Director, Institutional Sales in London

This is a hybrid role that requires 4 days/week in our London office (Fitzrovia).

About Lorum

The structural conflict at the centre of correspondent banking is not technological. It is economic. Banks earn revenue from their balance sheets: they lend deposits, capture FX spreads, and hold funds as long as it is rational to do so. Clearing, the act of releasing funds quickly and predictably, competes directly with those economics. An institution designed to lend has a structural incentive to hold deposits; an institution designed to clear has an incentive to release them. When one institution does both, clearing loses. The result is unpredictable settlement, trapped capital, and a correspondent network shrinking by design.

Why Lorum

Lorum was founded on a different premise: clearing as the business, not a byproduct. The model has been operational since 2023 and grew 55x in 2025, with USD clearing now the majority of volumes alongside a growing treasury offering. We have applied for a U.S. national trust bank charter. The people we hire now will build the clearing and treasury infrastructure it unlocks.

The role

We are building a dedicated institutional sales team selling into banks and financial institutions, and we are hiring experienced originators to drive new business across mid-sized banks that need reliable access to EUR, GBP and USD clearing and correspondent banking. This is a hunter role. You will bring an existing network at bank level, generate your own pipeline, and run deals from first conversation to signed agreement and onboarding, with minimal hand-holding. You will be the face of Lorum to prospective respondent banks, positioning our nostro and vostro, clearing, trade finance and correspondent banking capabilities into Treasury, Correspondent Banking and FI teams.

This is a young team and the structure is still moving. Reporting lines and regional ownership will change as we hire senior leaders. If you need a settled org chart, this is not the right time to join.

We are hiring across a range of seniority. We advertise this role at Director level because that is where we expect most hires to land, but depending on your experience you may join as Senior Institutional Sales (L3) or Director, Institutional Sales (L4). We will tell you where you sit early in the process, not at offer. All of these are individual contributor roles with no direct reports. If you need an SDR to fill your pipeline, or your background is general SaaS with no payments depth, card payments or consumer fintech, this is not the right role.

Day-to-day responsibilities

• Pipeline: Build and own a self-sourced pipeline of mid-sized banks that need EUR or USD correspondent access. Typically regional and national banks, challenger banks, and banks in emerging or frontier markets.
• Lead generation: Self-prospect rather than rely on SDR support, because there is none.
• Inbound: Own and qualify correspondent banking leads from the website, referrals and events.
• Targets: Build accurate forecasts and carry a total quota of £2m+, with individual deals typically well above £100k ARR.
• Solution selling: Lead consultative conversations on how clearing, virtual accounts and FX localise and streamline a customer's payment infrastructure.
• Relationships: Run 5+ stakeholder cycles through a strong champion, and build trust with C-level decision makers.
• Account ownership: Own handover to implementation and customer success, and make sure clients go live and start generating volumes.
• Cross-functional: Feed market insight back to product, compliance and operations.
• Travel: Expect to travel around 40% of the time once ramped. This role runs on in-person meetings with banks.

Success in the first 3 to 12 months

• By month 3: Product and ICP fluency, with a self-sourced pipeline already building and no SDR dependency.
• By month 6: First qualified opportunities landed, and 5+ stakeholder cycles running through a strong champion.
• By month 12: Closing deals well above £100k ARR and contributing meaningfully against a £2m+ quota, with genuine vertical depth.

Ideal Candidate

Must Haves

• Track record: At least three years selling directly to banks, in correspondent banking, transaction banking, FI sales or trade finance. We are also open to people who have sold other financial products into banks, including core banking and enterprise software, where the buyer was genuinely a bank and you have real payments depth.
• Your own network: An active book of contacts at mid-sized banks, ideally Treasury, FI or Correspondent Banking decision makers, that converts into pipeline from day one.
• Product depth: Correspondent banking mechanics: nostro and vostro accounts, SWIFT messaging, EUR and USD clearing, and cross-border payments.
• Regulatory fluency: Correspondent banking risk, AML, CFT and sanctions expectations, and due diligence for FI relationships.
• Hunter instincts: Strong negotiation, deal structuring and closing, and comfortable being measured on self-generated revenue.
• Multi-stakeholder navigation: Cycles involving compliance, operations, treasury and executive buyers, run through a champion.

Nice to haves

• Experience at infrastructure-layer fintechs: cross-border payments, FX, clearing.
• Startup or high-growth environment experience, founding AE or early GTM builder especially valued.
• A conference network in payments, or a portable book of business.
• Experience with Salesforce, HubSpot or equivalent.

How you work

We care as much about how you operate as what you have done.

• Self-starting: You build your own pipeline and do not wait to be fed leads.
• Commercially sharp: You understand how your buyers' businesses work, not just how to run a sales process.
• Technically curious: You can speak credibly about clearing, virtual accounts and FX without needing a solutions engineer in every call.
• High ownership: You take responsibility for outcomes, not just activity.
• Driven: Intensity and accountability are core to how you work, not words on a page.

Benefits

• Flexible vacation policy.
• Private Healthcare.
• Employee stock ownership (ESOP).
• Flexible working and autonomy.
• Pay it forward days - we offer 2 annual pay it forward days where you can take time to volunteer for a charitable cause that is important to you.
• Wellness days - we believe you can only work your best when you feel your best, and we know working at Lorum is intense, so we offer 3 wellness days every quarter where you can take time to re-energize.