Partnerships
Liam Horne is an English-born, Canadian-raised software entrepreneur and engineer who has spent his career building Ethereum scaling technology, from state channels to Optimism and Base, and is now building Tempo, a payments-focused L1 blockchain.
About Liam Horne
Liam Horne studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo before dropping out to start a startup. He spent most of his twenties working on Ethereum technology, beginning with scaling payments via state channels (building projects like Web3Torrent), then pivoting to build Optimism, one of the defining projects of the Layer 2 rollup ecosystem, and co-launching Base with Coinbase on the OP Stack. Around 2023 he shifted focus to stablecoins, writing and working on projects such as World Chain, Stable, and Build Canada: Crypto after observing that Tether on Tron dominated real-world stablecoin usage despite Ethereum scaling efforts. This work led him to Tempo, a payments-first infrastructure L1 blockchain project he is currently building and hiring for. He is also an active startup investor, having invested in companies including Othership, QA Wolf, Daimo, Erebor, Stable, Farcaster, Ambrook, Mercantile, Software Applications Incorporated, Conduit, Splits, Axiom, OpenSea, Agora, and Flex.
Skills
About the Role
You'll build Tempo's partnerships function from the ground up, designing and executing 1:many partnership motions across infra, ecosystem, and system integrator partners that drive enterprise adoption of Tempo. This is a foundational GTM role where you'll have direct impact on how the largest companies in the world onboard into crypto. You'll identify, negotiate, and close large strategic partnerships, design scalable partnership structures, and work closely with product, engineering, and the GTM team to align partnerships with sales and enterprise motions.
Requirements
- 8+ years in partnerships, BD, or GTM roles with demonstrated quota or pipeline ownership
- Deep domain expertise in stablecoins, payments, or fintech infrastructure
- Proven track record building scaled partnership programs, not just inheriting them
- Experience structuring and closing complex, multi-stakeholder strategic deals
- Familiarity with crypto infrastructure, blockchain ecosystems, or enterprise crypto adoption
- Comfortable operating as a founding function owner with no existing playbook
- Based in or willing to be in New York
Responsibilities
- Build Tempo's partnerships strategy and playbook from zero across infra partners, ecosystem partners, and system integrators
- Identify, negotiate, and close large strategic partnerships that generate meaningful pipeline
- Design scalable 1:many partnership structures, not one-off deals
- Drive revenue through partner-sourced and partner-influenced deals
- Work directly with product and engineering to scope partnership integrations and co-build opportunities
- Represent Tempo externally at the highest levels with partner exec teams, industry events, and ecosystem forums
- Stand up the operational infrastructure for partnerships including tracking, reporting, and partner enablement
- Collaborate closely with Tempo's GTM team to align partnerships with direct sales and enterprise motions