Business Development Lead

About RockawayX

RockawayX builds and manages non-custodial DeFi yield vaults on dominant lending platforms such as Morpho (Ethereum) and Kamino (Solana). We enable exchanges, wallets, and fintech platforms to offer DeFi-powered "earn" products to their users without building an in-house DeFi team. We handle all aspects of vault design, collateral selection, risk management, asset rebalancing, monitoring, and reporting.

Our background in institutional credit underwriting is among the strongest in the space. Our market-neutral strategy has delivered consistent yields across market cycles with zero defaults over 4+ years, while serving as a major liquidity provider across DeFi lending venues. We bring this institutional rigor to curating bespoke vault architectures for each partner, backed by 35+ technical researchers and engineers.

The opportunity

We are scaling our B2B2C vault business and looking for a Business Development Lead to own the commercial pipeline end to end. This is a foundational hire: you will be responsible for mapping our target market, building and qualifying a partnership pipeline, and driving deals from first outreach through to signed agreements. A single partnership can bring $100M+ in AUM, making this role high-impact from day one.

Our model follows the "DeFi Mullet" thesis: fintech UX on the front end, institutional DeFi generating yield on the back end. Partners integrate our vaults and embed them in their own branded experience. Users deposit crypto assets into a simple "earn" product and receive steady returns powered by on-chain lending.

Requirements

Pipeline development & market mapping

• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline across crypto exchanges, consumer wallets, fintechs, neobanks, payment infrastructure providers, and card issuers
• Identify and engage decision makers (CEO, Head of Product, CIO, CRO) at target platforms
• Develop account strategies for both crypto-native exchanges with existing yield offerings and traditional fintech platforms entering the space
• Track competitive positioning: assess whether targets rely on in-house solutions, competing curators, or have no current yield product

Sales execution

• Own the full sales cycle: outreach, qualification, proposal delivery, intro calls, negotiation, and close
• Prepare and deliver tailored short proposals ahead of initial calls, then refine based on partner requirements
• Navigate 8 to 12 week B2B sales cycles including compliance and integration reviews
• Manage objection handling and develop strategies to accelerate decision making and create urgency

Market intelligence & feedback loop

• Identify the internal buyer profile by platform type (product, commercial, or treasury team)
• Track which value propositions resonate by segment: yield generation, treasury optimization, user retention, or diversification of curator dependency
• Map partner appetite for conservative versus higher yield products and single vault versus tiered structures
• Provide structured feedback on sales cycle bottlenecks, common objections, and materials needed to accelerate close
• Contribute insights for brand, marketing, and messaging refinement based on field experience

Target market segments

• Crypto-native exchanges: Major and regional exchanges with existing or emerging yield/earn offerings for retail and institutional desks
• Consumer wallets: On-chain wallets with yield offerings or embedded finance features
• Payment infra providers: Modular B2B payment infrastructure companies looking to add yield capabilities
• Card issuers & fintech cards: Credit and debit card platforms seeking yield on idle balances or rewards programs
• Neobanks & digital banks: Digital banking platforms expanding into crypto earn/save products
• Wealth management: Wealth management companies or divisions exploring tokenized yield products

Value proposition you will deliver

You will articulate and adapt the following core messages to each partner segment:

• Credibility: RockawayX are leaders in underwriting crypto risk with a proven, auditable track record
• Cost efficiency: Competitive, consistent yield without the cost of building an in-house DeFi team, saving partners 6 to 12 months and approximately $1M per year
• Reduced risk: Non-custodial, smart-contract based architecture eliminates custodial and counterparty exposure
• Alignment: Performance fee only model with no management fee, making the product free of flat charges. Setup fees can be waived for early partners
• Customization: Bespoke vault design aligned to each partner’s regulatory profile, user base, and chain strategy

Ideal candidate profile

Required experience

• 3+ years of B2B sales or business development experience in crypto, DeFi, or fintech
• Demonstrated ability to navigate long sales cycles (8 to 12+ weeks) with enterprise buyers
• Existing network across crypto exchanges, wallets, or fintech platforms is strongly preferred
• Experience selling technical or financial infrastructure products to product, commercial, or C-suite stakeholders
• Familiarity with DeFi lending protocols (Morpho, Aave, Kamino) and on-chain yield strategies

Skills & qualities

• Strong consultative selling skills: ability to understand partner needs, map internal decision making, and tailor proposals accordingly
• Analytical mindset: comfortable working with AUM targets, yield metrics, and competitive analysis
• Excellent written and verbal communication for proposal preparation, pitch delivery, and stakeholder management
• Self-starter mentality: ability to build processes, track pipelines, and operate independently in a lean team
• Comfort with ambiguity and willingness to iterate on messaging, materials, and approach based on market feedback

Benefits

We offer a competitive compensation package designed to reward performance and align incentives with the growth of our vault business:

• Base salary: Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Performance bonus: Meaningful success fee tied to AUM onboarded and revenue generated from closed partnerships
• Upside: Opportunity to participate in the long-term growth of the vault business

Why join RockawayX

• Foundational role: Join at the ground floor of a high-growth business line within an established crypto institution
• High impact: Each deal can meaningfully move AUM and revenue, with individual partnerships capable of bringing $100M+
• Cutting edge: Work at the intersection of institutional finance and DeFi, shaping how traditional platforms access on-chain yield
• Strong foundation: Backed by 35+ researchers and engineers, a 4+ year track record with zero defaults, and deep Morpho/DeFi relationships
• Culture: Flexible, remote-first culture with a lean, senior team that values ownership and results