DeFi Growth Lead

WHO WE ARE
The Solana Foundation is a non-profit based in Zug, Switzerland, dedicated to the adoption, decentralization, and security of the Solana network. Solana is a high performance blockchain that can deliver a fast and friendly user experience, without sacrificing security. The Solana Foundation is working to realize a world where individuals own their data, use permissionless networks, and transfer information and value freely around the world.

We are looking for talented people who are willing to jump right in and use their expertise to help the ecosystem build.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Solana Foundation is seeking a DeFi Growth Lead, Americas to take the DeFi growth thesis and ship it — deciding which venues get backed, which counterparties come onchain, which programs run, and what actually moves TVL and volume. Because the core venue teams and most large allocators route through the US, this seat carries the heaviest protocol-partnership and institutional load, coordinating those two functions globally.
This role is primarily partnerships and growth-execution focused — you'll spend the majority of your time on protocol relationships, institutional deal-making, and liquidity programs, with ownership from thesis through to post-mortem.

The ideal candidate has deep DeFi fluency and a track record of moving the numbers that matter: TVL, volume, and institutional adoption.
TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE
You will:
- Own protocol growth partnerships — work directly with the teams building the core venues (Phoenix/Ellipsis, Kamino, Jupiter and Jupiter Lend, Drift) on growth mechanics, integrations, and joint go-to-market; this is the densest part of the seat and is US-centered
- Drive institutional DeFi adoption — bring asset issuers, market makers, and allocators onto Solana DeFi across perps, lending, spot, and tokenized equities; most of the global institutional book routes through the US, so this reaches past the Americas
- Design and run liquidity and incentive programs with the app teams — model the payout-to-outcome relationship before committing, and kill programs that only rent flow
- Carry trader relations for the Americas — hold named relationships with the largest regional desks (prop shops, market makers, HFT, OTC, onchain-native firms); run outbound to bring their flow onchain, handle onboarding and VIP placement, and feed product requirements (latency, order types, margin treatment, listings) back to the team
- Grow the Americas retail base — grow the retail base and its volume through funnel, campaigns, and creators, working alongside the retail growth team
- Coordinate cross-functional delivery — align legal, finance, product, and marketing to get programs live
- Own the numbers — TVL, volume, active institutional counterparties, desks onboarded, retail growth, program ROI
YOU IDEALLY HAVE:
- Deep DeFi fluency — you understand perps microstructure, lending risk parameters, CLMM and vault mechanics, and how incentives transmit into volume and TVL; you hold your own with protocol founders and quants
- A track record of moving numbers — you've run growth or BD at a protocol, exchange, market maker, or fund and can point to TVL, volume, or adoption you were directly responsible for
- Institutional credibility — you've sat across from allocators, market makers, or issuers and closed
- Comfort owning protocol relationships as your primary surface, since that's where this seat spends most of its time
- An operator mindset — you ship, and you're a global operator based in the US, able to run the Americas and coordinate across EU and APAC hours