Founded in July 2021, TBD is one of Block's four business units, alongside Square, Cash App, and Tidal.  At TBD, we believe in a decentralized future that returns ownership and control over your finances, data, and identity. Guided by this vision, TBD is building an open source platform and developer infrastructure that enables everyone to access and participate in the global economy.

TBD is inviting the world to join us in building and adopting open and decentralized technologies that solve real problems for real people — from next generation infrastructure that lowers the cost of global payments and enables frictionless commerce, to decentralized identity technologies that enable anyone to access and participate in the global economy.  Our mission advances economic empowerment through the power of decentralized solutions, built open source and collaboratively.

The offerings we build will provide developers, institutions, and individuals with the capabilities needed to build the next wave of innovative apps and services, and access this decentralized future.  We’re leveraging bitcoin and other decentralized technologies to reinvent the global financial system in an open and permissionless way to further Block’s mission of economic empowerment, with a global focus

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.

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 business side and 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.
   
• Strategic thinker who has strong conceptual and analytical skills to produce insights and recommendations around partnership and ecosystem strategy.
   
• Strong cross-functional project management skills and track record of working with cross-functional partners at a senior (executive) level, both internally and externally.

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone A: USD $222,800 - USD $272,300

Zone B: USD $222,800 - USD $272,300

Zone C: USD $222,800 - USD $272,300

Zone D: USD $222,800 - USD $272,300

To find a location’s zone designation, please refer to this resource. If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information. 

Benefits include the following:

• Healthcare coverage
• Retirement Plans including company match 
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Wellness programs, including access to mental health, 1:1 financial planners, and a monthly wellness allowance 
• Paid parental and caregiving leave
• Paid time off
• Learning and Development resources
• Paid Life insurance, AD&D. and disability benefits 
• Perks such as WFH reimbursements and free access to caregiving, legal, and discounted resources 

This role is also eligible to participate in Block's equity plan subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies, and may be eligible for a sign-on bonus. Sales roles may be eligible to participate in a commission plan subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class. 

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.

Additionally, we consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of Square, Cash App, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD, we build tools to help more people access the economy. Square helps sellers run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services. With Cash App, anyone can easily send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or Bitcoin. Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) builds and funds free, open-source Bitcoin projects. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs and connect more deeply with fans. TBD is building an open developer platform to make it easier to access Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies without having to go through an institution.