Head of Japan

As Head of Japan at Monad Foundation, you will lead institutional business development and establish Monad as credible financial infrastructure in one of the world's most important capital markets. You are tasked with identifying, structuring, and closing strategic deals with Japan's leading financial institutions, enterprises, and infrastructure providers, while building the foundation's reputation, relationships, and market presence across the country.

What you'll do

• Own institutional business development for Japan: identify, negotiate, and close strategic deals that drive real activity, flows, and assets on Monad across megabanks, trust banks, securities firms, payment companies, exchanges, and large enterprises.
• Build and structure commercial partnerships in Monad's priority areas: stablecoin issuance and payments, tokenization and RWAs, on-chain settlement, and institutional capital markets use cases.
• Develop senior relationships with Japan's most important institutions and convert them into concrete launches with clear owners, timelines, and usage paths.
• Help build the prerequisites for institutional business development to scale: regulated pathways for stablecoins on Monad, exchange relationships, and the local credibility that institutional counterparties require.
• Run deals with commercial discipline, setting clear milestones, driving real product launches, and establishing a usage path beyond announcements.
• Own Monad's go-to-market and positioning in Japan, building the foundation's reputation as credible, long-term financial infrastructure.
• Build and nurture relationships with key regional stakeholders including exchanges, enterprises, ecosystem builders, media, and regulatory bodies to expand Monad's standing and mindshare.
• Represent Monad Foundation at the senior level with institutions and partners, serving as the trusted face of Monad Foundation in the market.
• Stay ahead of Japan's evolving regulatory landscape (FSA, JVCEA, and related bodies) and translate it into high-impact opportunities and strategic clarity.

What you bring

• 8+ years of business development experience, including 4+ years in blockchain, digital assets, or Web3 with a track record of closing large, complex institutional deals.
• Deep understanding of the Japanese market and extensive experience engaging and selling to Japan's largest financial institutions and enterprises.
• A robust, senior network across Japanese banks, trust banks, securities firms, payment companies, enterprises, and Web3 players with the ability to open doors at decision-maker level.
• Strong command of how Web3 maps to institutional strategy, including why an institution would issue a stablecoin, tokenize an asset, or move settlement on-chain, and where the real commercial value sits.
• A sharp read on where major Japanese corporates and regulators are heading on digital assets, and the foresight to position Monad early.
• A self-starter who owns initiatives from first conversation to closed deal and live launch.
• Native-level fluency in Japanese and professional fluency in English (written and verbal).

Nice to have

• Deep connectivity into Japanese exchanges and an understanding of the listing landscape.
• Considerable expertise and relationships with Japanese regulators and industry bodies.
• Experience guiding market entry for Web3 startups, including strategic guidance, local insight, and connectivity.
• Strong understanding of and connectivity into Japanese financial and tech media.
• Entrepreneurial experience across the startup lifecycle, including fundraising, product launches, and operations.
• Solid technical understanding of blockchains and the EVM.

What we offer

• Role based in Tokyo, Japan.

About Monad Foundation

Monad Foundation is a team of ecosystem and community builders on a mission to grow the impact of decentralized technology. Monad is a performant and parallel EVM Layer 1 blockchain designed to power decentralized applications and on-chain finance globally.