Senior Applied Protocol Researcher

Primary responsibilities

• Assist with partnership integrations through a rigorous process of requirements gathering, feasibility analysis, protocol design & formal specification... all while posing difficult & important questions frequently.
• Work on a cutting-edge programming language
• Assist in the design & review of network architectures, novel consensus protocols, and the programming model we are developing.
• Produce literature reviews & SoK's in the areas of: consensus protocols, cryptographic proof systems, automated reasoning & mechanism design (so flexibility to focus on a variety of areas is required)
• Assist in the development & review of formal specifications of various protocols & protocol components daily

Required background

• Mathematical maturity
• Strong foundation in basics of theoretical computer science (should have, for example, knowledge-equivalent of Michael Sipser's book)
• A background in programming language theory/compilers.
• Sufficient background in distributed systems to be able to consume new research on consensus & scaling (should have, for example, knowledge-equivalent of Tim Roughgarden's "Foundations of Blockchain" lecture series on YouTube)
• Technical writing ability (publications or blog posts that we can review during the interview process)
• Experience with formal methods or an eagerness to learn and apply them
• Understanding of the fundamentals of cryptography (should know at *least* the material that is taught in Crypto I on Coursera, for example)

Those with mathematics, CS or non-web-3 engineering backgrounds are all welcome to apply. I care most about rigor of thought combined with strong & unrelenting curiosity. Bonuses for those who have published quality research in one of the topics mentioned above, or those who are coming with demonstrable prior experience in formal methods.

Compensation

• Very large range depending on qualifications and expected onboarding time (150-300k base).
• Allocation & equity also provided