Head of Business Development - Crypto

Alpaca; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary & stock options

Health benefits

Home-office setup (USD 500)

Job summary

Alpaca is seeking a Head of Business Development - Crypto to drive commercial expansion in tokenized equity space. You will lead relationships with issuers, market makers, and exchanges and collaborate with Sales, Product, Engineering, Legal and Compliance to bring partners onto the Instant Tokenization Network.

You will shape partnership models, growth strategies, and go-to-market plans while staying informed on regulatory and market dynamics in digital assets.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in business development, partnerships, or institutional sales within financial services, fintech, capital markets, or crypto/digital assets.
• Familiarity with issuer, liquidity provider, or market maker relationships in equities, ETFs, or digital asset markets.
• Strong understanding of tokenization, blockchain-based settlement, and digital asset market structure.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage issuer, liquidity provider, and market maker relationships for tokenized equities.
• Lead onboarding workflows and coordinate with Sales, Product, and Engineering for seamless integrations.
• Track pipeline, onboarding status, and network growth; report metrics to senior leadership.
• Represent Alpaca at industry events and provide market insights on tokenized securities.

Skills

Business development

Partnerships

Institutional sales

Crypto/digital assets

Tokenization

Regulatory knowledge

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Remote work

Self-starter

Job description

Who We Are:

Alpaca is a US-headquartered, global leader in agent-first brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more.

Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional-grade APIs. This includes broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 10 million brokerage accounts.

Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet. We're deeply committed to open-source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award-winning, developer-friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it.

Alpaca is proudly backed by $400 million in funding from top-tier global investors including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Opera Tech Ventures, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Unbound, Peak XV, Elefund, and Y Combinator.

Our Team Members: We're a dynamic team of 400+ globally distributed members who thrive working from our favorite places around the world, with teammates spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond! We're searching for passionate individuals eager to contribute to Alpaca's rapid growth. If you align with our core values—Stay Curious, Have Empathy, and Be Accountable—and are ready to make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Your Role

Alpaca is seeking a Head of Business Development - Crypto to help lead our commercial expansion in the tokenized equity space. You'll sit at the center of one of the fastest-growing frontiers in capital markets — working directly on the relationships and infrastructure that connect issuers, market makers, and exchanges to Alpaca's Instant Tokenization Network.

This is a rare opportunity to help build and scale the commercial backbone of a genuinely new market category, at the firm that pioneered it. You'll work cross-functionally with Sales, Customer Success, Product, Engineering, Legal, and Compliance to bring new partners onto the network and help define how tokenized equities trade globally.

This role reports into the Director of Business Development and offers significant scope for ownership and growth as the Instant Tokenization Network scales.

Things You Get To Do

Issuer & Market Maker Relationships

• Identify, develop, and manage relationships with issuers, liquidity providers, and market makers looking to participate in the tokenized equity ecosystem
• Act as a trusted point of contact for prospective and existing partners, understanding their goals and matching them to Alpaca's tokenization infrastructure
• Support commercial negotiations and structure partnership terms in collaboration with Legal and Compliance

Onboarding & Network Growth

• Own the end-to-end onboarding process for new issuers and market makers joining the Instant Tokenization Network, ensuring a smooth, well-coordinated experience
• Work closely with Sales, Customer Success, Product, and Engineering to translate partner requirements into onboarding workflows and technical integrations, and to ensure a seamless handoff post go-live
• Track and report on pipeline, onboarding status, and network growth metrics to senior leadership

Instant Tokenization Network Development

• Play a hands-on role in growing Alpaca's Instant Tokenization Network, helping define the partnership models, liquidity structures, and go-to-market approach for on-chain equities
• Build and cultivate partnerships across the broader digital asset ecosystem — including wallets, custodians, exchanges, and other crypto-native infrastructure — to expand Alpaca's footprint beyond tokenized equities alone
• Identify and qualify prospects for Alpaca's Broker API where relevant, working closely with Sales to hand off and progress opportunities that extend beyond the tokenization network
• Represent Alpaca at industry events and in partner conversations as a knowledgeable voice on tokenized equities and market structure
• Stay closely tuned to the regulatory and competitive landscape for digital assets and tokenized securities, feeding insights back into strategy

Who You Are (Must-Haves)

• 5+ years of experience in business development, partnerships, or institutional sales within financial services, fintech, capital markets, or crypto/digital assets
• Familiarity with market maker, liquidity provider, or issuer relationships — ideally within equities, ETFs, or digital asset markets
• Strong understanding of (or strong appetite to quickly learn) tokenization, blockchain-based settlement, and digital asset market structure
• Working knowledge of crypto and digital asset regulations (e.g., licensing regimes, custody requirements, securities classification issues) and how they shape partnership and go-to-market decisions
• Excellent relationship management and negotiation skills, with the ability to manage multiple partner relationships and onboarding workstreams simultaneously
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with Sales, Customer Success, Product, Engineering, Legal, and Compliance teams in a fast-moving, remote-first environment
• Self-starter mentality with strong organizational skills and a bias toward action

Nice-to-Haves

• Prior experience at a broker-dealer, exchange, market maker, or crypto-native firm
• Existing network of relationships among issuers, market makers, or liquidity providers
• Experience working on tokenization, RWA (real-world asset), or on-chain market infrastructure projects
• Familiarity with broker API or brokerage-as-a-service business models

How We Take Care of You:

• Competitive Salary & Stock Options
• Health Benefits
• New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500
• Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card

Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.

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