{"id":3317366,"url":"https://alion.io/job/circle-senior-director-business-development-mea","title":"Senior Director, Business Development, MEA","company":{"id":12303,"name":"Circle","domain":"circle.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/circle","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Phenom","truth_index":null},"role":"Sales","role_family":"Sales","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Dubai, United Arab Emirates"],"countries":["AE"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":43000,"max_usd":129000,"period":"year","method":"global_role_cell_scaled_by_country","sample_n":5712},"experience_years_min":13,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-27T06:05:30Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-27","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T05:49:31Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"description":"Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through digital assets, payment applications, and programmable blockchain infrastructure. Circle’s platform includes the world’s largest regulated stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet-scale financial innovation. Learn more at circle.com.\nWhat you’ll be part of:\nCircle is committed to visibility and stability in everything we do. As we grow as an organization, we're expanding into some of the world's strongest jurisdictions. Speed and efficiency are motivators for our success and our employees live by our company values: High Integrity, Future Forward, Multistakeholder, Mindful, and Driven by Excellence. We have built a flexible work environment where new ideas are encouraged and everyone is a stakeholder.\nWhat You'll Be Responsible For\nCircle is seeking a highly motivated and accomplished Senior Director of Business Development & Partnerships to lead our expansion and partner ecosystem efforts across MEA. Based in Dubai, with extensive travel across the region, this is a dual-mandate role: you will be both a strategic dealmaker and a dedicated partner owner - identifying and closing high-value opportunities, then ensuring those partnerships are activated, performing, and growing over time.\nYou will play a pivotal role in shaping Circle's footprint in MEA by leading business negotiations, structuring transformative deals, and owning the ongoing success of strategic partnerships with financial institutions, fintechs, and PSPs. The ideal candidate thrives equally in winning new business and in the disciplined, relationship-driven work of making existing partnerships deliver results. Deep expertise in payments, fintech, and digital assets is essential, as is the ability to navigate complex regulatory environments across the continent.\nWhat You'll Work On\nBusiness Development\nDevelop and execute Circle's business development strategy across Africa, identifying high-impact opportunities to drive adoption of our payment solutions.\nLead negotiations and deal structuring for strategic partnerships with PSPs, fintechs, mobile money providers and payments businesses.\nDevelop and validate commercial models for new business opportunities, including financial modelling and forecasting to support strategic decision-making. Apply modern analytics and AI-assisted modeling to improve scenario planning and deal evaluation.\nBuild and execute go-to-market strategies that drive adoption of Circle's existing products and validate new ones, from initial conversations through to signed agreements.\nProvide market intelligence and feedback to Circle's leadership team to inform product and business strategy. Use a mix of traditional research and AI-augmented tools to synthesize market signals and competitive trends.\nPartner Management\nOwn the post-close relationship with strategic partners across MEA, serving as their primary point of contact within Circle.\nDevelop and execute joint business plans with partners, setting clear performance milestones, KPIs, and growth targets.\nDrive partner activation and time-to-revenue, ensuring smooth onboarding and integration of Circle's products and services.\nConduct regular business reviews with partners to assess performance, identify gaps, and unlock new growth opportunities within existing accounts.\nServe as the internal advocate for partners, coordinating with product, compliance, legal, and marketing teams to resolve issues, surface partner needs, and prioritize the right support.\nBuild and nurture a tiered partner ecosystem across MEA, identifying and developing high-potential partners for deeper, more strategic collaboration.\nTrack and report on partner performance metrics using CRM and analytics tools, ensuring accurate pipeline management and accountability against targets. Leverage AI-augmented CRM features and analytics to improve forecasting, prioritization, and partner insights.\nWhat You'll Bring to Circle\n13+ years of experience in business development and/or partner management in financial services, fintech, or digital assets, with a strong track record across the region.\nDemonstrated ability to both close complex, high-value deals and manage and grow strategic partner relationships post-close.\nDeep understanding of MEA's financial ecosystem, including mobile money, banking infrastructure, cross-border payments, and emerging fintech trends.\nA strong network of industry relationships with leading financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprise partners across the region.\nProven ability to develop joint business plans, manage partner performance, and drive measurable revenue outcomes through partnerships.\nGood understanding of the digital assets and cryptocurrency sector, including key players, products, and trends.\nPractical fluency with modern AI tools and workflows: experience leveraging generative AI and large language models for market research, pitch and contract drafting, data synthesis, and productivity; ability to craft effective prompts and validate model outputs.\nFamiliarity with AI/ML concepts and analytics workflows relevant to deal evaluation and partner performance (e.g., predictive forecasting, cohort analysis, model-driven segmentation), and the ability to work with data teams to operationalize insights.\nCross-cultural competence and ability to work effectively across cultures and geographies.\nEntrepreneurial mindset with the ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution.\nExcellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create and deliver presentations tailored to varying audiences.\nBusiness-level English required; Arabic or French is a plus.\nCircle is on a mission to create an inclusive financial future, with transparency at our core. We consider a wide variety of elements when crafting our compensation ranges and total compensation packages.\nStarting pay is determined by various factors, including but not limited to: relevant experience, skill set, qualifications, and other business and organizational needs. Please note that compensation ranges may differ for candidates in other locations.\nWe are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, or any other protected status required by the laws in the locations where we hire. Additionally, Circle participates in the E-Verify Program in certain locations, as required by law.\nShould you require accommodations or assistance in our interview process because of a disability, please reach out to  for support. We respect your privacy and will connect with you separately from our interview process to accommodate your needs.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7178,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":13,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Flexible schedule","Growth opportunities"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Financial Services","Payment Processing & Gateways","Blockchain Infrastructure","Crypto Payments"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-27T06:05:30Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":6,"expected_fill_days":31,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/circle-senior-director-business-development-mea","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/circle-senior-director-business-development-mea.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-02T07:25:04Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":10466,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-03T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":12303},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=12303"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcircle-senior-director-business-development-mea"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcircle-senior-director-business-development-mea"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcircle-senior-director-business-development-mea"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/circle-senior-director-business-development-mea\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcircle-senior-director-business-development-mea"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3317366}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"circle.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3317366},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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