Cycles Institutional Solutions Lead

Cycles; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first culture

Paid vacation (20+ days)

Company closure holidays

Annual lifestyle benefits

Annual company retreats

Paid parental leave

Flexible work environment

Job summary

Cycles is seeking a Founding Institutional Solutions Lead for Cycles Prime. This remote, US-only role focuses on moving pilots to production with top crypto trading firms and shaping the product through direct customer engagement.

You will own end-to-end account management, from onboarding to pilot, and drive strategic conversations with heads of ops, risk, and treasury while collaborating with engineering to ensure live-ops readiness.

Qualifications

• Experience in trade operations, middle office, or settlement ops in a crypto or TradFi firm.
• Familiarity with settlement stacks and post-trade workflows is essential.
• Knowledge of centralized venues, OTC, and on-chain settlement is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Run the account from onboarding through pilot, managing integrations and issue resolution.
• Support business development and partnerships; lead technical discussions with ops leaders.
• Shape product direction by translating counterparty feedback into concrete requirements.

Skills

Trade operations experience

Post-trade settlement

Crypto market structure knowledge

Client engagement and BD

Technical product conversations

Tools

Fireblocks

ClearLoop

BitGo Go Network

CUBIX

Talos OEMS tools

Job description

Founding Institutional Solutions Lead, Cycles Prime

Full Time, Remote (US only)

About Cycles

Cycles' mission is to clear the most debt, for the most people, with the least money. We are building a neutral clearing layer that interconnects every settlement network across global financial markets. By optimizing payment and credit flows, Cycles resolves gridlock and improves capital efficiency and liquidity across the financial system.

Cycles is an independent venture backed startup originally incubated by Informal Systems. Cycles is backed by Blockchange Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, CMCC Global, Maven11, Compound VC, Primitive Ventures, Nascent and Cygni. This role presents a rare opportunity to join a high growth startup and be a part of the founding team led by Ethan Buchman, co-founder of Cosmos.

About Cycles Prime

Cycles Prime is a clearing solution for crypto trading firms that preserves working capital and reduces reliance on credit lines. It requires no collateral, no asset escrow, and no new counterparties, using a graph flow algorithm and advanced privacy technology to identify multilateral obligation cycles that can be netted, privately and provably, without moving cash.

About the Role

Crypto trading firms have billions in working capital tied up in bilateral exposures across venues. Cycles Prime frees it. We are in pilot with some of the largest trading firms in the market and need someone who can move them from pilot to production.

As an Institutional Solutions Lead, you help shape the product, carry the technical conversation on customer calls, stay close to firms through pilot, and run parts of deals yourself.

You have done trade ops at a trading firm, either in your current role or a prior one. You know how post trade actually runs and want to apply that to building something new.

In this role, you will

• Run the account from onboarding through pilot, handling integrations and unblocking issues for buyers and users.
• Support BD and partnerships , working with the exec team on strategy and carrying the technical and operational conversation on calls with heads of ops, middle office, risk, and treasury. You also help tighten how we pitch to the ops side of these firms.
• Shape the Product , working directly with engineering and leadership on what we build next. You take counterparty feedback and turn it into real requirements. If something we are shipping will not hold up in a live ops workflow, you catch it before it goes out.

What we are looking for

• Five to ten years of experience, with at least a few in trade operations, middle office, or settlement ops at a crypto trading firm, OTC desk, market maker, prime broker, exchange, or TradFi institution. You know post trade: settlement, reconciliation, collateral, counterparty risk, treasury.
• Hands on experience with the settlement stack trading firms actually use. On the crypto side, that is Fireblocks, ClearLoop, BitGo Go Network, CUBIX, or similar. On the TradFi side, tri party, prime brokerage platforms, or CCP workflows. Post trade and OEMS tools like Talos are a plus.
• You understand crypto market structure across centralized venues, OTC, and on chain settlement.
• You can hold your own on a call with a head of ops or a risk lead. You ask the right follow ups and bring what you hear back to the product team without flattening it.
• High agency. There is no playbook here. You see what matters and go do it.

Some of our benefits include

• A unique, caring and friendly culture
• 20 days (4 weeks) of paid vacation annually
• Company closure from December 25th to January 1
• Annual Lifestyle benefits (reimbursements for gym memberships, fitness equipment, etc)
• A remote first, flexible work environment
• Annual company retreats
• Paid parental leave
• ….. and many more!

The salary range for this role is 130,000 to 190,000 USD and may vary based on factors like location and experience.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organization. We are committed to equal employment opportunities and encourage applications from people of all race, religion, color, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.