OP Labs builds Optimism, an open-source blockchain network that powers the next generation of financial infrastructure. Hundreds of companies, from the world's largest enterprises like Sony, Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, OKX, and Bitpanda to the most ambitious early-stage builders, use the OP stack to launch their own blockchains and bring their users onchain. Today, over 65% of Layer 2 activity on Ethereum runs through the OP stack.
We are a small team building at the speed of the ecosystem we support. We’re remote-friendly but the NYC office is our center of gravity. We've raised $178M from a16z, Paradigm, and others. We have our work cut out for us and are looking for exceptional people to join us.
Role and Responsibilities
Infrastructure partnership development is vital for the OP Stack. This role, the Partnerships Lead, Blockchain Infrastructure is about owning the entire lifecycle of critical partnerships for the OP Stack ecosystem. You will find opportunities, close deals, and manage relationships with key blockchain infrastructure providers. This requires a unique mix of commercial, strategic, and technical expertise to navigate the complex crypto landscape.
What are the role responsibilities?
Own the end-to-end lifecycle (sourcing, deal negotiation, integration, and partner management) for critical ecosystem infrastructure partnerships, including:
On/off ramps and payments.
Compliance, insurance, and risk infrastructure.
Market makers, liquidity infrastructure, and selected CEX relationships.
Stablecoin and fiat-rail related partnerships.
Collaborate with the Product team to define and launch new products that leverage third-party capabilities/technology, specifically in areas like Privacy and CGT.
Create and own the strategic roadmap for this section of the infrastructure partner ecosystem.
Proactively communicate key ecosystem developments, potential partnership blockers, and strategic updates to executive leadership.
What skills do you bring?
Partnership & Business Acumen:
Deep experience managing and scaling strategic partnerships in the crypto infrastructure space, with a track record of owning complex categories end-to-end.
Strong commercial skills in deal structuring and negotiation for multi-party or multi-chain deals, balancing partner economics with ecosystem objectives.
Systems-level reasoning, including an understanding of network effects, liquidity loops, and value exchange within the ecosystem.
Product & Technical Fluency:
Domain technical fluency (infra or DeFi), comfortable engaging with protocol and infra engineers.
Strategic product thinking (build-partner-buy decisions) and the ability to run product discovery with partners.
Execution & Communication:
High-agency cross-functional operator, proficient at driving work across internal teams and external partners to ship integrations and create measurable impact.
Clear written and verbal communicator, able to write concise strategy documents and integration plans to keep all stakeholders aligned.
Proven ability to manage multi-quarter partnership roadmaps and drive clarity in ambiguous environments.
A genuine passion for blockchain technology, decentralization, and the future of open systems.
What will you like about us?
We take care of our employees. Competitive compensation, fully paid medical, dental, and vision, and a 4% 401K match.
We take pride in the accomplishments of our teammates and support each other in doing the best work of our careers.
Our team is a diverse group of people from varied backgrounds. We cherish our eclecticism and consider it a great strength.
We're remote-friendly with an NYC office where we like to collaborate in person.
We think long-term. Our founders have been scaling Ethereum since 2015.
Learn more about our interviewing here!
We are aware of fraudulent individuals falsely claiming to represent OP Labs in recruitment activities.
Please note:
All official communication will come from an @oplabs.co email address, or from a verified Linked profile.
We will never ask for payment, banking information, or personal identification details at any stage of our hiring process.
All current openings are listed exclusively on our official careers page and linked from our verified social profiles.
If you’re ever unsure about a communication that claims to be from OP Labs, please contact us directly at [email protected] to verify authenticity.
Your safety and trust are very important to us. Thank you for helping us prevent fraud.
Skills Required
- Deep experience managing and scaling strategic partnerships in the crypto infrastructure space
- Strong commercial skills in deal structuring and negotiation for multi-party deals
- Technical fluency in infrastructure or DeFi
- Clear written and verbal communicator with strategic documentation skills
- Proven ability to manage multi-quarter partnership roadmaps
What We Do
Everybody and their mother working on blockchains loves the word “decentralization”. On a broad, world-changing scale, we can all agree that it’s important. Yet, when we zoom into the specifics of how to build this decentralized world, we find many diverse approaches. Whether it’s defi, identity, art, healthcare, or anything in between, a single dependency unites each dream for the future: scalability. We at OP Labs are building the critical infrastructure to address this need -- a protocol called Optimism -- an extension to Ethereum that scales both its technology and philosophy and enables orders of magnitude more performance. Ethereum will enable the greatest change in human coordination since the birth of the internet, and through the Optimism protocol, OP Labs is here to help bring it to the masses. Join a team that is passionate about solving complex problems by exploring (and/or expanding) the boundaries of technology! We are a remote first company with local hubs where teams can co-work IRL, when safely able to do so. We aim to grow quickly, so come help us build! :-)
