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 Trading Growth Lead, Americas to find the desks, exchanges, and capital that move real volume in the region and win them onto Solana. Trading is one of the key use cases of Solana and covers spot, perps and prediction markets. Lending and the rest of DeFi matter here because they feed trading: margin, collateral, capital efficiency. You own the accounts and how you win them — whether that be via incentives, VIP treatment, and or direct access to the product teams when a desk needs something built.
This role is primarily outbound and relationship-focused. The ideal candidate already has an existing book of trading relationships and a track record of moving real volume.
To be successful in this role
You will:
Own outbound to trading counterparties — prop shops, HFT firms, market makers, quant funds, OTC desks, onchain-native trading firms. Build the map of who moves volume and the paths to reach them, then get in the room. Understand what each desk trades and what it needs to route that flow onchain: execution quality, order types, margin and collateral treatment, listings, fees. Put together the offer that wins the flow and close it onto Solana venues. This is the core of the seat.
Structure and manage counterparty relationships — negotiate terms and rebates and work with the Trading and DeFi team on the agreements and economics. Work directly with the application and protocol teams to relay what a counterparty needs to route flow (order types, margin treatment, listings, collateral support) and push to get it built or prioritised. Once a counterparty is live, own the relationship: escalation, VIP support, and the follow-through that turns a first trade into growing flow rather than a dormant account.
Secure allocators and LPs — the capital that seeds and deepens Solana markets. Bring allocators, funds, and large LPs onchain and keep them there. Most of the global institutional book routes through the US, so this reaches past the Americas.
Own the numbers — volume and open interest on Solana-native venues, active trading counterparties, desks and firms onboarded, allocator and LP capital brought on, programme ROI.
Who you are:
A closer with an existing book — you already know the big traders, allocators, and LPs, and they take your call.
Trading-first fluency — you understand market microstructure, perps funding and margin, spot liquidity, and how execution quality and incentives move flow. You hold your own with desk heads and quants.
DeFi literacy to be credible — you can talk collateral, margin, capital efficiency, and how lending and looping feed leverage and volume, and hold that conversation with the desks who use them.
A track record of moving volume or flow — at an exchange, market maker, prop shop, fund, or protocol. You can point to flow you were directly responsible for.
An operator who ships — based in the US, able to run the Americas and coordinate across EU and APAC hours.