Enterprise Sales Lead, Japan

AI overview

Drive strategic partnerships with major Japanese institutions to accelerate the adoption of on-chain financial solutions, leveraging a deep understanding of fintech infrastructure.

OP Labs is the team building the technology behind Optimism, the leading blockchain infrastructure provider powering 65% of all Layer 2 transactions. Our open-source OP Stack enables developers and enterprises to launch scalable, secure, and customizable onchain networks with ease. Backed by a16z, Paradigm, and others, OP Labs has raised over $175M to drive the next generation of onchain innovation.

Roles and Responsibilities

We are looking for an entrepreneurial and highly strategic Enterprise Sales Lead to drive Optimism’s adoption in Japan. This role will own the identification, execution, and scaling of high-impact partnerships with leading Japanese institutions, playing a critical role in advancing Optimism’s long-term growth strategy.

This role combines strategic leadership with hands-on execution. You will work closely with Optimism’s leadership, product, marketing, and partner engineering teams to help define and deliver new on-chain financial primitives, and bring them to market through deep, long-term partnerships with Japan’s most ambitious builders. **This role must be based in Japan.**

What are the role responsibilities?

  • Own and execute strategy

    • Define and lead Optimism’s strategy for Japan end-to-end - act like a General Manager

    • Identify high-leverage market entry points (e.g., stablecoin corridors, asset tokenization, embedded finance use cases, B2B/B2C rails)

    • Translate protocol capabilities into compelling, business-relevant narratives tailored to Japanese institutional requirements

  • Originate and close deals

    • Source, structure, and close high-impact partnerships

    • Drive adoption of onchain wallets, stablecoins, and embedded finance SDK.

    • Negotiate complex commercial agreements involving multiple stakeholders

  • 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 partner needs

  • Lead externally

    • Represent Optimism at industry events, conferences, and global forums

    • Publish thought leadership on programmable money, composable compliance, and the future of financial infrastructure

    • Build and maintain strong relationships with ecosystem players (wallets, stablecoin issuers, banking-as-a-service providers)

What skills do you bring?

  • Experience

    • 10+ years of experience in business development, partnerships, or corporate development—ideally in Web3 or financial infrastructure

    • Proven track record of closing and scaling complex deals with payment platforms, neobanks, custodians, or embedded finance providers

    • Deep understanding of fintech infrastructure: wallets, custody, card issuing, stablecoins, compliance tooling, and developer platforms

    • Familiarity with crypto infrastructure—especially 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

    • Deeply mission-aligned—motivated to rebuild the global financial stack on open, composable rails

    • Low-ego and execution-oriented; you value results over recognition

    • Thrive in collaborative, cross-functional teams but can also move quickly on your own

    • Obsessed with leverage—always looking to create scalable impact via product, partnerships, or ecosystems

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 fully remote, deeply engaged, highly skilled, and like to have fun.

  • 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.

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