VP of Ecosystem Growth, Sub-Saharan Africa

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:
You will own Circle's market intelligence, brand presence, and stakeholder engagement and ecosystem growth across Sub-Saharan Africa, with initial focus on Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, while supporting select regional initiatives as relevant. This role supports Circle's compliant presence in markets where regulatory frameworks governing Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and digital asset activity are actively developing or enforced.. You will act as a regional intelligence lead and stakeholder engagement resource working closely with Commercial, Business Development, Product, Policy, Legal, Compliance, and partners to relay regional intelligence and support compliant market engagement.
What you'll work on:

• Gathering market intelligence and develop Circle's brand presence across DeFi, crypto capital markets, payments, remittances, and institutional use cases across Sub-Saharan Africa, with initial focus on Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
• Proactively identifying potential market participants and ecosystem contacts; respond to and document genuine inbound partnership inquiries without conducting active solicitation, advertising, or promotion of Circle products to counterparties in jurisdictions requiring VASP or dealer registration without an applicable license.
• Partnering closely with Commercial and Business Development teams to share market intelligence, relay inbound inquiries from regional counterparties, and support compliant market engagement and regulatory outreach activities led by authorized personnel.
• Orchestrating cross-functional execution with Product, Solutions, Operations, Marketing, Policy, Legal, and Compliance to relay market feedback and support compliant ecosystem engagement across the region; commercial agreement execution, partnership launch, and active product promotion to be handled by appropriate authorized business development or licensed personnel.
• Helping shape Circle's regional strategy by building market intelligence, assessing sequencing across countries, and identifying the highest-potential use cases, partnerships, and regulatory pathways.
• Supporting engagement with regulators, policymakers, industry bodies, and other key ecosystem stakeholders, in close coordination with Circle's Policy and Legal teams.
• Representing Circle with senior external stakeholders across the region, helping establish Circle as a credible long-term operator in key Sub-Saharan African markets.
• Tracking and report on market intelligence, regulatory developments, and stakeholder engagement activities across the region to inform Circle's strategy and support compliance monitoring in each jurisdiction (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa).

What you'll bring to Circle:
Core Requirements:

• 14+ years experience in business development, growth, market expansion, or general management.
• Proven experience driving growth, revenue, or transaction volume in fintech, payments, crypto, or financial infrastructure businesses.
• Demonstrated ability to win market share by converting existing customers from competing platforms or rails or growing first movers.
• Strong commercial instincts with a bias toward action, execution, and measurable outcomes.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Sales, BD, Product, Policy, Legal, Compliance, and technical teams to close and scale complex partnerships.
• Deep understanding of crypto markets, stablecoins, DeFi, payments, remittances, or institutional financial flows.
• Experience operating across multiple countries and navigating diverse market, regulatory, and ecosystem dynamics.
• Ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments while maintaining clear accountability for results.
• Strong executive presence and the ability to engage credibly with senior commercial, policy, and regulatory stakeholders.
• Familiarity with generative AI models (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) and prompt development.

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience in high-growth fintech, blockchain, or payments companies operating in Africa.
• Track record of building repeatable operational frameworks and playbooks across multiple markets in Web3, payments, or broader financial services.
• Experience engaging with regulators, policymakers, and industry bodies in emerging markets.
• Strong cultural fluency and experience leading diverse, distributed teams.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, high-ambiguity environments with a blend of strategic vision and operational discipline.
• Experience/familiarity with Slack, Apple MacOS and GSuite.

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.
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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