Senior Director, Business Development

Circle is a financial technology company at the epicenter of the emerging internet of money, where value can finally travel like other digital data — globally, nearly instantly and less expensively than legacy settlement systems. This ground-breaking new internet layer opens up previously unimaginable possibilities for payments, commerce and markets that can help raise global economic prosperity and enhance inclusion. Our infrastructure – including USDC, a blockchain-based dollar – helps businesses, institutions and developers harness these breakthroughs and capitalize on this major turning point in the evolution of money and technology.

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 and diverse work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.

What you’ll be responsible for: 

Reporting to the VP, Business Development, Ecosystem, this role is a senior leader capable of developing, owning and managing high-profile strategic partner relationships. You will be directly responsible for:

• Delivering on a set of ambitious company-level business objectives.

• Landing and growing high potential USDC partnerships with key partners across the Core Ecosystem and DeFi .

• Executing, and providing oversight on the execution of, commercial deals with organizations across a variety of segments for Circle’s suite of products and services.

• Working cross functionally to create and operationalize robust activation and growth programs to maximize ROI for Circle and our partners.

• Developing novel and innovative partnership approaches that leverage Circle’s assets and tap into partner ecosystems and capabilities to drive business growth.

• Leading, managing and coaching a high-performing team.

What you'll work on:

• Partnering with Circle leadership and key stakeholders to prioritize, close and manage strategic, high-revenue opportunities.

• Originating and managing a portfolio of strategic opportunities, driving partnership momentum, and developing & executing comprehensive GTM plans for key initiatives.

• Developing a deep understanding of the market, use cases, partnership potential and required business outcomes across Circle’s focus segments.

• Developing deal constructs, identifying and negotiating deal terms ensuring “balance of trade” with major partners and managing the end-to-end deal process.

• Establishing and maintaining strong executive relationships with key decision makers in large partner organizations.

• Coordinating closely with cross-functional teams across the deal lifecycle.

• Ensuring clear and articulate communication in both written and oral form including sharing documentation, soliciting feedback and maintaining deal hygiene in sales tools.

• Cultivating a team culture that is extremely high integrity, collaborative, customer-focused, metrics-driven, fast-paced, and optimistic.

What you’ll bring to Circle: 

Core Requirements:

• 13+ years of Strategic Business Development and/or Product experience.

• 7+ years of experience managing and leading teams. 

• Proven ability to negotiate and win high-impact strategic deals with a C-level audience.

• Excellent territory and pipeline management and the ability to prioritize across an expansive set of initiatives to maximize business growth.

• Demonstrable ability to work alongside technical resources and meaningfully contribute to solution development for first-of-kind partner engagements.

• Impeccable written and verbal communication skills.

• Familiarity with generative AI models (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) and prompt development

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience in financial services, payments, or blockchain/digital asset technology.

• Passion for building a