Strategic Business Development Lead

About Berachain:

Berachain is a high-performance, EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatible, Layer 1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK. We use a variant of delegated Proof of Stake called Proof of Liquidity consensus to rehypothecate liquidity as security at the protocol level, aligning incentives between liquidity and security across the ecosystem.

We're a young, world-class team of builders, engineers and executives with extensive experience across Web2 and crypto environments. We’ve raised and deployed $Bs as fund managers, won the knife fight in the orderbooks on Wall Street and contributed to category-defining DApps and protocols. Now we’re building Berachain.

Our team combines traditional experience in building and scaling teams at technology companies like Apple, Coinbase, Microsoft and Y-Combinator with crypto native experience from some of DeFi’s most impactful protocols. We're all highly passionate about building useful infrastructure to bring decentralized finance to the masses. Our core engineering and founding team is based in Toronto. We’re well funded by a group of leading digital asset investors, hedge funds, centralized exchange venture arms and strategic angels. 

We are looking for self-starters and mission driven individuals to join us as we build the future of decentralized finance. The ideal candidate for this role takes initiative and ownership over their work, thrives in a fast-paced and highly collaborative in-person environment, and is capable of rapidly adapting to evolving needs as required.

The Strategic BD Lead will work closely alongside the founders and the BD team to identify and engage in opportunities for institutes and corporations to gain exposure to Berachain. This may take the form of strategic transactions in the “Web 2.5” realm, eg loyalty programs, gaming deals, social applications, payment layers, infrastructure solutions, consumer brands, or anything in between. The goal is to align Berachain with strong brands that can benefit from integrating Proof of Liquidity or other aspects of the Berachain ecosystem into their roadmap, while onboarding millions of new users to the Berachain ecosystem.

The Strategic BD lead will play a pivotal role in expanding Bera’s reach beyond the crypto-native ecosystem. The ideal candidate works to drive real world value and adoption for the chain in a user-friendly and positive sum manner for all parties involved. The ideal candidate has likely worked an an institutional sales-like position in the past, and has demonstrated a track record of introducing new technologies to large enterprises while driving PMF and effective resource utilization.

Requirements:

• 3+ years of experience in business development, sales, finance, or venture capital, preferably in the blockchain or financial technology industry, with a particular eye on DeFi
• Experience in executing strategic transactions between major web2 brands and blockchains
• Deep network of commercial brands, infrastructure providers, payments providers, gaming studios, social applications, etc
• Robust interpersonal communication and collaboration skills
• Experience structuring complex partnerships involving multiple stakeholders in an authentic and responsible manner
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to identify and prioritize product features and requirements based on customer needs, market trends, and business goals.
• An ideal candidate will have experience in both tradfi/web2 and crypto-native business development initiatives

Responsibilities:

• Identify partnership opportunities with enterprise partners and large corporations across multiple verticals (payments, infrastructure, consumer brands, media, gaming, etc)
• Work with the BD team to craft case-specific strategies, pitches, and vertical specific educational material for onboarding aforementioned partners
• Identify the ideal workflow and infrastructure needed to effectively bridge users and actions from a partners’ web2 environment to an on-chain ecosystem (onramps, account abstraction etc)
• Structure incentives and own the execution of strategic transactions with enterprise partners
• Work closely with native DApps and builders to develop partnerships and composable feature sets which may be complementary to new strategic partners
• Collaborate with engineering teams to define and prioritize product features and requirements in accordance to partners’ needs, ensuring they align with the overall product vision and strategy.
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of the blockchain market and competition, and use this knowledge to inform product decisions.
• Work cross-functionally with design, engineering, marketing, and other teams to ensure successful product launches and ongoing product improvement.