Director, DLT and Smart Contract Initiatives

Reports to: Senior Director, Data & Digital Solutions

Location: London

Job purpose

ISDA is actively recruiting a Director-level hire to lead the association's tokenization agenda as part of its broader digital assets strategy. This individual will bring holistic digital assets and technology experience, working across ISDA and with the membership to explore, coordinate and execute solutions across ISDA’s digital suite that address impediments to the use of digital and tokenized assets.

The role reports into the Senior Director, Data & Digital Solutions, and is expected to operate collaboratively across the organisation. The role holder will align closely with key internal stakeholders to ensure that DLT, smart contract and tokenization initiatives are integrated with, and reinforce, ISDA's wider collateral and derivatives product strategy.

This is a high-profile, front-of-house position with the opportunity to represent ISDA as a thought leader across industry working groups, regulatory forums, events and sandbox initiatives advancing the practical use of tokenized assets.

Duties and responsibilities

• Develop, coordinate and execute solutions to explore opportunities and address impediments to the use of digital and tokenized assets as collateral or in other use cases and smart contract-enabled workflows on DLT, including for collateral management.
• Play a central role in ISDA's Tokenization initiatives and coordinate with members to help shape the legal, documentation, data and risk standards that will underpin the accelerating adoption of tokenization across the derivatives industry.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across ISDA (including public policy, legal, digital transformation, capital, research, clearing, events and communications) to identify and explore synergies that will foster adoption of tokenization of digital assets.
• Work with the Senior Director, Data & Digital Solutions to support ISDA's tokenization initiatives, including reviewing and participating in relevant industry working groups and coordinating cross-functional ISDA engagement. Support the development, mobilisation and ongoing management of tokenization-focused working groups, including member recruitment, prioritisation of member-driven initiatives, coordination of internal subject matter expertise, and administrative support.
• Partner closely with ISDA SMEs to ensure tokenization initiatives are aligned with, and informed by, wider derivatives product strategy and market structure considerations.
• Educate market participants and regulators on the value and challenges associated with the use of digital and tokenized assets and smart contract-enabled collateral management workflows on DLT, to facilitate clarity and consensus.
• Promote the CDM as a key enabler for standardized workflows on DLT using smart contracts to process financial transactions and to serve as a shared digital standard bridging traditional finance and DLT workflows. Promote other ISDA standards, including collateral SOPs and documentation, as key enablers for use of tokenized assets in derivatives.
• Contribute to public policy efforts that drive the ISDA Digital Assets Strategy forward, including drafting and supporting consultation responses.
• Represent ISDA as a thought leader in working groups, events and sandbox initiatives intended to advance the practical use of digital and tokenized assets and smart contract-enabled workflows as part of a holistic collateral management strategy.