Head of Business Development - Asia

About Wintermute

Wintermute is a leading market maker of digital assets globally. Being just 3 years old and just about 20 people, we have already proven to be a top player globally, partnered with major global exchanges and got backing from world’s top VCs such as Lightspeed and Blockchain.com Ventures. Culturally, we combine 1) the best-in-class trading and technology professionalism coming from 70+ years of combined team’s expertise in traditional hft companies like Optiver and 2) technology startup culture, as we are moving very fast and empowering people to act like owners.

Wintermute provides liquidity algorithmically across most vested exchanges in crypto, across CeFi and DeFi, on-screen and OTC, and we support exchanges and highest-profile blockchain projects. At Wintermute, we believe in decentralization of finance and we believe that trading companies of the future are technology companies, not financial services providers. Learn more about our team and culture in Evgeny’s post here.

Working at Wintermute

We are looking for Head of Business Development & Partnership Asia who would help us bring our Asia business to completely new heights. We are looking for someone who knows Asian crypto market and is excited to make a big impact for Wintermute in China and beyond.

You will be responsible for building new and growing our existing and business in Asia and will own opportunities in the region from end to end. You will develop your own strategic growth plan, while also getting advice and guidance from Management Team and CEO. We have the best market making product on the market, we work with crypto’s top projects, we have many strategic growth opportunities in the pipeline, a long line of counterparties wanting to develop relationship with us, no legacy processes, no corporate bureaucracy, no multiple levels of approvals, yet highest standards of professionalism. It is up to you to make an impact! You will act like an owner and your incentives will be completely aligned with those of the company!

What will you work on

As we are a high growth startup in one of the most dynamic industries, we are constantly changing and so do the roles of everyone in the company. Your role will be very varied and will include some of the core ownership areas, as well as various projects based on both your talents/preferences and business needs of the company. There is a lot of room to shape the expand this role - there is no limit set by the company! Some representative responsibilities and projects are set below.

A selection of responsibilities or projects

• Grow OTC business in Asia - this includes developing and executing own growth plan which will have a lot of angles to it: acquiring new counterparties, developing existing relationships, cooperating with other team on product on productizing the solution and execution of trades
• Grow project market making business - deepen relationships with existing crypto projects and acquire new ones
• Develop new relationships with high-profile crypto projects, crypto VCs, institutional investors, miners and other parties of crypto eco-system; note that we are connected to many of these parties or can get introduced, so this is all about systematically developing the relationships and brining them to the next level
• Develop existing relationships with exchanges globally and bring them to the next level
• Keep track of key launches and news in the crypto eco-system and proactively identify cooperation and business development opportunities

Hard Skills Requirements

• BSc/MSc in Business/Economics/Finance or any other degree with some quantitative element to it
• Native Mandarin; fluent English; other languages (Korean, Japanese) would be a plus
• Deep understanding both Asian and Western mindsets and ways of doing business
• Top tier MBA is preferred (or other proven ability to see the bigger picture, understand new functional areas quickly, having a cross-functional mindset)
• 2-5 years of experience with Asian (focus on China) crypto market
• Experience in business development or any client-facing role (management consulting, investment banking, etc)
• Strong quantitative and reasoning skills - we will test
• Excellent communication skills verbal and written - this is not about pitching, but being convincing, concise, precise, a good listener; being clear on next steps and always following up on promises
• Experience building things and delivering results - this could be professional, academic or personal, but we need to see some ownership and value-creation beyond execution or functional responsibility in an “average corporate” function
• Experience in BD or similar role facing institutional crypto and traditional finance is an advantage
• Deep trading knowledge isn’t required but willingness, aptitude and curiosity to understand the fundamentals of algorithmic trading and market making is crucial

Other Requirements

• Have an owner mentality - you focus on ultimate result (short and long-term P&L for the company), focus on strategically growing the business for the future vs “cashing-in” fast
• Love problem solving, and love seeing the results of your work live
• Do whatever it takes to do what’s needed to grow the pie beyond maximizing own piece of the pie
• Determined, hungry, ambitious yet humble, willing to work hard and learn on the way
• Like meritocracy and being judged by what you deliver
• Have an entrepreneurial mindset versus work 9-to-5 “work to pay bills”; prepared to work non-standard working hours (since we are a high-growth startup operating in 24/7 crypto world)
• Like working in the team environment working from our London office (as much as Covid restrictions allow)

Wintermute Offer

• A unique opportunity to work on very interesting projects, get the level of responsibility and ownership that would take 5-10 years to get in a traditional financial services company
• A unique opportunity to join a high growth profitable startup and one of the strongest and highest potential startups in crypto
• Great company culture: informal, non-hierarchical, ambitious, highly professional yet startupy, collaborative, entrepreneurial
• Aligned incentive structure: on top of competitive fixed salary, a significant part of your compensation is similar to that of owners - equity package, performance-based cash bonuses, and the best thing - your contribution directly impacts both and financial upside is unlimited
• A cool office in central London with sci-fi touch (Note: we do not have an office in Asia yet and your location in negotiable)
• Weekly team events, such as team lunches, team dinners, team board games and Dota playing sessions; these are not obligatory in any sense, but this is what we like to do

Tips for Successful Application

• Only apply to us if you are genuinely interested or curious about this role and the space; this is not for someone who is just looking for “a job” or is looking to maximize short-term fixed salary
• Do your research: look at our website and social media channels
• Write us a short, honest, and direct message if you’d like to apply. Tell us about why you are interested in Wintermute and in this role in particular.
• Do not send us generic copy paste applications, we are looking for authentic people who share our interests, values and ambitions!
• If you don’t have an obviously matching experience or skills, make sure you state very clearly what you can bring or how your experience is relevant (but note, we do require some finance background/expertise)
• Do your homework on what hft/market making/algo trading is. (Hint: we are not in the business of position taking, directional betting, stock/token picking, technical analysis, “AI” (as in buzz-word) and we are not a research business for the sake of research)
• We get a lot of applications, so unfortunately, we won’t be able to proceed if you simply press “submit button”; we do promise to reply to everyone who puts time and effort into making the application relevant!
• Unfortunately, we are limited in the number of visa sponsorships we are able to offer but we can make it work for the best candidate! We will have an opportunity to accommodate for visas for the citizens of China, Korea, Singapore etc.