Director, Strategic Institutional Partnerships - Special Projects Lead

As Director of Strategic Institutional Partnerships, Special Projects Lead at OKX, you own the end-to-end delivery of complex, bespoke partnerships with banks, payment providers, wealth platforms, and other financial institutions. You take each partnership from signed intent through go-live and revenue ramp, acting as the single point of accountability across Legal, Compliance, Product, Engineering, Operations, and Institutional Coverage. Your initial market focus is the EU, where OKX operates under MiCA and MiFID II, and you report to the Global Head of Strategic Partnerships.

What you'll do

• Coordinate commercial project execution with strategic partners, ensuring timely delivery of high-scale projects and knowledge transfer among relationship managers
• Structure product solutions and commercial setups that maximize value with the partner, validating feasibility with product and local market teams
• Lead or co-lead negotiations on terms including pricing, rebates, volume commitments, SLAs, liability, exclusivity, and service scope, and align final terms with the Head of SIP before C-level sign-off
• Run the contract process with OKX Legal and the client's legal team, supplying commercial inputs and managing negotiations
• Own the client relationship throughout the entire lifecycle, running steering meetings, managing expectations, resolving escalations, and nurturing relationships with decision makers
• Turn commercial agreements into delivery plans with Product and Engineering, covering integration models, custody and settlement flows, fiat and stablecoin rails, and reporting; own scope, timelines, and trade-offs
• Coordinate due diligence, KYB, outsourcing assessments, and regulatory notifications between OKX Compliance and the client's teams to ensure regulatory requirements do not delay go-live
• Maintain in-depth understanding of OKX's trading systems, stablecoin, and RWA ecosystem
• Plan go-live with the client, and for B2B2C partners manage the commercial launch including end-client communication, marketing support, and incentive structures; track volume and ramp against the business case post-launch
• Hand over live and stable partnerships to Institutional Relationship Managers with documented terms, technical setup, open items, and ramp targets, staying accountable until they accept the handover
• Use AI tools to manage and coordinate multiple complex projects simultaneously; report status, risks, and business impact to SIP leadership; maintain pipeline and project records
• Share learnings from implementation to inform better deal structures; originate and close partnerships of your own over time
• Help build a small delivery team of project managers and solution engineers as deal flow grows

What you bring

• 10+ years in commercial roles at banks, crypto exchanges or brokers, payment or stablecoin companies, or fintech infrastructure providers, with at least 3 years leading client-facing delivery of complex B2B or B2B2C partnerships
• Banking knowledge from the trading, wealth management, or transaction banking side, including how banks make product decisions, onboard vendors, and approve new products
• Working knowledge of crypto trading systems including order routing, API and FIX connectivity, custody models, settlement, and pre-funding and credit arrangements
• Understanding of stablecoin ecosystems including issuance, on- and off-ramps, and stablecoin use cases in payments and treasury
• Demonstrated experience leading commercial negotiations and taking contracts through legal review to signature
• Track record running projects across legal, compliance, product, and engineering teams on both the client's side and your own, and taking them live
• Strong use of AI tools (e.g. Claude, GPT) for project management, stakeholder coordination, and reporting to manage a large portfolio with a small team

Nice to have

• Experience on the bank or payment provider side of launching a crypto or stablecoin product
• Additional European languages
• Background in investment banking, consulting, or another structured deal-execution environment
• Track record of originating, structuring, and closing your own deals

What we offer

• Competitive total compensation package
• Learning and development programs and education subsidy
• Team building programs and company events
• Flexible work arrangements with initial market focus on the EU

About OKX

OKX is a leading crypto exchange and developer of OKX Wallet, giving millions access to crypto trading and decentralized applications. OKX is a trusted brand for hundreds of large institutions seeking access to crypto markets, backed by Proof of Reserves. Part of OKG, OKX operates under MiCA and MiFID II in Europe and is united by core principles: We Before Me, Do the Right Thing, and Get Things Done.