[Hiring] Institutional Sales Lead @deCircle

Role Description

We're looking for a Sales Lead to drive Optimism's adoption among the world's largest financial institutions. You'll identify, secure, and expand the high-impact partnerships central to our growth strategy. The role is both strategic and executional. You'll work directly with Optimism leadership, product, marketing, and partnerships to shape new financial primitives that are only possible onchain, and bring them to market with the most ambitious builders in traditional finance.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute strategy
• Define and lead Optimism’s strategy for institutions end-to-end. Act like a GM
• Identify high-leverage market entry points (e.g., stablecoin corridors, embedded finance use cases, B2B/B2C rails)
• Translate protocol advantages into compelling narratives tailored to institutional decision-makers
• Originate and close deals
• Source, structure, and close high-impact partnerships with institutions
• Drive product alignment
• Collaborate closely with product, engineering, and partner teams to ensure successful integration and onboarding
• Channel market feedback to influence roadmap decisions (e.g., compliance features, wallet UX, account abstraction)
• Shape internal Optimism offerings (e.g., SDKs, liquidity support, ecosystem programs) to better meet institution partner needs
• Lead externally
• Represent Optimism at industry events, institutions conferences, and global policy forums
• Publish thought leadership on programmable money, composable compliance, and the future of payments infrastructure
• Build and maintain strong relationships with ecosystem players (wallets, stablecoin issuers, banking-as-a-service providers, L2s)

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise sales
• Proven track record of closing and scaling complex deals with institutional clients
• Deep understanding of fintech infrastructure: wallets, custody, card issuing, stablecoins, compliance tooling, and developer platforms
• Familiarity with crypto infrastructure with a focus on Ethereum, Layer 2s, and wallet abstraction concepts

Skills & Approach

• Sharp strategic thinker who can map fragmented fintech value chains and craft compelling BD theses
• Independent deal-closer who’s comfortable interfacing with C-level stakeholders and navigating multi-party partnerships
• High agency operator who can build 0→1 partnerships, GTM strategies, and partner programs with minimal oversight
• Strong communicator who can translate between business, technical, and ecosystem stakeholders across varying levels of crypto fluency
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity in a fast-moving, frontier market and iterating quickly based on learnings

Culture & Mindset

• Motivated to rebuild the global financial stack on open, composable rails
• You value results over recognition
• Thrive in collaborative, cross-functional teams but can also move quickly on your own
• Always looking to create scalable impact via product, partnerships, or ecosystems