Client Overview
AILOS Robotics is a deep-tech robotics startup based in Brussels, Belgium. Founded in 2024 as a spin-out of the BruBotics research group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the company develops actuators and high-precision gearboxes for next-generation robotics.
AILOS patented R2poweR technology combines the agility of quasi-direct drives with high torque density. This allows robot manufacturers to build lighter, safer, and more energy-efficient systems for applications including humanoid robots, cobots, exoskeletons, bionics, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
After raising seed funding led by QBIC and High-Tech Gründerfonds, AILOS is moving towards industrial production. The next challenge was to take the technology beyond the lab and establish where it could deliver the most value in real-world robotics applications.
Project Scope
To support this transition, AILOS engaged us to find a Technical Business Development Manager or Technical Sales Engineer who could bridge the gap between its gearbox technology and the wider robotics market.
AILOS needed someone who could speak confidently with robotics OEMs and system integrators, understand their applications and technical pain points, and identify where AILOS's gearbox and actuation technologies could provide meaningful value. The new hire needed to build relationships with technical stakeholders and turn promising applications into proof-of-concept projects, pilots, and commercial opportunities.
Technical Recruiting Approach
Target Candidate Profile
Based on our initial conversations with AILOS, we defined a target profile that went beyond a conventional sales professional. We were looking for a candidate who needed to combine business development experience with a genuine engineering background. This was particularly important for AILOS because the role involved selling novel gearbox and actuation technologies. The candidate needed to understand mechanical and electromechanical systems, discuss technical constraints and performance trade-offs, and connect customer requirements to the capabilities of AILOS's technology. Technical credibility was essential for building trust with engineering teams and determining whether a potential application was genuinely worth pursuing as a pilot.
The ideal background was in mechanical engineering, mechatronics, or a related engineering discipline, combined with several years of experience in technical sales, business development, or application engineering for industrial automation or robotics hardware. Experience with precision motion control, drives, gearboxes, actuators, or other electromechanical systems was particularly relevant.
Sourcing Strategy
Based on the target profile, we mapped the talent pools where the required combination of technical and commercial experience was most likely to exist. This included engineers and technical specialists with hands-on experience in gearboxes, actuation, and robotics who had moved into technical sales, business development, or customer-facing roles. We focused on companies and industries where this combination of engineering expertise and commercial experience was most likely to be found.
We started with technical sales managers and application engineers from drive and motion-control companies such as FAULHABER, ABB, SEW-EURODRIVE, Siemens, Danfoss Drives, and other relevant manufacturers.
We then expanded into industrial automation OEMs, targeting technical sales candidates from companies including FANUC, KUKA, Yaskawa Motoman, and STÄUBLI, and similar.
Finally, we mapped talent from local systems integrators and automation companies like VINCI Energies, Dematic, and smaller regional integrators across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and the wider European market.
This approach allowed us to look beyond traditional sales roles and reach engineers who had moved into customer-facing commercial positions while retaining a strong technical foundation.
Technical Interviews
We designed interviews specifically to combine technical discussions with practical commercial scenarios.
We tested candidates' understanding of mechanics and different drive architectures, but focused less on memorizing technical definitions and more on how they applied that knowledge to real robotics or automation systems. For example, candidates were given application scenarios involving electromechanical joints and asked to work through the customer's constraints and possible solutions.
We also used commercial role-plays. Instead of simply asking candidates how they would sell a premium component, we tested whether they could move the conversation beyond unit price and systematically build a value proposition around system performance, weight, efficiency, and total cost of ownership.
Finally, we discussed how they would approach business development in an early-stage robotics company: which markets they would target first, how they would qualify opportunities, how they would structure pilot projects, and how they would manage to build a pipeline of clients without wasting engineering resources on low-potential leads.
Final Selection
The search ultimately led to a candidate based in Brussels, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and more than 15 years of experience in technical sales across industrial automation, robotics, and drive products.
What stood out during the process was the combination of technical understanding and commercial experience. The candidate was able not only to discuss hardware with engineers but also to seamlessly translate engineering improvements into concrete operational and financial benefits for end customers.
More importantly, the candidate also brought an established network in industrial automation and robotics that could give AILOS a strong foundation to build relationships with prospective robotics customers and partners.
For an early-stage robotics hardware company moving from research into industrial adoption, that combination of technical credibility, commercial experience, and existing industry relationships was central to the hire.