CEO Business Co-Founder (fmd) role at startup IXPLAIN

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 doesnt 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.

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.

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 funding).
- Ability to speak the language of both data-science researchers and industrial buyers.

Why join iXplain
- Own the CEO seat of a deep-tech AI company with a working demonstrated product not a slide deck.
- Backed by DFKIs research and IP in Explainable AI and neuro-symbolic reasoning.
- Equity-based co-founder role with real influence on strategy hiring and company direction from day one.

iXplain welcomes co-founder candidates regardless of gender age ethnic origin religion or belief disability sexual identity or any other characteristic. This is a search for the right partner to build the company with not a conventional hire.