krellwitz
Operations Leader
Operations leader with 8+ years building and scaling crypto-native organizations; from Kraken's exchange operations, to the Ethereum Foundation's applied-cryptography research lab, to Head of Operations at an institutional Web3 infrastructure startup. I build the systems, governance, and security posture that turn founder-dependent companies into ones ready for SOC 2 audits, institutional clients, and recurring enterprise reporting. Strategic clarity, security-first instincts, and a conviction that great teams run on good systems.
Experience: 8 years
Yearly salary: $220,000
Hourly rate: $200
Nationality: 🇺🇸 United States
Residency: 🇺🇸 United States
Experience
Head of Operations
Yield.xyz 2025 - 2026
First operations hire. Built the systems, governance, security posture, and people infrastructure that scaled the company from 12 to 20 through SOC 2 readiness, institutional client launches, and enterprise-grade reporting.
Technical Program Manager
Ethereum Foundation: PSE 2023 - 2025
Joined a ~100-person research lab during a period of rapid scaling with limited operating structure. Coordinated cross-functional projects, drove R&D investment decisions, administered ecosystem grants, and established org-wide operational standards through informal authority earned across stakeholder groups.
Executive Producer
Precipitation Northwest: SOAK 2021 - 2024
Volunteer Executive Producer following 4 years on the Precipitation Northwest board (7-year total tenure). Led a ~700-person volunteer operations team delivering an annual 4-day event on a ~$350K budget through three cycles: post-pandemic restart, steady-state, and major scale-up.
QA Engineering Manager
Kraken 2020 - 2022
People-managed and grew the QA engineering team during a period of rapid expansion. Owned hiring, process design, test management infrastructure, and off-hours incident response.
Client Engagement Product Manager
Kraken 2019 - 2020
Owned the internal product surface customer-facing teams used to investigate and resolve sensitive client inquiries. Managed a small product team and partnered with engineering to ship 6 internal products in 6 months.
Owner/Manager
Next Leaf Distribution 2014 - 2017
Founded and operated a wholesale distribution company in a newly regulated market, building company-wide compliance SOPs to meet state regulatory requirements and managing supplier relationships and a multi-regional retail account portfolio.
Skills
agile
ai
blockchain
compliance
cryptography
defi
hr
infrastructure
operations
project-manager
quality-assurance
security
strategy
web3
english