Grants Manager

Rockstar is recruiting for a foundation dedicated to supporting the growth, decentralization, and sustainability of a prominent decentralized finance (DeFi) community. This client is committed to driving value in key focus areas such as Protocol and Innovation, Developers, Governance, Research, and Security through strategic grant initiatives.

The foundation is seeking a Grants Manager who will support the launch, growth, and success of grant initiatives across the ecosystem. This role involves managing complex workstreams, building relationships with grantees, and designing and executing programs that help teams scale their impact. The Grants Manager will work closely with the Head of Operations & Grants and Workstream Leads to ensure every initiative aligns with strategic goals and delivers value to the broader ecosystem, including specific projects like v4 and Unichain.

The ideal candidate is proactive and strategic, with a strong ability to manage and execute across multiple complex departments. They bring operational, capital allocation, or investment experience, and a track record of launching and scaling initiatives. They are deeply familiar with DeFi, particularly the ecosystem in question, including v4 and Unichain. They possess strong project and product management skills that enable them to work cross-functionally and drive high-impact outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

- Grantee Support & Engagement: Acts as a strategic partner to teams and builders supported by the foundation. Provides operational guidance, resources, and connections to help them succeed.

- Platform Management: Designs, manages, and scales repeatable programs (e.g., onboarding, milestone tracking, technical support coordination) to create a world-class experience for grantees.

- Initiative Design & Execution: Leads the creation and rollout of new grant initiatives and ecosystem-wide programs, from ideation through delivery.

- Project & Product Management: Maintains smooth operations across multiple active initiatives, ensuring clarity, accountability, and high execution standards.

- Ecosystem Alignment: Ensures grant activities are strategically aligned with the long-term growth of the ecosystem, including v4 and Unichain.

- Operational Excellence: Creates and continuously improves internal processes to make grantmaking more scalable, transparent, and effective.

- Measurement & Reporting: Tracks KPIs, gathers feedback, and surfaces insights that inform ongoing strategy and resource allocation.

Qualifications:

- 5+ years of relevant experience in grant management, venture capital, accelerator programs, or as a founder.

- Deep understanding of DeFi, with working knowledge of the ecosystem, including v4 and Unichain.

- Excellent project and product management skills, capable of overseeing multiple complex workstreams with clarity and precision.

- Strong relationship-building ability, with a track record of supporting founders, builders, or teams.

- Operational mindset, with a passion for systems, processes, and scalability.

- Entrepreneurial spirit, with a willingness to roll up sleeves, take ownership, and iterate in public.

- Strong communicator, able to engage both technical and non-technical audiences clearly and confidently.

Nice to Have:

- Experience supporting open-source developer communities.

- Background working with early-stage startups or in high-growth environments.

- Familiarity with protocol design, governance, and the ecosystem.

About the Foundation:

In pursuit of a more open and fair financial system, the foundation supports the growth, decentralization, and sustainability of the community. Through grants, it drives value in five key focus areas: Protocol and Innovation, Developers, Governance, Research, and Security. The grant-making approach is designed to maximize positive impact, bringing in new contributors to the community who focus on building new initiatives, committees, products, infrastructure, and more. To learn more about the community impact, visit the foundation's website.