Business Development & Partnerships Director

Westren Capital; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 165,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Westren Capital, a London-based proprietary trading firm, seeks a Director to lead its partnerships function within digital assets. You will drive engagement with protocols, infrastructure providers, and ecosystem participants to shape trading access and liquidity sources.

You will identify strategic opportunities, negotiate agreements, and work with trading, engineering, and legal teams to ensure practical, value-driven partnerships.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in business development, partnerships, or ecosystem roles within digital assets, DeFi, or adjacent technology sectors.
• Strong network across the digital asset ecosystem, including exchanges, protocols, and infrastructure providers.
• Commercial judgement to distinguish valuable partnerships from press releases.
• Ability to work autonomously and represent the firm externally without a script.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills; able to collaborate with trading, engineering, and legal teams.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the firm's partnerships strategy across protocols, infrastructure providers, and ecosystem participants in digital assets.
• Identify strategic partnership opportunities that give the firm earlier or better access to new venues, protocols, or liquidity sources.
• Negotiate and structure partnership agreements, balancing commercial terms against operational and reputational considerations.
• Represent the firm in industry forums, protocol governance discussions, and ecosystem initiatives where relevant.
• Work with trading, engineering, and legal teams to evaluate the practical implications of new partnerships before committing to them.
• Manage a portfolio of ongoing partnerships, keeping the ones that deliver and cutting the ones that were only ever a narrative.

Skills

Business development

Partnerships

Ecosystem engagement

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

# Business Development & Partnerships DirectorAnnual base salary: £165,000 – £200,000 GBP## Role overviewWestren Capital is a London-based proprietary trading firm specialising in digital asset markets. This role leads our partnerships function, covering relationships with protocols, infrastructure providers, and ecosystem participants that shape how and where the firm trades and operates.Where institutional business development is about the counterparties the desk trades against, this role is about the broader ecosystem - the protocols, projects, and infrastructure providers whose decisions affect the markets we operate in.## Responsibilities* —Build and lead the firm's partnerships strategy across protocols, infrastructure providers, and ecosystem participants in digital assets* —Identify strategic partnership opportunities that give the firm earlier or better access to new venues, protocols, or liquidity sources* —Negotiate and structure partnership agreements, balancing commercial terms against operational and reputational considerations* —Represent the firm in industry forums, protocol governance discussions, and ecosystem initiatives where relevant* —Work with trading, engineering, and legal teams to evaluate the practical implications of new partnerships before committing to them* —Manage a portfolio of ongoing partnerships, keeping the ones that deliver and cutting the ones that were only ever a narrative## Requirements* —Significant experience in business development, partnerships, or ecosystem roles within digital assets, DeFi, or adjacent technology sectors* —Strong network across the digital asset ecosystem, including exchanges, protocols, and infrastructure providers* —Commercial judgement, able to distinguish a partnership that creates real value from one that only creates a press release* —Comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy and representing the firm externally without a script* —Strong communication and negotiation skills, able to work cross-functionally with trading, engineering, and legal* —Genuine understanding of how DeFi and digital asset markets function structurally, not just commercially