Are Web3 GTM and security sales roles now hiring for protocol understanding, not just normal sales experience?

I saw a hiring post for a Web3 security GTM role where the founder said he was not necessarily looking for the most experienced salesperson.

That surprised me a little.

The role seemed to need someone who could understand protocols, founder risk, security context, ecosystem positioning, and explain why a protocol is interesting — not just someone who can run a normal sales pipeline.

It made me wonder if Web3 GTM hiring is changing.

For engineering roles, proof is easier to understand. A Solidity developer can show GitHub work, audits, tests, deployed contracts, architecture notes, or security findings.

But for Web3 GTM, security sales, sales engineering, ecosystem growth, EIR, partnerships, or community-led growth roles, the proof is less obvious.

Should candidates now show things like:

Protocol research notes

Buyer and founder pain-point analysis

Security-risk understanding

Ecosystem mapping

Examples of how they would approach a founder conversation

Breakdowns of why a protocol may need audits, monitoring, tooling, or go-to-market support

Or is that overthinking it, and hiring teams still mainly care about sales numbers, outbound experience, CRM discipline, and closing ability?

I am curious how founders, hiring managers, sales engineers, growth leads, and Web3 security teams evaluate this.

For a Web3 security GTM candidate who does not come from a pure sales background, what actually proves they can do the job?