, activation, partner leads, community growth, referrals, conversion rates, CAC, and market insights.

Build partner pipeline: lead outreach to professors, program directors, club leaders, accelerator managers, and complete commitments.

Represent early adopters, startups, educators, and community users to Product, Product Marketing, Sales, and leadership.

Establish weekly reporting on ecosystem activity, performance, findings, and investment recommendations.

Recommend team expansion (community specialist, technical content creator, program coordinator) as the function scales.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent with 7+ years in ecosystem growth, partnerships, community‑led growth, developer relations, technical product marketing, startup programs, field marketing, or technical evangelism for B2B SaaS or technical products.
• Consistent track record of building (not just maintaining) programs, channels, communities, or partnership motions from scratch.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and establish credibility with technical audiences (engineers, founders, developers, students, educators, technical buyers).
• Experience connecting activities to measurable commercial outcomes: signups, activated users, qualified leads, pipeline, referrals, or revenue.
• Bachelor's in a technical field (electrical/mechanical engineering, computer science, robotics, industrial design) preferred; marketing/business degrees acceptable with strong technical product understanding.
• Experience in CAD, EDA, ECAD, MCAD, PLM, developer tools, robotics, aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, or hardware startup ecosystems strongly preferred.

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Build Manufacturing is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affiliation employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, parental status, cultural background, organizational level, work styles, tenure and life experiences. Or for any other reason.

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