Account Executive, Payward Services

Kraken

The opportunity

New Business Development

• Proactively identify, target, and engage prospective institutional clients across broker-dealers, prime brokers, hedge funds, asset managers, RIAs, multi-family offices, and proprietary trading firms.

• Build and maintain a robust, qualified pipeline with consistent coverage across EMEA, North America, LatAm and APAC, with a focus on EU.

• Lead discovery conversations that uncover client pain points across execution, settlement, custody, embedded digital asset trading, and on and off ramps

• Own and manage the full sales cycle from first contact to signed agreement, coordinating internal stakeholders as needed.

Client Engagement & Relationship Management

• Establish and deepen trusted relationships at MD, CTO, COO, Head of Digital Assets and Head of Trading or equivalent across varying levels within target institutions.

• Conduct high-quality, tailored product demonstrations and commercial presentations, positioning Payward Services as the partner of choice for embedded digital asset trading and brokerage infrastructure.

• Attend and represent Payward Services at key industry conferences, roadshows, and client events (e.g. Money2020, TOKEN2049, Consensus, EuroClear events).

• Maintain accurate and timely CRM records (pipeline stage, contact mapping, meeting notes, next steps) to ensure full commercial visibility.

Market Intelligence & Feedback Loop

• Serve as the voice of the market internally, synthesising feedback from prospects and clients to inform product roadmap, pricing strategy, and go-to-market positioning.

• Contribute to thought leadership efforts including white papers, event panels, and sales collateral development.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Product, Compliance, Legal, and Engineering to scope and structure deals, ensuring commercial viability and regulatory alignment.

• Work closely with the Client Success and Onboarding teams to ensure a seamless transition from prospect to live client.

• Collaborate with Marketing on targeted campaign strategies, account-based marketing, and event-led pipeline generation.

• Support the refinement of commercial terms, MSAs, and partnership agreements in coordination with Legal.

Skills you should HODL

• 8+ years of institutional sales experience within financial services, with demonstrable success in a hunter/new business role.

• Deep and active network of relationships with broker-dealers, prime brokers, hedge funds, asset managers, and/or RIAs at a decision-maker level.

• Proven track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder B2B deals with 6 7 figure ACV (annual contract value).

• Strong understanding of brokerage infrastructure, execution services, prime services, or embedded trading / white-label solutions.

• Working knowledge of crypto, digital assets, and blockchain technology, able to speak credibly to institutional audiences on topics including stablecoins, tokenised assets, custody, on-chain settlement, and DeFi.

• Comfortable operating across multiple time zones and managing a global client base from a European base.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to distill complex technical and regulatory concepts into compelling commercial narratives.

• Degree level education or equivalent professional experience in Finance, Economics, Business, or a related field.

Nice to haves

• Experience selling digital asset infrastructure, crypto prime brokerage, embedded finance, or API-based trading solutions.

• Prior experience at a crypto exchange, digital asset custodian, prime broker, or fintech infrastructure provider.

• Additional European language skills (German, French, Dutch, or Nordic languages a plus).

• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks across key jurisdictions: MiFID, MiCA (EU), FCA (UK), MAS (Singapore), SEC/FINRA (US).

• Experience engaging with compliance and legal teams within financial institutions as part of the sales process.

• CFA, CAIA, or equivalent professional qualification.