About Protocol Labs
Protocol Labs is an innovation network of 750+ teams, projects, and movements with a common mission: To drive breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward. For us, decentralization is more than just a rallying cry; it’s an operational ethos and a belief system baked into the products we develop. Protocol Labs operates as an innovation network built to help breakthrough technologies move from bold R&D into real-world adoption. Our network has supported projects like IPFS, Filecoin, and libp2p, alongside emerging efforts in neurotech, AI, and digital rights, demonstrating the breadth of impact possible when world-class founders and investors connect through Protocol Labs. Our key focus areas include digital human rights, upgrading economies and governance systems, safe AI, and neurotech. For more information on Protocol Labs and our focus areas, please watch Juan Benet’s talk from PL Summit 2023 and the 2024 PL Summit Video (Remote Update).
About PL FIL BU
PL FIL BU is a business unit within Protocol Labs, focused on growing our Filecoin activities in a profitable way by:
Driving commercial deal volumes
- Strategic deal flow sourcing, due diligence, analysis, and execution / operational support.
- Remove blockers and address critical gaps to support the closing of deals
Compounding FIL holdings
- Strong investment strategy development around the Filecoin ecosystem in the long-term.
- Programmatic capital allocation through calibrating and expanding the FIL leasing programs through third party funds.
- Strategic ecosystem investment management.
Maximize Public Goods Funding (PGF) programs impact
- Lead the PL Filecoin Impact Fund to structure transparent
- Implement impact & ROI reporting.
- Interphase with the ecosystem.
About The Role
We are seeking an Start-up Operator to define, build, and lead the Business Unit, ensuring it runs profitably and delivers broad strategic impact across the Protocol Labs network and the wider Filecoin ecosystem.
This is a foundational role for someone who can build structure in ambiguity, design a high-performing organization, keep multiple complex initiatives moving, and translate high-level strategy into sustained results.
Key Responsibilities
- Leadership: Define the org structure, recruit talent, and manage performance for the Business Unit.
- Strategic Planning & Execution: Work with the Business Unit team to define and iterate on the strategy, translating high-level goals into concrete, actionable projects to execute. Anticipate trends and adapt the strategy accordingly.
- Operational Excellence & Problem Solving: Establish and optimize the operational execution for speed and urgency. Identify and develop solutions to highly complex problems. Anticipate issues and pivot resources to execute accordingly.
- Cross-Functional Initiative Management: Lead and coordinate complex, network-wide initiatives that involve multiple Protocol Labs teams (R&D, Legal, Finance, Operations) and external Filecoin ecosystem partners, driving change and aligning execution across multiple stakeholders.
- Stakeholder Alignment & Communication: Serve as a key connection point to key external stakeholders, ensuring consistent messaging and alignment on priorities. Establish effective relationships with other leaders to drive network-wide impact.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience as a Founder or as a General Manager, Business Manager, Head of Operations/Strategy, or similar strategic execution role, preferably within a high-growth tech or startup environment.
- Proven track record of high impact outcomes and making things happen.
- Clear examples of developing and translating complex, high-level strategy into actionable operational plans and driving execution across multiple teams.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, anchored by first principles thinking and data-driven insights.
- Exceptional project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex, cross-functional initiatives simultaneously.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, adept at influencing stakeholders at all levels, including external partners.
- Experience building and scaling operational processes from the ground up in a rapidly evolving organizational environment.
Preferred
- Direct experience within web3 / crypto / decentralized networks.
- Direct exposure to commercial deal structures in token-driven environments.
- Commercial data storage industry experience and exposure, akin to AWS S3 or similar.
Mindset & Approach
- Passionate about building systems that enable complex organizations to simplify their operations and streamline the decision-making to scale up.
- Deeply collaborative—able to drive alignment across leadership, finance, legal, technical and various network teams.
- Motivated by the Protocol Labs’ Mission and excited to build in a decentralized manner.
Why Join Us
- Work at the forefront of decentralized tech, AI, Neuro, and computing breakthroughs.
- Be part of a high-impact role, directly supporting leadership in a fast-moving ecosystem.
- Operate in a remote-first, globally distributed team with top-tier talent.