DescriptionThis role is not a direct sales position. Instead, you will serve as the strategic bridge between the hedge fund industry and VAST's product, engineering, field, and executive leadership teams.
You will be responsible for creating VAST's hedge fund strategy from the ground up-developing executive relationships, identifying market opportunities, influencing product direction, establishing industry credibility, enabling field teams, and building the foundation for a future team and practice.
The RoleBuild the Hedge Fund Practice
- Define and execute VAST's global hedge fund strategy
- Establish VAST as a trusted infrastructure and AI platform partner within the hedge fund community
- Develop a long-term roadmap for expanding VAST's presence across the world's leading hedge funds
- Build the foundation for a future team focused on financial services and hedge fund engagement
Develop Executive Relationships
- Build and maintain senior relationships with CIOs, CTOs, Heads of Infrastructure, Quantitative Research leaders, Data Platform leaders, and Engineering executives across the hedge fund ecosystem
- Create introductions and strategic engagement opportunities between hedge fund leaders and VAST executives
- Serve as a trusted advisor to both customers and internal stakeholders
Drive Market Intelligence & Strategy
- Identify emerging trends, workload requirements, benchmarking needs, and technology priorities across the hedge fund industry
- Translate customer insights into actionable recommendations for Product Management, Engineering, and Executive Leadership
- Help define the capabilities, integrations, and performance benchmarks required to accelerate adoption within hedge funds
Enable Internal Teams
- Educate VAST sales, solutions engineering, product, and executive teams on hedge fund market dynamics
- Develop industry-specific messaging, plays, competitive positioning, and engagement strategies
- Partner with field teams to accelerate opportunities and expand existing hedge fund relationships
Create Industry Presence
- Build and execute a hedge fund-focused events and engagement strategy
- Represent VAST at industry conferences, executive forums, customer roundtables, and private networking events
- Develop strategic relationships with influential industry participants, partners, consultants, and advisors
Requirements- 10+ years of experience working with or selling into hedge funds, quantitative trading firms, asset managers, or financial services organizations
- Deep network of executive relationships across the hedge fund ecosystem
- Proven ability to build strategic programs, partnerships, or industry practices from the ground up
- Strong understanding of data infrastructure, AI infrastructure, HPC, quantitative research environments, or large-scale analytics platforms
- Experience influencing product strategy and working cross-functionally with engineering and product organizations
- Exceptional executive communication and relationship-building skills
- Ability to operate independently while influencing senior stakeholders across a rapidly growing organization
Preferred Experience
- Former hedge fund technology, infrastructure, engineering, data platform, or quantitative research leader
- Experience in strategic alliances, industry partnerships, business development, or market development roles
- Prior experience with AI infrastructure, high-performance computing, large-scale storage, data platforms, or cloud infrastructure
- Experience building and scaling industry-specific practices or centers of excellence
