Protocol Security Team Lead

About Heliax

Heliax is a remote-first public goods lab which researches, develops, deploys, and maintains open-source protocols & mechanisms designed to serve the everyday needs of humanity. Using this, we build vertically integrated open-source products and networks that form coherent open systems which are capable of acting as an alternative to existing exploitative paradigms. With team members located around the world, our work culture is characterized by open-allocation, where team members have a high degree of freedom and autonomy in choosing when to work, what to work on, and whom to work with.

Heliax’ work include the Anoma protocol, a novel architecture for blockchains that enables a declarative paradigm for decentralized applications; Namada, a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy; Juvix and Vamp-ir, in the domain of languages for dApps and ZK circuits.

Overview

As the team lead for the Protocol Security Team, you’ll be responsible for breaking protocols both in theory and practice in and outside the company, and assembling a team to help them do so. You'll receive a high degree of latitude and autonomy to prioritize tasks and search for the weakest links in complex systems in order to break them. The rough structure could be compared to Google Project Zero, but with a focus on cryptographic protocols & implementations instead of web technology writ large.

Qualifications

• Background in cryptographic protocol design (e.g. Signal protocol, Noise protocol, TLS)
• Background in distributed system protocol design (e.g. Raft, PBFT, replicated SQL)
• Experience in analyzing cryptographic and/or distributed system protocol designs and implementations
• Experience (or a strong interest) in leading a security team
• Strong communication skills

Bonus Qualifications

• Prior experience in systems hacking, CTF competitions, pentesting, and/or other similar exercises
• Prior experience in mechanism design, game theory, and/or cryptoeconomic design

Misc

Competitive compensation in a negotiable mix of salary and equity. Remote or local (Zürich/Zug, Berlin). Ideally someone who enjoys nature and hiking 🏔.