GM, AI Ecosystem

As GM, AI Ecosystem at the Solana Foundation, you will be the Foundation's most senior presence in Silicon Valley and own Solana's growth strategy in the Bay Area end to end. You will set regional strategy, control a dedicated budget, make funding decisions that seed new teams and initiatives, and personally carry the relationships that determine whether the most ambitious AI and crypto companies build on Solana. Your defining mandate is to bridge Solana and the AI and emerging tech worlds, convincing builders that Solana is the chain to build on and turning that conviction into shipped products.

What you'll do

• Own Solana Foundation's entire strategy and presence in the Bay Area, setting priorities and driving accountability for results
• Build deep relationships across the AI/ML startup, research, and infrastructure communities, and make the technical case for building cutting-edge AI products and use cases on Solana
• Identify, cultivate, and activate the region's strongest builders, turning them into long-term Solana ecosystem participants
• Build trusted relationships with the Bay Area's top VCs, accelerators, and incubators to drive high-quality deal flow and co-investment into the Solana ecosystem
• Set the regional event strategy including hackathons, founder dinners, technical salons, and marquee side events at major conferences
• Forge partnerships across AI, fintech, and consumer tech that create compounding leverage for Solana's reach and narrative
• Represent the Foundation in high-stakes conversations with investors, founders, and press, feeding sharp market intelligence back to global leadership

What you bring

• A decade or more of senior operating experience across venture capital, ecosystem leadership, company founding or scaling, or product and growth roles at top-tier technology organizations, with a track record others can point to
• Deep networks in the Bay Area with real, earned relationships among founders, investors, and operators that you can activate immediately
• Fluency in both crypto and AI worlds, able to hold substantive conversations with AI founders and researchers about what they are building and why it matters, and understanding of Solana
• The judgment of a capital allocator, discerning signal from noise quickly and concentrating on the few relationships and bets that compound
• Exceptional communication and closing skills, the kind of person who earns trust in a single meeting
• Comfort with full ownership and ambiguity, creating your own surface area and setting your own agenda
• Full-time, physical presence in the San Francisco Bay Area (hard requirement)

Nice to have

• A demonstrated track record at the intersection of AI and crypto, with knowledge of where these communities overlap
• Existing, credible relationships in the AI/ML startup and research community
• Prior experience deploying capital through grants, investments, or an ecosystem fund and being accountable for outcomes
• Founder or early-operator experience

About Solana Foundation

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 delivering fast and secure user experience while advancing a vision where individuals own their data and transfer information and value freely around the world.