If you think crypto startups are chaotic and unstructured, Kirsten Lovely might change your mind. As Head of People at Phantom, she’s helping one of Web3’s most widely-used consumer apps build a culture that feels as sharp and intentional as the product itself. From hiring as a strategic weapon (“Ghost Hunting,” anyone?) to culture as operating infrastructure, Kirsten’s approach fuses high-performance rigor with deep human connection. In this interview, she shares how Phantom treats employer branding like storytelling, what retention really takes in Web3, and why internal mobility shouldn’t mean defaulting to management.
Phantom is used by millions of people. Does that visibility and scale change how you approach employer branding and candidate experience?
It changes everything, and we think that’s a good thing.
Phantom is known for having a clean, intuitive, and trusted product. But behind that simplicity is world-class engineering and design, obsessive attention to detail, and a team that holds itself to an incredibly high bar. Our employer brand is no different. We want working at Phantom feel approachable, but we also want it to be unmistakably clear that Phantom is where top performers come to do the best work of their careers.
We’re not trying to be a quiet “if-you-know-you-know” kind of place. We want it out there. We want the most ambitious, talented people in tech to know exactly who we are, what we stand for, and what kind of environment we’ve built.
Because we believe Phantom is the best place to work. Period.
So yes, we treat employer branding and candidate experience like product: thoughtful, fast, and frictionless. But we also treat it like storytelling. Every touchpoint is a chance to show how we build, what we value, and why this team is different.
What’s uniquely hard about building and retaining top talent in Web3 compared to other industries you’ve worked in?
Web3 is not just an industry, it’s a frontier. The pace is relentless, the terrain is uncharted, and the narrative shifts fast. That means hiring people who are energized by ambiguity, motivated by a clear mission, and resilient.
Retention requires even more intentionality, because the crypto space itself isn’t always doing you favors. You’re competing with outsized comp offers, hype cycles, and unexpected market contractions. Beyond career development, you
need real ownership, deep trust, and a mission people are bought into, even when everything else is telling them to hedge.
We recognize that top talent can work anywhere. So we’ve built an environment where the best people don’t just stay, they stay because they're locked in because they believe the work matters. Because the bar is high and the opportunity to shape the future of consumer finance is real.
You talk about hiring as a “secret weapon” at Phantom. Can you share a behind the-scenes look at what makes your hiring approach unique in Web3?
What makes our hiring approach different is the level of precision and conviction we bring to every role. Every hire starts with a business case: What’s the impact? What capabilities are required? What does “great” actually look like? That clarity aligns everyone, so by the time someone enters the process, they’re walking into something intentional, not opportunistic.
We bias for signal early. Our loops are designed to stress-test the right things: craft, execution, ownership, crypto curiosity. And we move fast, not only optimized for conversation, but for quality of match, long-term impact, and bar raising hires.
And we know that top talent wants to work with top talent, so we make that flywheel deliberate. Within their first 30 days, every new hire meets with our recruiting team to identify the best people they’ve ever worked with. We call it Ghost Hunting, and it’s one of our highest-signal sourcing channels. It gives us a head start on finding high-conviction referrals who already meet the bar, and it turns every new hire into a recruiter.
What are some of the most transformative people programs or rituals you’ve introduced at Phantom to keep the “Pham” motivated and mission-aligned?
We think about culture as operating infrastructure, designed to create the conditions where high performers can stay focused, aligned, and locked in.
- Twice-Yearly Global Offsites: These are less “retreats” and more mission recalibrations. In a globally distributed org, alignment isn’t a given, it has to be engineered. Offsites give us time to zoom out, sharpen our roadmap, and re anchor on why we’re here. They’re also moments to showcase enhancements, celebrate velocity, and build trust across disciplines. Don’t get me wrong, they’re super fun too. You can catch glimpses in our Life at Phantom video.
- Engagement as an Execution Signal: Our engagement surveys arepart of our internal telemetry loop. We mine them for friction, opportunity, and blind spots, and then we commit to action. Every cycle results in clear company wide and team-specific commitments. Call us crazy, but our engagement survey feedback actually results in change. No black box. No “thanks for the feedback.” Just a tight feedback loop between signal and action.
- Performance Systems that Reflect the Bar: Our leveling frameworks and feedback systems are built to accelerate growth and prevent bureaucratic ambiguity. Everyone knows what great looks like, what’s expected at their level, and what it takes to level up. We’re not a place where feedback is saved for performance season, we optimize for continuous, high-trust conversations.
- Crypto Speaker Series: We want our team to stay at the edge of the ecosystem, even if they weren’t crypto-native when they joined. By bringing in external builders, founders, and thinkers, we create signal-rich moments that spark curiosity and expand context. It’s a reminder that what we’re building doesn’t live in isolation, it’s shaping the future of a global movement.
Ultimately, culture at Phantom shows up in how we prioritize, how we communicate, how we make decisions. High standards. Tight loops. Clear expectations. Aligned incentives. We keep people motivated with the tools, context, and environment to do the best work of their careers, and the conviction that what we’re building will actually change the future.
How do you think about internal mobility and career progression within a space that’s still defining many of its roles and functions?
In Web3, we're writing our playbook in real time. Rather than tying growth to rigid org charts or legacy titles, we orient around scope, influence, and impact. Our leveling frameworks provide clarity on what “great” looks like at each stage, even in roles that didn’t exist five years ago.
We’ve designed those frameworks to be flexible. That means growth isn’t linear, it’s directional. Some people scale by deepening technical mastery, others by leading teams. Both paths create business impact, so both are equally valued. That’s why we’ve built parallel tracks for Individual Contributors and Managers to ensure that leadership doesn’t become the default “next step,” but a deliberate one.
Too often in fast-growing companies, people feel pressure to manage just to advance. We’ve intentionally designed a system where ICs can grow, level up, and be celebrated without ever needing to manage people. That gives our team the freedom to follow their strengths and gives the company sharper leverage by keeping experts focused on their zone of genius.
We view internal mobility asunlocking talent to drive the highest-leverage outcomes for the business. We’ve seen team members move from support to marketing, from engineering to product, from ICs to first-time managers. That kind of evolution requires clarity, trust, and a culture that values potential as much as pedigree.
The key is equipping people with the feedback, mentorship, and infrastructure to grow with confidence.
What would you tell your past self before taking on your first People role in a crypto org?
You won’t need all the crypto answers, you’ll just need sharp instincts, speed, and confidence to build as you go.
Crypto doesn’t move like other industries. It’s volatile, fast, and full of edge cases. But that can be an advantage when you’re stepping into a white space that demands invention. There’s more freedom to create here than anywhere else.
What matters is showing up with clarity, conviction, and a builder’s mindset. Get close to the product. Learn fast. Ask better questions. Design what should exist, not just what’s been done before.
This space rewards people who move with intent.
And yes, it’s going to be the most creatively energizing, high-leverage chapter of your career. Let’s get it!
