RockawayX is hiring a

Web3 Solana Ecosystem Lead

About RockawayX

RockawayX is a leading global crypto / digital asset investment firm with approximately $2bn AUM across divisions. RockawayX has been investing in early-stage crypto companies and token projects since 2018. Our venture side has an industry leading performance track-record and the portfolio includes industry leaders across sectors (i.e. Wintermute, Solana, 1inch, Safe, Risc Zero, Squads, Kamino, and many more.) RockawayX’s credit / DeFi yield strategy is an active liquidity provider across DeFi protocols. Beyond investing, we incubate projects, and our infrastructure division runs validators out of data centres we own and operates and develops protocol-ready hardware solutions (i.e. optimised GPUs).

Solana Focus

We were seed investors in Solana and it remains our ‘home turf’ and focus. Our portfolio includes 15+ Solana-based projects. We are major infrastructure contributors to the network, running Firedancer validators and the most performant RPC services. Out of our yield side, we are the principal “solver” on Solana intent-based DeFi protocols, including Wormhole, DeBridge, and Mayan. We incubate projects and products with a Solana focus. We are in the process of co-launching, alongside the Foundation / Superteam, an awesome accelerator / hub for builders based in Dubai. And more..!

The Role:

Overview: We’re already “big in Solana” and looking to scale the advantage - staying ahead of every development in the space, further developing an unparalleled “platform” offering to boost portfolio projects, and ensuring that we miss no talented entrepreneur in the Solana midst. You will play a big part in this effort, largely serving as the firm’s ambassador to the Solana ecosystem. You will be constantly immersed in SOL universe, cultivating close relationships with our founders and other operators, “mining” insights from your interactions with them that we turn into actions (investments or building fixes to their challenges in-house), and developing and sharing unique viewpoints on key trends or roadmap items. The role is ideal for someone passionate about blockchain, Solana, and with a proven ability to connect with and bring ‘be helpful’ instincts to founders / operators.

Responsibilities:

1. Solana Presence ("The Super Plugger")

• Represent RockawayX in the Solana ecosystem, attending and actively participating in events, hackathons, and other forums. 
• Build and nurture strong relationships with rising stars in the Solana community, including founders and talented operators in the field, and ‘activate’ our Solana network in smart ways. 
• With a “sponge” / intel agent mindset, always be on alert for new developments or builder challenges and feed them back to our team. Build comprehensive Solana knowledge across its technical roadmap, commercial developments, novel data sources, enterprise links, and more. You are constantly tracking the space and act as our eyes and ears in the ecosystem - you spot case studies of successful launches, innovative token designs and G2M approaches, etc, and develop your process for turning observations into playbooks. You work with the team to ensure we’re well-positioned for every scenario / to act on areas we have conviction. 
• Actively promote RockawayX’s protocol services (i.e. infrastructure, solver).

2. Solana Thought Leadership

• Collaborate with the Content team to spearhead the firm’s Solana Newsletter, sharing unique insights and fostering engagement within the community (think…founder surveys / interviews!)
• Develop and author original research and viewpoints on key Solana topics, trends, and opportunities; encouraged to adopt a journalist mindset - cultivating key “sources” and generating compelling narratives about Solana’s roadmap or commercial ecosystem.
• …Go across mediums! You’re encouraged to host workshops with our founders and beyond, Twitter Spaces, and anything else you dream up to spread our Solana word!

3. Solana Post-Investment Support & Platform Development

• Act as trusted advisor and ‘can-do’ problem solver for Solana portfolio companies, digging in to trouble-shoot with them, and systematically gathering their insights and challenges to inform firm investment strategy / decisions and our “platform” engine.
• Show creativity in developing a world-class “Solana VC platform” - ideas for proprietary products we can deliver to our Solana portfolio companies? Niche content? Other quirky ways to build community and share insights among our portfolio? …your wheels are always turning on the question, how can we uniquely and scalably add value to Solana companies? 
• Monitor Solana portfolio companies’ performance metrics and support fund reporting. 

4. Solana Deal Sourcing

• Help drive the team’s investment thesis on the Solana ecosystem, and its process for sourcing and evaluating the best projects in the space - think developing new, unique, talent and sourcing pipelines!
• Conduct varied research and leverage your network and relationships to uncover emerging trends and identify and attract high-quality investment opportunities in the Solana ecosystem.
• Work with team to evaluate investment deals; with mentorship, develop grasp of key venture concepts, including deal analysis, underwriting, scenario analysis, investment memo preparation, and deal execution skills.

Qualifications:

• Passion for Solana: A deep interest in crypto and Solana. You are read up on all the major trends and developments affecting the space. You don’t need to be a technical wizard to start, but you will go full rabbit hole into any topic to develop thorough understanding. 
• Relationship Builder: Exceptional interpersonal skills and a track record of cultivating and maintaining high-value relationships.
• Community Presence: You have an ability to quickly establish credibility and influence. You’re confident you can become a respected / recognizable figure in the Solana space and a strong ambassador in the field. 
• Strategic Thinker: Ability to synthesize insights from diverse sources into actionable strategies and compelling narratives.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: A self-starter who thrives in fast-paced environments and is unafraid to take initiative.
• Communication Skills: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a talent for developing views and sharing them in an engaging / original way. 

We Offer:

• A unique opportunity to play a central role in the growth of one of the most exciting ecosystems in blockchain.
• A great starting platform to build off of - we’re one of the top active investors in the Solana space, you’ve got ~15 Solana portfolio projects to start with, tight ties to the Solana core team, etc.
• In a world of many hard-to-distinguish VCs, we’ve got real and unique focus: (1) Solana, you know this one by now… (2) DeFi projects where we identify and access superior terms because of our liquidity provisioning expertise (rare among VCs) and (3) Decentralized networks demanding real infrastructure / hardware solutions that we provide.
• A supportive, collaborative environment with significant autonomy and growth potential.

Competitive compensation, including potential carry participation.