Senior Business Development Manager - dreamDEX
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 5, 2026. First seen by Alion on Jul 16, 2026. Somnia scores B on the Alion truth index.
About Somnia:
SOMNIA is the Agentic Chain - a hyper-performance L1 operating at an order of magnitude faster than existing networks. We empower builders and traders to create real-time, autonomous, and fully decentralized products, powered by agents, that were previously impossible and cannot be built anywhere else. It’s where the future of Web3 protocols will be built, so we’re facilitating a new wave of on-chain applications from DEX to Prediction Protocols and much, much more.
Somnia is being developed by Somnia Foundation backed by Improbable, a British tech Unicorn +++ that has been at the forefront of building virtual worlds for over a decade. Somnia received initial funding from MSquared, which raised $150 million from a16z crypto, SoftBank, Mirana Ventures, CMT Digital, and SIG.
About the Role:
DreamDEX makes a hard claim: CEX execution without DEX custody. A fully on-chain CLOB with sub-10ms, zero trading fees, self-custody and transparent rules, competing head-on with Hyperliquid, Lighter and the large centralised exchanges.
An exchange wins or dies on liquidity, and early liquidity comes from relationships. Market makers must sign and quote tight. Builders must route flow to us. Institutions must trust a new venue with size. You will own those relationships.
You'll run business development for dreamDEX and carry the wider Somnia story (the L1, Somnia Agents, Prophecy) into institutional conversations. You'll work directly with the GTM leads and core team, with a mandate to source, structure and close the deals that put depth on the book and volume through it. We measure every deal by the liquidity, volume and TVL it produces.
Key Responsibilities:
Own the market maker pipeline: source, pitch, negotiate and onboard MMs, from DeFi-native firms early on to an anchor tier 1 relationship, structuring deals across CLOB rewards, fee arrangements and liquidity commitments
Get DreamDEX integrated with the major spot and cross-chain aggregators, then manage those relationships so we keep winning flow on price
Build and activate the institutional pipeline: trading firms, funds, family offices, OTC desks, prime brokers and custodians, with white-glove onboarding for qualified institutions
Build an active Builder pipeline: Trading terminals, AI strategies and native apps to drive users and volume to the Dex.
Close liquidity deals that grow TVL: institutional LPs, protocol and DAO treasuries, and vault operators
Land distribution partnerships that feed the exchange: wallets, perp aggregators and bridges
Support broader Somnia BD where your network applies: ecosystem projects, stablecoin partners and treasury deals on the L1
Feed market intelligence back to product: you hear first what MMs and institutions need (RFQ flow, reporting, credit arrangements, API features) and help shape the roadmap
Represent DreamDEX and Somnia at conferences and in the rooms where these deals get done
Requirements:
Must Have
Business development experience at a crypto exchange (CEX, perp DEX or spot DEX) covering market makers, institutional clients or listings
A real network across institutions in crypto and/or TradFi: trading firms, market makers, funds, prime brokers and OTC desks. You open doors on day one rather than building a list from scratch
Closed deals with measurable impact on volume, liquidity or TVL, and the ability to walk us through the numbers
A working understanding of exchange mechanics: order books, spreads and depth, perps and margin, liquidations, MM economics and incentive design
Ability to run a full deal cycle alone, from sourcing through structuring and negotiation to post-signature relationship management
Comfort operating early in a venue's life, when you are selling the roadmap as much as the product
Nice to Have
TradFi background in prime brokerage, electronic trading or institutional sales
Existing relationships with DEX aggregators, wallets, custodians or vault operators
Experience taking a new venue through cold start; you have solved the empty order book problem before
Experience structuring token or incentive-based deals
Working knowledge of DeFi: CLOB DEXs, vaults, stablecoins and yield products
Experience selling to DAOs and protocol treasuries
Why Join Somnia?
Design The Future: Join Somnia to work remotely with a global team, earn competitive compensation with token incentives, and help build the future of Web3 at a company where your impact truly matters.
First of its Kind: Make Somnia famous as the only hyperspeed L1 with native AI inference.
High Stakes: Influence a brand targeting a $1M+ launch budget in the 2026 peak-fragility market.
Incentives: Competitive salary + tokens.
Role Location
The role is remote, but we are looking for someone based on a UK-friendly timezone (+/- 4 hours).
Reporting Lines
This role reports to the Founder