Institutional BD – DeFi Lending (App: 23f8-)

Senior Institutional Business Development Role

Referment is partnering with a fast-growing, institutional lending platform operating at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets. This is a standout opportunity for a senior business development professional to play a pivotal role in scaling an institutional platform during a key phase of growth.

This is a high-impact, senior individual contributor role for someone who is deeply embedded in the New York institutional finance ecosystem and thrives on relationship-led origination.

The Opportunity

This is not a retail, high-volume, or inbound sales role. It is not a strategy, operations, or advisory position; this is a pure new business origination role.

• You will act as the primary external face of the platform in New York, embedded in the institutional community, attending industry events, meeting senior decision-makers, and originating new borrower relationships.
• You'll own the full lifecycle of business development, working on fewer, larger, more complex transactions with typical deal sizes of $25m–$100m+.

What You'll Be Doing

• Originating new institutional borrower relationships across hedge funds, trading firms, prime brokerage, asset managers, banks, credit funds, and family offices.
• Owning the end-to-end BD process: sourcing, progressing, structuring conversations, and closing.
• Acting as a senior relationship manager to borrowers post-close.
• Representing the platform at industry events, conferences, and in-market meetings.
• Collaborating closely with credit, capital markets, and leadership teams.
• Feeding real-time market insight back into product and growth strategy.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years' experience in institutional business development, relationship management, or capital markets, specifically in a hands-on origination or sales role (not management, strategy, or operations).
• Direct experience in institutional lending, credit, or structured finance (e.g., securitization, corporate lending, warehouse facilities) is essential. General capital raising or fund AuM growth is not sufficient.
• Experience working in or with digital assets, blockchain finance, DeFi, or crypto-native institutions. This is essential; candidates must bridge TradFi and crypto.
• Well-networked in the NYC institutional finance community.
• Proven track record of personally originating and closing large-ticket, low-volume transactions.
• Comfortable engaging senior stakeholders, ICs, and C-suite counterparts.
• Based in or very close to New York City; you need to be out in the community, attending events and meeting prospective clients in person.

What Is The Ideal Experience

• Currently working at a crypto-native firm (e.g., exchange, lending platform, DeFi protocol) in an institutional sales or BD capacity, with a prior background in traditional finance lending or structured products. Someone who can speak fluently to both TradFi and crypto counterparties.

This Role Is Not a Fit If

• Your experience is primarily in SaaS or technology platform sales.
• Your background is in operations, strategy, or advisory rather than direct origination.
• You are a senior sales leader looking to manage teams rather than personally originate deals.

Working Arrangement & Compensation

• Remote-first culture with optional access to a shared New York office space.
• No mandated in-office days; autonomy and trust are core to the culture.
• Competitive base salary plus meaningful performance upside (OTE typically in the 50–100% range, depending on performance).

This is a great opportunity to join a high-growth company at a really exciting stage of their growth. Apply now to ensure that you are considered for the role.

#Referment

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