Director, Ecosystem Growth

Ripple•New York City, NY

About The Position

RippleX is building a global, multi-entity ecosystem to drive XRPL adoption at scale. This role leads strategic partnerships with independent ecosystem operators across the US, Europe, APAC, and emerging markets, while guiding DeFi strategy through dedicated external partners! This is a senior, strategic, and hands-on position requiring strong partnership management, DeFi fluency, and the ability to set milestones, drive accountability, and align partner outputs across regions.

Requirements

Seven to ten years in DeFi, crypto ecosystem growth, fintech or TradFi partnerships, or program operations.
Experience managing external partners, program operators, or independent entities.
Track record supporting developers, founders, or technical teams.
Ability to drive meaningful adoption or program success in fast-moving environments.
Strong DeFi literacy
Working understanding of payment flows, treasury operations, RWAs, and institutional asset use-cases.
Knowledge of market structure, including market making, liquidity depth, and OTC dynamics.
Skill in designing milestone frameworks, incentive structures, and accountability models.
Exceptional relationship management and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Clear communication, strong evaluation instincts, and structured thinking.
Comfort working with autonomy and navigating ambiguity.

Nice To Haves

Fintech, TradFi, RWA, and Stablecoin Fluency, including understanding of tokenized assets, stablecoin flows, treasury operations, and institutional integrations.
Experience working with community hubs, nonprofit organizations, or venture studios.
Exposure to institutional DeFi, RWA platforms, or liquidity networks.
Familiarity with milestone-based funding or incentive operations.

Responsibilities

Ecosystem Partner Management Manages a portfolio of independent ecosystem partners delivering programs and developer initiatives.
Sets milestones, impact goals, and accountability rhythms.
Reviews progress, identifies gaps, and ensures alignment with ecosystem priorities.
DeFi Ecosystem Management and Development Manage partnerships to support the evaluation of DeFi teams with a strong understanding of AMMs, DEXs, stablecoins, incentives, and liquidity behavior.
Manage partners to help shape milestone and incentive structures that support DeFi development.
Oversee DeFi initiatives with market structure needs, including liquidity depth, market making, and OTC flows.
Startup and Builder Growth Builds a strong pipeline of developers, founders, and partners.
Engages with communities, events, and industry groups to drive adoption.
Supports teams from ideation through integration and launch.
Creates milestone frameworks and incentive logic for ecosystem partners.
Runs evaluation cycles and ensures partners stay on track.
Provides milestone structure to incorporate into formal agreements.
Ecosystem Reporting and Insights Develops dashboards and scorecards for partner performance, DeFi activity, and US ecosystem growth.
Produces updates highlighting progress, risks, and opportunities.
Maintains consistent tracking of activation and partner output.