Business Development Director, Financial Services; Contractor

Known is building the accountability infrastructure for autonomous AI. As AI agents increasingly operate across organizations, platforms, and jurisdictions, Known is advancing DNSid as an open, neutral DNS-based identity standard designed to make accountability interoperable at Internet scale.

Known is an independent company spun out of Identity Digital. While you may see both company names during the hiring process, this position is with Known.

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We're looking for a founding commercial leader to build our Financial Services practice. This role combines strategic enterprise selling with category creation to help define how banks, fintechs and payment platforms adopt trusted AI agent identity.

Approximately 80% of the role is focused on building and closing new business within the fintech ecosystem. You will identify target accounts, shape account strategy, develop executive relationships, lead complex enterprise sales cycles and close design partnerships and enterprise agreements. You'll work alongside Product Marketing, Commercial Operations and Solutions Architects to bring customers from initial education through production deployment.

The remaining 20% focuses on long-term category development within traditional banking. You'll work with executive leadership, our Advisory Council and strategic partners to establish DNSid as the trusted identity layer for autonomous financial services, ensuring that when banks begin deploying cross-boundary AI agents, Identity Digital is their first strategic partner.

This role reports to the General Manager with a close partnership with the Commercial Lead of Known.

• Develop and execute the commercial strategy for DNSid across the fintech ecosystem
• Identify, prioritize and pursue target accounts including fintech platforms, payments providers, digital banking providers, infrastructure vendors and AI-native financial technology companies
• Own the complete enterprise sales lifecycle from prospecting and executive engagement through discovery, solution development, commercial negotiation and contract execution
• Recruit and close strategic design partners that become long-term commercial customers and industry references
• Partner closely with Product Marketing to tailor messaging, use cases and value propositions for financial services buyers
• Collaborate with Solutions Engineering to guide customers through technical validation, architecture workshops and deployment planning
• Build repeatable sales playbooks and account strategies that can scale across the broader financial services market
• Maintain accurate pipeline forecasting, account plans and executive reporting

• Build executive relationships across major banks, payment networks and financial infrastructure providers
• Partner with the Known Advisory Council and executive leadership to define the future of trusted AI agent identity in financial services
• Represent Known at industry conferences, executive round tables and customer advisory sessions
• Help develop industry thought leadership, reference architectures and market education that establish DNSid as the persistent accountability layer for AI agents
• Leverage fintech customer success to create awareness, urgency and adoption among large financial institutions
• Serve as a trusted advisor to banking executives evaluating AI governance, security and cross-enterprise autonomous agents

• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Marketing and Commercial Operations to continuously improve product positioning, customer experience and commercial execution
• Capture customer feedback and market intelligence to influence product roadmap, packaging and go-to-market strategy
• Operate as a founding member of the commercial team, helping build repeatable processes and playbooks that scale with the business
• Leverage AI throughout the commercial lifecycle, including account research, opportunity planning, meeting preparation, proposal development, follow-up, forecasting and pipeline management, to maximize productivity and customer engagement

• Established executive relationships across the priority fintech ecosystem, with active relationships in the company's target account list
• Closed multiple strategic design partnerships and commercial agreements that validate DNSid's value proposition within financial services
• Built a repeatable financial services sales…