Institutional Sales Lead

About OP Labs OP Labs builds Optimism, the technology behind one of the leading blockchain infrastructure platforms the open-source OP Stack that powers over 65% of all Layer 2 activity on Ethereum. Hundreds of companies, from large enterprises to early-stage builders, use the OP Stack to launch their own chains and bring users onchain. The founding team has worked on Ethereum scaling for over a decade. OP Labs has raised $178M in a Series B and the team is approximately 75 people, roughly 30% based in New York with the rest across the US, Europe, and Asia. About the Role OP Labs is looking for an Institutional Sales Lead to drive Optimism's adoption among the world's largest financial institutions banks and asset issuers. This is a strategic and executional GM-style role: owning institutional strategy end-to-end, originating and closing high-impact partnerships, and shaping the roadmap based on institutional feedback. It sits alongside a separate Enterprise Sales Lead role, which covers large crypto companies and fintechs rather than pure institutional/TradFi accounts. Key Responsibilities - Define and lead Optimism's institutional strategy end-to-end, acting like a GM for the vertical - Identify high-leverage market entry points, such as stablecoin corridors, embedded finance, and B2B/B2C rails - Source, structure, and close complex, multi-stakeholder partnerships — often coordinating with a dozen or more contacts inside a single organisation - Own the full sourcing-to-close motion; partner with product, engineering, and partner teams on integration and onboarding - Channel market feedback into roadmap decisions, such as compliance tooling, wallet UX, and account abstraction - Represent Optimism at industry events, institutional conferences, and policy forums; publish thought leadership Requirements - 10+ years of enterprise/institutional sales experience, with a track record closing and scaling complex, multi-stakeholder deals inside large organisations - Has sold technology, not a financial product, into large institutions deep fintech infrastructure knowledge across wallets, custody, card issuing, stablecoins, compliance tooling, and developer platforms - Has worked with or, more strongly, from inside large financial institutions such as banks and asset issuers. "With" is acceptable; "inside" is preferred. - Full sourcing-to-close experience not someone who has only owned one narrow part of the deal cycle - Some crypto/Ethereum/Layer 2 familiarity doesn't need to be deep, but zero exposure is a gap Bonus Skills - Prior experience at a Layer 2, wallet, custody provider, or stablecoin issuer - Existing relationships with banking-as-a-service providers or major exchanges Benefits - Token grants vest annually with a 1-year cliff