Director, Arc - Banking Strategy & GTM

Circle • Los Angeles, CA

2d • $212,500 - $272,500 • Remote

About The Position

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.

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.

Nice To Haves

• 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.

Responsibilities

• 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 → business case → term sheet → integration → launch → 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.
• 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 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.

Benefits

• Base Pay Range: $212,500 - $272,500
• PERM sponsorship for qualified candidates
• Flexible work environment
• Opportunity to work in a category-defining organization in finance
• Valuing employees as stakeholders, creating an environment where people can thrive and grow, be challenged and learn constantly
• Diversity and inclusion initiatives

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed