About the Role

Phase Labs is seeking a seasoned, well-connected leader to join as Head of Institutional Partnerships. In this high-impact role, you’ll be responsible for building and managing relationships with key institutional partners across finance, tech, and crypto. We’re looking for a hunter; a high-energy leader who will join the executive team and craft our institutional BD discipline at Phase Labs. This role reports directly to the CEO.

You’ll help shape our external presence with sophisticated counterparties while identifying strategic opportunities to expand our influence and impact across the Solana ecosystem. We’re looking for someone with deep industry relationships, strong strategic instincts, and the ability to fluidly navigate between high-level vision and hands-on execution.

A working knowledge of staking, validator infrastructure, and the crypto-native financial landscape will be critical to success in this role.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Full Sales Cycle
  • Lead and manage high-value relationships with institutions including funds, infrastructure providers, exchanges, custodians, asset managers, family offices, high net worth individuals, and service platforms.
  • Identify and pursue strategic partnership opportunities across all Phase Labs products and validator offerings.
  • Represent Phase Labs on institutional calls and at conferences with professional credibility and a clear articulation of our mission and differentiators.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with product & marketing to scope co-marketing campaigns, webinars, case studies, and go to market strategies.
  • Collaborate with Legal and Finance on RFPs, NDAs, and due diligence questionnaires.
• Thought Leadership & Events
  • Stay attuned to institutional sentiment, market dynamics, and opportunities for strategic alignment.
  • Willingness to travel ~25% to relevant institutional and crypto conferences.
• Pipeline & Forecasting
  • Maintain and report on pipeline health in Monday.com (deal stage, ACV/TCV, close dates) and report out on bi-weekly progress to executive leadership.
• Go-to-Market Enablement
  • Develop sales decks, one-pagers, term sheets, and workshop materials tailored to institutional audiences.

Qualifications

• Proven success in institutional partnerships closing ≥ $500k deals, ideally within crypto, fintech, capital markets, or financial infrastructure.
• Deep network across institutional verticals (e.g., funds, banks, family offices, exchanges, custody providers).
• Familiarity with staking mechanics, validator operations, and the broader on-chain infrastructure space.
• Exceptional communicator, negotiator, and relationship-builder. Comfortable with complex, multi-stakeholder deals.
• Strategic mindset with a self-directed, execution-focused approach.
• Fluency with CRM and sales tools.

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary for a seasoned sales executive. ($100K - $130K)
• Performance-based bonus tied to measurable revenue impact and partnership outcomes.
• Equity incentives aligned with long-term contributions and tenure.
• 100% remote role w/ global workforce.
• Opportunity to take on founder-level decisions and uplevel our culture as you help us grow into new markets.

What Good Looks Like

First 30 Days

• Build a prioritized “Top 50” list of target institutions.
• Run introductory calls with at least 10 key prospects to gather sentiment and early product feedback.
• Deliver a 30-day “Institutional BD Plan” outlining target segments, messaging pillars, and outreach cadence.

First 60 Days

• Secure 3 pilot meetings or product demos with custodians, exchanges, or asset managers.
• Launch the first co-marketing asset (e.g. webinar or case study) in partnership with Marketing.
• Establish a bi-weekly pipeline review process with the CEO and Ops to flag risks and opportunities.

First 90 Days

• Close at least 2 pilot partnerships worth a combined ≥ $300K ACV.
• Build and qualify a ≥ $1M ACV pipeline in Monday.com, with clear stage definitions and close dates.
• Draft a repeatable “Institutional BD Playbook” covering outreach templates, objection handling, and term sheet guidelines.

By 6 Months

• Convert pilots into ≥ $500K ARR in signed contracts.
• Publish 1–2 customer case studies or success stories with institutional partners.

By 12 Months

• Drive ≥ $1.5M ARR from new institutional deals.
• Own a quarterly “Institutional Insights” report that feeds roadmap decisions in Product and Ops.
• Represent Phase Labs as a speaker or panelist at 2–3 major industry conferences.
• Refine and formalize the BD process into a living playbook that scales with the team.
• Mentor or hire your first junior BD/AE to kick off team scaling.