About Our Client
Our client is a DeFi protocol bringing institutional-grade, real-world-asset yield on-chain through permissionless vaults spanning tokenised treasuries, private credit and structured credit strategies. Founded by operators with backgrounds at firms including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and OKX, they combine institutional underwriting and risk management with open, wallet-based access.
The Opportunity
Real-world assets are the biggest narrative in crypto and the frontier for what blockchain can actually do. Trillions of dollars in credit, treasuries, and yield-bearing instruments are starting to move on-chain, and the teams that build the rails right will define the next decade of finance.
Our client is building those rails. They transform institutional-grade assets into permissionless, composable and transparent on-chain vaults, bringing real yield from private credit and RWAs into DeFi — building the bridge between TradFi and DeFi with people who have actually lived on both sides of it.
Our client is seeking a Business Development & Partnerships Lead to drive their commercial strategy. In this role, the successful candidate will champion the company's market presence, establish key strategic partnerships and manage investor relations, leading the scaling of their flagship vault product from its initial 0-to-1 phase into long-term expansion.
This is a high-impact, externally facing leadership role. There's no existing playbook to follow — the successful candidate will write it and be the person in the room, on the stage and on the call closing it.
What You'll Own
Business development. Own the pipeline end to end, from sourcing, structuring, and negotiating through to closing. Manage direct relationships with high-net-worth individuals, crypto whales, project treasuries and foundations, and the intermediaries around them: asset managers, fintech companies, wealth platforms and capital introducers. Build the funnel, run the conversations and convert them into committed capital.
Partnerships. Oversee active partnership efforts while identifying and securing new strategic alliances, translating opportunities into executed agreements with clear commercial terms and joint go-to-market strategies. Target partners include tokenizers, asset originators, liquidity providers, anchor investors, distribution channels, and key infrastructure providers.
Market presence. Represent the company in person — beyond 1-on-1 meetings and conference participation, confidently representing the brand across panel discussions, podcasts, and social channels like X and LinkedIn. Translate company strategy into a prominent market voice, driving inbound opportunities for the team to execute.
What They're Looking For
- A closer with a track record. 5+ years in business development, partnerships, capital raising or institutional sales — in crypto, fintech, private credit, asset management or private banking. Candidates should have carried a number and hit it, and be able to talk through the deals they closed, how they were structured, and what they produced.
- A strong investor network. Direct, warm relationships with high-net-worth individuals, crypto whales and the private wealth channels around them, with demonstrable success raising, placing or growing capital through them.
- Real partnership experience. A history of sourcing, negotiating and closing commercial partnerships — and making them work — with the judgment to tell the difference between a partnership that compounds and one that's just a logo.
- Deep fluency in DeFi mechanics and the RWA landscape: vaults, lending markets, liquidity, yield, tokenization, and the composability that ties it all together — enough to hold their own with crypto-natives and translate it cleanly for TradFi.
- Comfortable and credible in public. This role is public-facing by design. Candidates should be at ease on a conference stage, on a panel, on a podcast and in front of investors, ready to be an identifiable representative of the brand.
The Team
The successful candidate will work alongside operators and builders who have shipped at the highest level on both sides of the bridge — including alumni of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, OKX, and Kraken, alongside seasoned DeFi builders who've shipped protocols people actually use.
- Dynamic and agile. Small team, fast cycles, high ownership. Decisions get made and shipped, not buried in process.
- No bullshit. Direct, honest, and focused on being right over being comfortable.
- Execution first. Strategy matters, but success here is measured in what actually ships and what actually grows.