Head of Ceno Research & Korea Partnerships

About Ceno

Ceno is building the neobank for the US-to-Asia corridor: one account where Americans invest in global equities, hold and move USD, KRW, and JPY, and run a financial life that spans two continents.

We're starting with the hardest and most valuable piece: a retail brokerage that gives US investors direct access to Korean and Japanese equities. USD in, USD out, with FX, custody, KYC, and tax reporting handled invisibly by an AI-native, agentic back end. Recent regulatory changes in Korea opened direct market access to overseas brokers for the first time, and we intend to turn that opening into the default way America invests in Asia.

The product promise is true localization: buying any global equity feels exactly like trading the US markets, with the research, filings, and news that local investors trade on translated and delivered in real time by our AI research engine. From there the map expands, market by market, until global equities sit on one shelf, with stablecoin-enabled settlement moving money across the Pacific in minutes instead of days. The AAPI community is our beachhead; US retail is the market. Korea is where the corridor starts, and this role is where Korea starts.

Ceno's long-term edge is not only market access, but true localization: helping US investors actually understand Korean companies, their news, filings, IR updates, and market context. Ceno Research, our wholly owned Korean subsidiary, is the business unit that delivers it, producing institutional-grade IR translation and English distribution for Korean public companies (KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ 150 mid-cap focus), with the Ceno News media arm streaming that intelligence daily. It is a real business with its own B2B revenue, not a support function. The company is seed-stage with a multiphase path to operating its own FINRA-licensed broker-dealer.

Why this role exists

This is a mini-founder role in Korea. The 12-month mandate is simple to state and hard to do: make Ceno Research real. That means building Ceno Research from the ground up as a business, and owning every relationship that matters to Ceno in Korea. It carries three of the company's hardest deliverables.

• Build Ceno Research. Stand up the Korean subsidiary and turn IR translation, English distribution, and investor-facing content into a real business unit with its own B2B revenue.

• Own Korea-side partnerships and institutional sales. Build and own the partnership and sales pipeline across Korean public companies and their IR teams, media companies, financial institutions, the Korea Exchange, and regulatory stakeholders, and turn it into signed deals and revenue.

• Be Ceno's operator on the ground. Act as a mini-founder in Korea: represent the company to every important counterparty, manage all Korea-side business relationships and IR relationships, bring in strategic partnerships, and support Korea-side institutional financing alongside the CEO.

These relationships cannot be built from the United States. You own Korea end to end: Ceno Research, partnerships and institutional sales, IR and media relationships, the strategic relationships with regulators, the Korea Exchange, and financial institutions, and the Korea P&L. This is a founding-team, mini-founder role with an explicit promotion path to Head of APAC (Korea and Japan) once Korea is operational and the Japan corridor opens.

What you will own

• Build Ceno Research. Stand up the Korean entity in partnership with Korean counsel and build the B2B IR-translation and English-distribution pipeline into a real business unit with its own revenue. Own the product alongside our senior Korea policy consultant, coordinate Ceno News editorial and distribution, and hire the first 1 to 2 Ceno Research operators.

• Korea partnerships and business development. Build and own relationships with Korean public companies and their IR teams, media companies, and financial institutions. Create B2B revenue opportunities around IR translation, English distribution, and investor-facing content, and help Korean companies reach US investors through Ceno's platform.

• Institutional sales execution. Own the Korea-side institutional sales and partnership pipeline end to end, from cold outreach to signed agreement, including bringing at least one top-tier Korean securities firm to a signed omnibus or introducing-broker agreement, coordinating with US and Korean counsel on structuring.

• Strategic and regulatory relationships. Build and manage strategic partnerships with Korean regulatory authorities (FSC, FSS, KOFIA), the Korea Exchange, and major financial institutions, as access and partnership, not just compliance. Run point on any Korean regulatory filings.

• Media and content partnerships. Own Korea-side media and content relationships that expand Ceno Research distribution and help Korean companies tell their story to US investors.

• Institutional investor relations (with the CEO). Support the Korea-side capital pipeline alongside the CEO: Korean-language DD materials, IC navigation, and term-sheet support across Korean and Japanese institutional investors.

• Work with the US team. Partner with the US team on product, content, and commercialization so Korea-side research and relationships turn into product and revenue.

• Team build-out. Hire the first 2 to 3 Korea-based team members over 12 months, typically a BD or sales analyst/associate and a compliance and legal contractor for the counsel interface.

Korea P&L ownership: own the Korea P&L, including Ceno Research revenue, from launch.

Who we are looking for

Must-have

• A senior operator with 10+ years in Korean capital markets, IR, institutional sales, or business development. Backgrounds that fit: a Korean securities firm (broker, IB, asset manager), an IR or capital-markets advisory firm, a Korean VC or PE fund, the strategy or BD function at a major Korean company (Naver, Kakao, Toss, Coupang), or a global firm's Korea desk.
• A closer. Demonstrated ability to take a complex Korean deal from cold outreach to signed agreement: a partnership, institutional deal, IR mandate, or business-development win.

• Native-level Korean (business etiquette, KakaoTalk-native communication) and professional English (you will write to US counterparties, investors, and counsel daily).
• Real relationships across the Korean financial and corporate ecosystem, securities firms, public companies and their IR teams, institutional investors, the Korea Exchange, or regulators, warm enough that the relevant decision-maker would take your call this week.
• Comfort with a US-incorporated parent and US-side reporting requirements; understanding of how Korean entities work feeds into a US C-Corp cap table.
• Owner's mindset and judgment. You can operate as a mini-founder in Korea, set your own priorities, and represent Ceno to the most senior counterparties without a playbook.

Strong nice-to-have

• Prior fintech or brokerage experience, particularly anything cross-border (US to Korea equities, KRW and USD FX, stablecoin settlement).
• Direct working knowledge of Korean securities regulation (자본시장법, 금융투자업, 외국환거래법).
• Existing relationship with FSC, FSS, or KOFIA, even informal.
• Experience standing up a Korean subsidiary (KFTC filings, top-tier Korean counsel engagement, corporate banking, NTS registration).
• Japanese language proficiency or prior business experience in Japan: relationships with Japanese brokers, Tokyo financial ecosystem fluency. Not required for the initial scope but materially valuable once the Japan corridor opens and the role expands toward the Head of APAC.
• Real relationships across the Korean financial and corporate ecosystem, securities firms, public companies and their IR teams, institutional investors, the Korea Exchange, or regulators, warm enough that the relevant decision-maker would take your call this week. • Comfort with a US-incorporated parent and US-side reporting requirements; understanding of how Korean entity work feeds into a US C-Corp cap table.
• Owner's mindset and judgment. You can operate as a mini-founder in Korea, set your own priorities, and represent Ceno to the most senior counterparties without a playbook.

Not the right fit

• Pure relationship-management profiles with no closed deals. This is hunter-and-closer work.
• Senior VC partner profiles where the day-to-day was diligence and portfolio support rather than outbound dealmaking. The role is build, not maintain.
• Candidates who lead with "I want strategy." The first 12 months are heavy execution across broker BD, investor relations, and entity standup.