What you'll be responsible for: Circle is looking for a Business Development Director to lead ecosystem development and business partnerships for Arc, specifically focused on "Earn" use cases. Example use cases include yield from borrow / lend vaults, money market fund yield, and more. This is a foundational role on a small, high-performing team building a new onchain ecosystem within a category-defining organization in finance. You'll be responsible for driving strategy, sourcing and executing critical deals, and shaping product direction in close collaboration with senior leadership.
A major component of the role is owning distribution partner development end-to-end with fintechs, neobanks, wallets, and centralized exchanges (CEXs): running structured discovery to identify the right launch partners and constraints, designing the segment-specific GTM motion and deal structures, sourcing and closing partnerships, and then driving integration and post-launch performance to ensure partnerships are working and scaling.
This role is ideal for a fintech-native business leader who speaks the language of consumer finance product teams and can bring instant credibility with partners - with strong product instincts, a bias toward action, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams while executing independently.
What you'll work on: - Building and owning the distribution partner strategy and pipeline for Earn across neobanks, fintech apps, wallets, and CEXs.
- Defining target segments, partner tiers (launch vs. scale), product offering, and a repeatable partner motion (discovery 1 business case 1 term sheet 1 integration 1 launch 1 scale).
- Establishing success metrics and forecasting tied to partner launches (e.g., funded accounts, USDC balances, Earn adoption, retention impact, and revenue).
- Leading partner discovery and translating insights into GTM + product requirements. This includes determining desired outcomes for partners, preferences on liquidity management, creating ownership boundaries, and synthesizing partner feedback.
- Designing deal structures that partners can actually ship: Creating scalable commercial and operational deal frameworks tailored to fintech distribution.
- Sourcing, negotiating, and closing strategic partnerships: Owning end-to-end deal execution: identifying priority partners, secure executive sponsorship, leading diligence, negotiating terms, and close agreements. Navigating high-stakes conversations with founders and C-level stakeholders at fintechs, wallets, and exchanges.
- Driving integration and launch execution (and ensure it works post-launch).
- Operating as an owner in a zero-to-one environment: Operating with high agency: prioritizing ruthlessly, testing hypotheses quickly, and iterating based on partner signal and data. Representing the project externally at key ecosystem forums, conferences, and partner events.
What you'll bring to Circle: Core Requirements:- 10+ years in business development, strategic partnerships, product partnerships, or ecosystem roles.
- Significant experience in fintech / neobank / consumer finance / wallet / exchange environments, with demonstrated credibility selling into (and partnering with) fintech product, commercial, and risk stakeholders.
- Proven track record sourcing, structuring, negotiating, and launching complex partnerships that include technical integration and ongoing performance management.
- Strong GTM design capability: can translate discovery into packaging, positioning, and a repeatable partner motion.
- Cross-functional leadership: comfortable driving execution with Product, Engineering, Legal/Compliance, Risk, Finance, and Marketing.
- Excellent communicator and negotiator-comfortable having direct, constructive conversations at the C-suite level.
- High-agency operator who executes independently and thrives in a fast-moving, ambiguous, zero-to-one environment
- Familiarity with crypto rails, stablecoins, and grasps new concepts quickly.
- Cares deeply about their work.
- Willingness to travel up to 30%.
- Familiarity with generative AI models (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) and prompt development.
Preferred Requirements:- Experience launching or scaling a savings / yield / interest / wealth / lending product in a fintech context.
- Exposure to onchain yield options and partner considerations (e.g., lending markets, curated vaults, tokenized treasury-like products, private credit products), including how rate environments impact messaging and adoption.
- Prior startup experience, particularly in early-stage environments.
- Experience/familiarity with Slack, Apple MacOS and GSuite.
Additional Information:- This position is eligible for day-one PERM sponsorship for qualified candidates
Circle is on a mission to create an inclusive financial future, with transparency at our core. We consider a wide variety of elements when crafting our compensation ranges and total compensation packages.
Starting pay is determined by various factors, including but not limited to: relevant experience, skill set, qualifications, and other business and organizational needs. Please note that compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.
Base Pay Range: $212,500 - $272,500
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