Business Development Director, Arc

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world's leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through digital assets, payment applications, and programmable blockchain infrastructure. Circle's platform includes the world's largest regulated stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet-scale financial innovation. Learn more at circle.com .
What you'll be part of:
Circle is committed to visibility and stability in everything we do. As we grow as an organization, we're expanding into some of the world's strongest jurisdictions. Speed and efficiency are motivators for our success and our employees live by our company values : High Integrity, Future Forward, Multistakeholder, Mindful, and Driven by Excellence. We have built a flexible work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.
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 → 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. 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
We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, or any other protected status required by the laws in the locations where we hire. Additionally, Circle participates in the E-Verify Program in certain locations, as required by law.
Should you require accommodations or assistance in our interview process because of a disability, please reach out to [email protected] for support. We respect your privacy and will connect with you separately from our interview process to accommodate your needs.
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