Director, Digital Assets (Technical)

The role is the lead technical interface between Baillie Gifford, the onchain finance ecosystem, and our operational outsource providers; combining deep blockchain/DeFi expertise with product development, business development, and senior relationship management.

Responsibilities

Technical & Product

• Act as Baillie Gifford’s senior technical representative with custodians, blockchain foundations, DeFi protocols, market makers, and technology providers.

• Lead the technical delivery of tokenised products, including regulated product structuring, custody arrangements, and distribution partner integration.

• Advise on wallet / custody models, token standards, smart contract interactions, transaction flows, and liquidity arrangements across the product operating model.

• Build a repeatable framework for assessing and onboarding future blockchain networks, protocols, and infrastructure counterparties.

Client, Business Development & Market Insight

• Identify and prioritise commercial opportunities within the onchain ecosystem that support product growth.

• Develop the client and technical case for tokenised funds - briefings, due diligence responses, thought leadership - in partnership with Communications.

• Build and maintain a high quality external network to generate partnerships, distribution routes, and prospective client engagement.

• Represent Baillie Gifford at relevant industry forums and conferences.

Governance & Internal Execution

• Work across Clients, Investments, Product, Operations, Technology, Legal, Compliance, and Risk to move initiatives from concept to live client servicing.

• Maintain clear documentation of material decisions, dependencies, and risks, with defined ownership and follow through.

• Support regulatory and legal engagement on product structure, custody, and distribution matters.

• Significant senior level experience across digital assets, blockchain, fintech, or institutional financial markets.

• Deep technical fluency in blockchain infrastructure: smart contracts, token standards, custody, protocol architecture, stablecoins, and transaction lifecycle.

• Track record of taking complex integrations or partnerships from concept to implementation

• Strong relationships and credibility across the digital assets ecosystem, with experience working with counterparties, such as custodians, DeFi protocols, market makers, exchanges

• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for client, investment, technology and control function audiences.

• Working understanding of the regulatory, legal, risk and operational considerations for institutional digital assets participation.

• Commercial judgement and business development experience, with the ability to assess and prioritise opportunities and translate technical or market developments into credible product, partnership or distribution propositions.

The type of candidate that we’re looking for: This is an opportunity for an experienced Digital Assets professional to help shape a strategically important capability within Baillie Gifford. We’re looking for someone who combines genuine technical depth with commercial acumen, strong judgement and an instinct for high-quality client relationships. You’ll be comfortable operating at the boundary between product, technology and business development, and motivated by the challenge of turning emerging onchain infrastructure into credible institutional investment opportunities. You’ll be a self-starter who can create momentum in an ambiguous environment while remaining thoughtful about risk, implementation detail and long-term client outcomes. You’ll be able to form a view, explain it clearly, challenge counterparties constructively and bring the right people together to progress complex work. You’ll balance the pace and rapidly evolving nature of the digital assets ecosystem with the discipline and relationship orientation of traditional finance. You’ll be intellectually curious, well connected and highly collaborative. You’ll enjoy building new relationships and propositions while being equally prepared to work through the detailed technical, operational and governance issues required to make those propositions real. There will also be scope to grow direct-report responsibility as the team scales.

Critical skills:

• Nurture relationships

• Systems thinking

• Adaptability

• Storytelling

• Openness and discernment

At Baillie Gifford, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful culture in which each of our colleagues can thrive and develop. We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse workforce with the experiences, ideas and perspectives that this brings.