Strategic Partnerships Lead, c=

Company Description

TBD is Block's newest, emerging business unit- focused on building a future where every individual can access and participate in the global economy. The TBD team is on a mission to lead by example, inspiring the world to invest in & collaborate on open source standards and permissionless technologies for the public good. Join us as we build a financial system accessible for anyone who wants to participate.

Job Description

As the Strategic Partnerships Lead for c=, you will develop and manage the TBD Lightning team's ecosystem of strategic and commercial partners. This role is critical to lay the foundation for the go-to-market and monetization strategies for the c= business. 

We are an early stage team with a big vision. We believe in the potential of the lightning network to democratize payments for the world and enable individuals to own their financial destiny.

Guided by this vision, c= is amplifying the lightning ecosystem by providing liquidity, services, and infrastructure that enables everyone to benefit from fast, low cost global payments.  Our goal is to offer fast, reliable, low cost lightning payments for wallets; power enterprise-grade payments and managed services for businesses; and enable lightning node operators to open channels with c= and benefit from our traffic, routing, and node liquidity.

This market-shaping role will unlock  commercial and technical success by establishing ecosystem partnerships, partner-enablement programs, and foremost trusted relationships with early adopters of Lightning technologies. 

A big part of TBD’s Lightning strategy is to provide platform solutions, such as APIs and simple integrations for wallets, businesses, and lightning nodes to catalyze liquidity and reliable payments on the Lightning network. 

The c= Strategic Partnerships Lead will play a pivotal role in uncovering the strategic, commercial, and technical needs of potential partners – and working with a cross-functional team to drive relationships from discovery through adoption and implementation.

You will report to TBD’s Head of Technical Partnerships.

You Will:

• Take ownership of sourcing, creating, and maintaining strong relationships with our partners in the Lightning space (e.g., Bitcoin payments solutions, Wallets, other Lightning solutions).
   
• Build out programmatic elements of an ecosystem-led growth strategy that enables growth for wallets, exchanges, and eventually any mainstream online payments.
   
• Demonstrate curiosity in uncovering and establishing new ecosystem opportunities and excellent communication skills to establish strategies in collaborating with engineering and product leadership teams.
   
• Negotiate strategic partnerships and commercial legal agreements with partners.
   
• Partner internally with business, product, engineering, and other key stakeholders across c= and TBD to advance roadmaps and strategic deliverables and enable partner-led go-to-market motions.
   
• Surface technical and strategic requirements to business and engineering leadership.
   
• Understand the balance to strike between incorporating partner feedback and protecting c=’s scope.
   
• Collaborate with TBD’s Business and Legal leads in furtherance of partnerships to establish industry standards around decentralized payments and liquidity offerings.

Qualifications

You Have:

• 10-15+ years of relevant professional experience working on technical integrations for fintech companies, payment providers, blockchain companies, or lightning networks.
   
• Sound strategic business judgment and professional experience in the areas of partnerships, business development or product management in relevant industries (e.g. Bitcoin startups, decentralized platform providers, Layer 2 networks, decentralized finance, wallets, exchanges, fintech or payments).
   
• Comfort in navigating ambiguity and a passion for establishing 0-to-1 ecosystems and platform solutions.
   
• An open mind and curiosity to educate yourself about new technologies and how they map to business growth
   
• Experience in driving commercial initiatives across Developer Tools, Integrations, and Web APIs.
   
• Deep experience managing nuanced business development processes, negotiating contracts with strategic partners (e.g., memorandum of understanding, definitive agreements, etc.), and driving cross-functional execution both internally and externally.
   
• Background that involves both engineering / technical experience.
   
• Familiarity with relevant open source and/or developer ecosystems with an understanding of Bitcoin and L2 technologies such as Lightning, and/or prior experience developing relationships within these communities.