Head of Business Development - Middle East

About the role

This role focuses on expanding Alpaca's presence across the Middle East by establishing and deepening relationships with key players in the fintech, exchange, brokerage, and banking sectors. The Head of Business Development will act as a primary interface with clients, identifying new opportunities and guiding them through the sales process in collaboration with internal teams. Success in this position means consistently converting strategic relationships into commercial growth and achieving regional revenue targets.

A significant part of the work involves navigating high-stakes engagements with regulators and government agencies to support Alpaca's expansion goals. This individual will also represent the company at industry events, act as a public spokesperson, and organize networking activities to showcase Alpaca's offerings and reinforce customer trust. The role demands a deep understanding of Alpaca's platform to effectively translate regional customer needs into strategic solutions.

The ideal candidate will collaborate closely with sales, marketing, and product teams to execute go-to-market strategies across various Middle Eastern geographies and verticals. This includes engaging with local fintech communities and institutional partners. Analyzing performance metrics and CRM data will be crucial for informing regional sales strategies and identifying further growth opportunities, contributing to Alpaca's mission of opening financial services globally.

The annual salary for this role ranges from $60,000 to $100,000 USD, in addition to stock options.

Skills that matter here

• Strategic Partnerships: This role is centered on initiating and nurturing long-term relationships that lead to commercial opportunities and regional growth for Alpaca.
• Financial Services: The position requires a background in financial services to understand the market and engage effectively with clients in the Middle East.
• Digital Assets: Familiarity with digital assets is important for discussing Alpaca's offerings and understanding market trends in the region.
• Marketing: Collaboration with the marketing team is necessary to drive go-to-market execution and represent Alpaca publicly.
• Brokerage Infrastructure: A strong understanding of brokerage infrastructure is needed to articulate Alpaca's product value proposition to clients.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: The role involves working closely with sales, marketing, and product teams to achieve regional expansion and revenue goals.

Who this role suits

• A person with a proven track record of building and maintaining an extensive professional network within the Middle East's financial sector.
• Someone who is comfortable engaging at an executive level with clients, regulators, and government bodies.
• An individual who thrives in a remote-first, fast-moving environment and is proactive in building new regions from the ground up.
• A candidate who possesses strong communication skills and can effectively represent a company as a public-facing spokesperson.

From the employer

Your Role

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with fintechs, exchanges, brokerages, banks, primes, and ecosystem partners across the Middle East.
• Serve as a key executive interface with prospective and existing clients in the region, identifying opportunities to deepen partnerships and expand adoption.
• Navigate high-stakes engagements with regulators, government agencies, and public sector institutions to support Alpaca's regional expansion.
• Nurture client relationships across the region — from initial opportunity scoping through ongoing strategic engagement and partnership growth.
• Identify and pursue new commercial opportunities in collaboration with Sales, Marketing, Product, and the Director of Business Development.
• Support account conversion by partnering with the sales team on lead nurturing and referral follow-up.
• Drive Alpaca's go-to-market execution across Middle East geographies and verticals through engagement with local fintech communities, regulators, founders, and institutional partners.
• Collaborate closely with the Director of Business Development and Head of Sales to execute against revenue targets and regional expansion priorities.
• Champion Alpaca's product value proposition by deeply understanding the platform and translating regional customer pain points into strategic solutions.
• Analyze CRM data and business performance metrics to inform regional sales strategy and uncover growth opportunities.
• Represent Alpaca at high-profile regional industry conferences, regulatory roundtables, and ecosystem events.
• Serve as a public-facing spokesperson for Alpaca in government meetings, webinars, client workshops, and strategic media engagements across the region.
• Host and organize regional networking events and client briefings to showcase Alpaca's leadership and reinforce customer trust.
• Prepare and deliver high-impact sales presentations and regular performance reports, translating data into actionable insights for leadership.

Who You Are (Must-Haves)

• 8+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, or institutional sales within financial services, fintech, capital markets, or digital assets, with substantial experience in the Middle East.
• An existing network of relationships among fintechs, exchanges, brokerages, banks, primes, or regulators in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or the broader GCC.
• Experience engaging directly with regulators and government agencies, and familiarity with regional regulatory frameworks (e.g. DIFC, ADGM, VARA, CMA, SCA).
• Strong understanding of (or strong appetite to quickly learn) brokerage infrastructure, tokenization, blockchain-based settlement, and digital asset market structure.
• Track record sourcing and nurturing strategic relationships that convert into commercial opportunities over time.
• Excellent executive presence and communication skills, comfortable acting as a public-facing representative of the firm with clients, regulators, and media.
• Comfortable working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and executive leadership in a fast-moving, remote-first environment.
• Self-starter mentality with strong organizational skills, a bias toward action, and comfort building a region largely from scratch.
• Fluency in English required; Arabic fluency strongly preferred.
• Willingness to travel regularly within the region.

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.