Business Development, APAC

Job description

Interested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem. APAC is not a future opportunity for Stellar — it is an active one. We have live integrations with fintech, payments, and digital asset companies across the APAC region, a growing cohort of builders developing on Stellar rails, and relationships with leading financial institutions and ecosystem partners across the region. We are now hiring an, APAC-based business development professional to scale this momentum — someone who can operate at the intersection of business development, and institutional relationship-building, and who will help serve as SDF's visible and accountable presence in the region. You will define how SDF shows up in APAC, shape the business development and institutional strategy that gets executed, and be directly accountable for the outcomes. In this role, you will: - Own SDF's APAC business development effort — prioritizing opportunities within the agreed regional framework, allocating effort across key hub markets and adapting execution to align with local market needs and regulatory expectations. - Lead in-market execution across all markets, including structured annual visits to each hub that deliver across a full engagement program: conference presence, ecosystem meetups, strategic institutional meetings, owned roundtables and thought leadership opportunities, and policy and regulatory introductions. - Work hand-in-hand with SDF's APAC Regional Director to align business development execution with the broader regional strategy, ensuring in-market partnership activities are closely integrated with the APAC market development plan. - Build and close high-value partnerships with fintech companies, payment platforms, wallets, exchanges, and developer teams building on Stellar, driving active pipeline companies through to live Stellar integration and sustained network volume. - Operate effectively as a remote, in-market leader while working in close, seamless coordination with SDF's centralized teams — marketing, legal, integrations, and product, among others — to keep deals moving, resolve blockers quickly, and ensure a smooth handoff from signed partnership through to live, fully supported integration. - Develop and manage SDF's institutional relationships across the region — including tier-1 banks, licensed digital asset platforms, and payment majors — identifying and progressing partnership opportunities that drive volume at infrastructure scale. - Serve as an internal APAC market expert, translating on-the-ground intelligence and regional know-how into actionable insights and plans, and communicating these effectively across BD and SDF. - Build and maintain rigorous pipeline discipline across HubSpot and Airtable, ensuring integration status, relationship health, and strategic context are accurately captured and accessible to the broader team. - Represent SDF at flagship regional conferences and events (e.g., Token2049, Money20/20 Asia), and own the design and execution of SDF's owned events in the region, including builder roundtables and ecosystem meetups in each hub city. - Partner with the marketing team to drive ongoing content and communications that build SDF's presence and narrative across APAC markets — including press releases, video, blog posts, and social content drawn from market activity, partnerships, and ecosystem engagement You have: - Bachelor's Degree (required), Master's Degree or MBA (preferred). - 7+ years of business development, partnerships, or ecosystem experience, with substantial time spent working at senior levels in APAC markets. - Deep, senior-level relationships across the APAC fintech, payments, blockchain, and institutional landscape — including builders, accelerators, banks, exchanges, and regulatory stakeholders is a must. - Experience in blockchain, digital assets, stablecoins, or tokenization. - Deep understanding of the cross-border payments value chain, Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), and financial inclusion. - Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder partnership negotiations and closing deals that require internal alignment as well as external relationship management. - Experience operating with integrity and compliance across the APAC regulatory environment, with direct or indirect engagement with regulators. - Exceptional communication skills across diverse audiences — you can distill a complex technical value proposition into a compelling narrative. - Fluency in English; proficiency in Mandarin or another relevant Asian language is considered an advantage. - Based in Singapore or Hong Kong, with the legal right to work in the relevant location. Able to travel extensively across the region and occasionally internationally. About Stellar Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility. Founded in 2014, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) supports the continued development and growth of the Stellar network and also serves the ecosystem of NGOs, corporations, universities, small businesses, governments, and solo entrepreneurs building on the Stellar network through tooling, funding and strategic collaborations. Together, Stellar is where blockchain meets the real world. About the Stellar Development Foundation The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting change-makers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else. We look forward to hearing from you! Privacy Policy By submitting your application, you are agreeing to our use and processing of your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy https://www.stellar.org/privacy-policy?locale=en. SDF is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. SDF does not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal law.