Chief Business Development Officer / CBDO— Business & Farmer Relations

Orchai is a hardware-agnostic decision support platform for orchard farmers navigating pest management. It integrates data from smart traps and environmental sensors into a single dashboard that guides spray timing decisions and reduces pesticide use while protecting yields.

The platform is currently at concept and early validation stage, with strong domain expertise, an EXIST mentorship pathway through BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, and a wide network of potential pilot farms (from completed PhD research).

Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg

IB

Ingrid Bapfubusa Niyibizi

Founder

Details

OrchAI is the IPM decision support platform that combines pest species detection and beneficial insect monitoring from the same trap image. OrchAI tells farmers whether to spray or not.

What location should the target have?

SaaS subscription model, priced per farm per season. Target price point accessible to mid-size orchard operations (5–50 ha). Funding covers development costs during the grant period, no revenue pressure in year one.

Skills needed

Required experience for this role

Necessary Industry Knowledge

Skills necessary for this role

Role we are looking for

Your personal attributes

Qualities or experience you bring with you

Fluent German, agri knowledge/interest, sales experience, and business background. Bonus if you grew up around farming or have worked in a rural context ;)

Application Form

Deadline

Working Conditions

What is the estimated timeframe for the collaboration?

How do you imagine your co-founder should

About the startup project

Information about the start-up project

I'm a freshly graduated PhD in Environmental Sciences, specialising in agroecology and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in fruit orchards. I've spent years in the field watching farmers spray unnecessarily, not because they want to, but because they have no reliable decision tool that accounts for the full ecological picture. OrchAI is the platform we are building to fix that. I bring deep domain expertise, farmer relationships across Brandenburg and Saxony, and a scientific publication track record. Our CTO brings a strong AI and engineering background. We have a clear pathway to EXIST funding and are looking for a Business Development co-founder who wants to build something that genuinely matters.

Location of the start-up project.

Cottbus / Brandenburg (~ 1 h 30 min from Berlin )

About the Job

Looking for a business co-founder to turn science into commercial relationships.

You join as co-founder and own the full business/commercial side from day one. The core challenge: opening doors with orchard farmers in Germany who are under real pressure to reduce pesticide use but have no reliable tool to help them decide when spraying is actually necessary. You turn an existing scientific network into pilot agreements, and pilot agreements into paying customers. You co-drive the EXIST application, own the business plan and go-to-market sections, and are the voice of OrchAI in every farmer conversation, cooperative meeting, and trade association room from day one.

Co-founder equity from day one. The possibility to apply and get an EXIST Gründungsstipendium, which covers a living stipend for both of us during development (€2500/month for graduates with a university degree; €3000/month for founders with a PhD), non-dilutive, no equity taken by the grant. In addition, EXIST includes a budget for project-related equipment and personal infrastructure. You will work on a problem that has genuine ecological and economic impact: reducing pesticide use in European orchards while helping farmers comply with EU SUR 2030 regulation. Strong academic network, existing farmer relationships, and a scientific differentiator that no current competitor has built.