Head of Ecosystem & Partnerships

ether.fi; California (MO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

ether.fi seeks a senior partnerships leader to own partner strategy and deal execution across payments, ecosystem, and expansion initiatives. You will manage end-to-end commercial negotiations and ongoing partner management, working with product teams to unlock distribution across chains.

The role requires deep fintech and crypto experience, strong deal structuring skills, and the ability to own a complex pipeline independently.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in partnerships, BD, or commercial roles spanning fintech/payments and crypto.
• Track record closing complex multi-party commercial agreements: pricing schedules, volume minimums, exclusivity, rev shares.
• Strong DeFi fluency: LSTs, vaults, lending markets, incentive design, enough to originate credible vault deals and speak to protocol teams.
• Commercial structuring ability, comfortable modeling deal economics and defending them.
• Operates independently with full ownership: builds and defends own pipeline, terms, and forecasts without needing gaps corrected from above.
• Comfortable inheriting in-flight negotiations and running them without a ramp-up period.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the full partner stack behind ether.fi Cash: Card network relationships and memberships, payment and ramp providers across fiat and stablecoin corridors.
• Negotiate new agreements end to end: pricing, minimums, exclusivity, term, and commercial structure.
• Evaluate build-vs-partner tradeoffs (e.g. direct network membership vs. sponsor models) and own the business case.
• Manage counterparty relationships with trading, lending, and treasury partners.
• Source large-scale capital and distribution opportunities across the product suite; structuring and ongoing ownership sits with the relevant product teams.
• Negotiate incentive deals and rev-share agreements.
• Drive native deployments of ether.fi assets on new chains where they unlock distribution.
• Structure launch partnerships for new products.
• Identify and negotiate partners for new markets and corridors alongside the compliance and legal teams.

Job description

About the role

ether.fi spans decentralized ETH staking (weETH), the Liquid vault range, and Cash, a card and neobank product. This role owns the company's commercial and partnership agenda across the board: the payments stack behind Cash, ecosystem and chain deals, and the institutional relationships that drive distribution. You take over a portfolio of live commercial negotiations currently run by the COO and become the single owner of partner strategy, deal execution, and ongoing partner management.

What you'll own

Commercial agreements & partner stack (primary)

• Own and manage the full partner stack behind ether.fi Cash: Card network relationships and memberships, payment and ramp providers across fiat and stablecoin corridors.
• Negotiate new agreements end to end: pricing, minimums, exclusivity, term, and commercial structure
• Evaluate build-vs-partner tradeoffs (e.g. direct network membership vs. sponsor models) and own the business case
• Manage counterparty relationships with trading, lending, and treasury partners.

Ecosystem & chain partnerships

• Source large-scale capital and distribution opportunities across the product suite; structuring and ongoing ownership sits with the relevant product teams
• Negotiate incentive deals and rev-share agreements
• Drive native deployments of ether.fi assets on new chains where they unlock distribution
• Structure launch partnerships for new products

Expansion

• Identify and negotiate partners for new markets and corridors (local ramps, regional payment networks, licensing partners) alongside the compliance and legal teams

What we're looking for

• 5+ years in partnerships, BD, or commercial roles spanning fintech/payments and crypto
• Track record closing complex multi-party commercial agreements: pricing schedules, volume minimums, exclusivity, rev shares
• Strong DeFi fluency: LSTs, vaults, lending markets, incentive design, enough to originate credible vault deals and speak to protocol teams
• Commercial structuring ability, comfortable modeling deal economics and defending them
• Operates independently with full ownership: builds and defends own pipeline, terms, and forecasts without needing gaps corrected from above
• Comfortable inheriting in-flight negotiations and running them without a ramp-up period

Nice to have

• Experience with card network membership processes or issuer programs
• LatAm or emerging-market payments experience (local ramps, pix and similar local networks)
• Existing relationships with L2 foundations, exchanges, and vault curators

How success is measured

• Commercial agreements signed and renewed on favorable terms (economics vs. benchmark, time to close)
• Partner stack health: coverage, redundancy, and cost of the payments/card stack
• Chain and ecosystem deals signed and value delivered (incentives, rev share, distribution)