Institutional Business Development Lead

Chainlink Labs; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Chainlink Labs seeks an Institutional Business Development Lead to enhance the Institutional marketplace for Decentralized Finance (DeFi). This role involves strategically partnering with TradFi entities to facilitate adoption and growth, managing relationships, and ensuring effective onboarding. Ideal candidates will have significant experience in institutional finance, with a robust understanding of blockchain technology and its applications in finance. Join a leading company at the forefront of the verifiable web.

Qualifications

• Deep understanding of TradFi and DeFi.
• Minimum of 8 years in institutional finance/business development.
• Proven track record with Tier 1 and Tier 2 financial institutions.

Responsibilities

• Manage the entire sales cycle from lead generation to post-sale support.
• Identify high-value TradFi use cases for Chainlink solutions.
• Attend industry events to build brand awareness.

Skills

Business Development

Relationship Management

Technical Acumen

Sales Negotiation

Strategic Thinking

Job description

About Us

Chainlink Labs is the primary contributing developer of Chainlink, the decentralized computing platform powering the verifiable web. Chainlink is the industry-standard platform for providing access to real-world data, offchain computation, and secure cross-chain interoperability across any blockchain. Chainlink Labs helps power verifiable applications for banking, DeFi, global trade, and gaming by collaborating with some of the world’s largest financial institutions, notably Swift, DTCC, and ANZ. Chainlink Labs also works with top Web3 teams, including Aave, Compound, GMX, Maker, and Synthetix. Chainlink Labswas ranked as one of the Global Top 100 Most Loved Workplacesby Newsweek 2025.

About The Role

As an Institutional Business Development Lead, you will be responsible for partnering with the Chainlink’s ecosystem to build out the Institutional marketplace and owning the strategy and execution for onboarding and expanding Institutional adoption at scale. You will act as the owner for originating, negotiating and closing deals that connect TradFi and other Institutional players with the asset servicing, utility and liquidity growth partners.

Your Impact

• Identify high-value TradFi use cases where Chainlink's core solutions can provide value (including CCIP, Decentralised Oracle Networks, Proof of Reserves etc)

• Culminate in our unique differentiator of being able to present TradFi issuers with a fully integrated distribution strategy to facilitate seamless onboarding and growth in this nascent vertical

• Collaborate with internal teams, including engineering, product, legal, and compliance, to ensure seamless execution of institutional DeFi initiatives

• Attend industry events and conferences to represent CLL and build brand awareness within the institutional DeFi space

• Manage the entire sales cycle—from lead generation and qualification to onboarding and post-sale support.

• Act as a trusted advisor to clients, providing education on blockchain-based investment vehicles and tokenization benefits.

• Develop tailored proposals, product demonstrations, and pitch materials suited to the institutional audience.

• Build and nurture strategic partnerships with exchanges, custodians, compliance providers, tokenization platforms, ecosystem DAO etc.

• Collaborate with ecosystem partners to co-develop and co-market tokenized products or bundled solutions

• Identify ecosystem advantages and network effects that align with client use cases or investment strategies.

Requirements

• Deep understanding of both TradFi and DeFi, along with exceptional business development, relationship management, and technical acumen

• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in institutional finance, business development, or related fields, with a strong understanding of TradFi markets and infrastructure

• Proven track record of successfully negotiating and closing commercial agreements with Tier 1 and Tier 2 financial institutions

• Experience working for or with web3 technologies, with a deep understanding of tokenization workflows and value chain

• Strong business acumen and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to develop and execute deals with a creative business development mindset to connect multiple parties into a single opportunity

• Self-motivated and results-oriented, with a passion for innovation and a desire to build something new.

• Knowledge of relevant regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements for institutional DeFi.

• Ability to understand and discuss technical aspects of blockchain technology and DeFi protocols.

• Understanding of business drivers of various participants and experience putting together multi-partite deals

Preferred Requirements

• Tokenization industry expertise - have a strong understanding of the Institutional RWA landscape and/or digital asset management, including an understanding of potential barriers to scale

• Solid experience selling solutions to Financial Market Infrastructures

• Experience working in a startup or fast-paced environment.

All roles with Chainlink Labs are global and remote-based. Unless otherwise stated, we ask that you try to overlap some working hours with Eastern Standard Time (EST).

We carefully review all applications and aim to provide a response to every candidate within two weeks after the job posting closes. The closing date is listed on the job advert, so we encourage you to take the time to thoughtfully prepare your application. We want to fully consider your experience and skills, and you will hear from us regarding the status of your application shortly after the closing date.

Commitment to Equal Opportunity

Chainlink Labs is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, or ordinances. If you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need when applying for a role or in our recruitment process, please contact us via this form.

Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates and Applicants

Information collected and processed as part of your Chainlink Labs Careers profile, and any job applications you choose to submit is subject to our Privacy Policy. By submitting your application, you are agreeing to our use and processing of your data as required.