Job description
Role Overview
Head of Business Development - Middle East at Alpaca, a US-headquartered global leader in agent-first brokerage infrastructure. The role is based in the Middle East, spanning the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the broader GCC.
Company Overview
Alpaca is a licensed financial services company serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with institutional-grade APIs. The company provides infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, and 24/5 trading to broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 10 million brokerage accounts. Alpaca is backed by $400 million in funding from top-tier global investors including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Opera Tech Ventures, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Unbound, Peak XV, Elefund, and Y Combinator. The global team comprises 400+ distributed members spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond.
Role Purpose
Lead commercial and strategic expansion across the Middle East by owning relationships, deals, and ecosystem presence with fintechs, exchanges, brokerages, banks, primes, regulators, and government institutions. Build Alpaca's regional presence largely from the ground up while working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and executive leadership. This role reports into the Director of Business Development.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Relationship & Business Development
- 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
Ecosystem Development & Go-to-Market Execution
- 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
Industry Representation & Brand Advocacy
- 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
Qualifications & Experience
- 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 including DIFC, ADGM, VARA, CMA, and SCA
- Track record sourcing and nurturing strategic relationships that convert into commercial opportunities over time
Skills & Competencies
- Strong understanding of or strong appetite to quickly learn brokerage infrastructure, tokenization, blockchain-based settlement, and digital asset market structure
- Excellent executive presence and communication skills, comfortable acting as a public-facing representative of the firm with clients, regulators, and media
- Self-starter mentality with strong organizational skills, a bias toward action, and comfort building a region largely from scratch
- Comfortable working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and executive leadership in a fast-moving, remote-first environment
- Fluency in English required; Arabic fluency strongly preferred
Additional Information
Nice-to-Haves
- Prior experience at a broker-dealer, exchange, market maker, prime broker, or crypto-native firm operating in the Middle East
- Experience working on tokenization, RWA (real-world asset), or on-chain market infrastructure projects
- Existing relationships with regional regulators or government agencies
- Based in or with deep ties to the UAE or Saudi Arabia
Travel & Location
- Willingness to travel regularly within the region
Benefits
- 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.