Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

At cLabs, the team working on the open source platform Celo, our mission is to build a financial system that creates the conditions for prosperity for all.

cLabs is seeking a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer to join our Blockchain Team. Our team is responsible of the celo’s blockchain node; that is the software that maintains a p2p network; where the validators reach consensus new blocks, that then every other nodes syncs & validates. Our node is based on go-ethereum software with several transformations (like the consensus engine) that makes the celo blockchain unique. Our main challenges are scaling the network, improving its security and resiliency; and adding new features to the celo ecosystem that can only be done at the node’s level (like paying gas with an ERC20 token).

We work alongside other engineering teams within cLabs. This includes other platform teams such as the Contracts and Primitives team, as we constantly access smart contracts as part of our operations, and the Economics team, to design and implement the right incentives for our validators and full nodes. We also partner with user-facing teams such as the Wallet and Developer Experience teams, as a big part of our job is to make end users' and contributors' lives easier. This is a role with wide exposure to many areas of the stack, and you’ll quickly get acquainted with all the moving parts in a modern blockchain project.

You will

• Design, Architecture & implement solutions within celo-blockchain (layer 1 & 2). Topic will vary, some examples are network protocols, decentralised protocols, systems throughput optimisations, scalability.


• Work within a Teal Organization, with involves working among peers, with a high degree of autonomy and opportunity to contribute to the company at any level


• Coach & Mentor other engineers in a constant learning culture.

You have

• 4+ years of experience working on distributed systems, preferable within the blockchain space


• Autonomy & ability to design complex systems


• Passion for growing others


• BONUS: Good understanding of blockchain related cryptography (public key, BLS signatures, MACs, etc)


• BONUS: Experience with low level database programming


• BONUS: Experience working on systems optimisation


• BONUS: 2+ years of experience working with Go

cLabs (“Celo Labs”) started Celo in 2017 and is one of many contributors to the open source project Celo. cLabs builds financial technology to enable prosperity of all beings.

cLabs is a Teal organization, a method of decentralized management and organizational governance. Roles are defined around the work, not people, and there is a high degree of autonomy. As such, we’re all proud to hold the job title of “Partner.” For more information on our culture, we encourage you to check out our blog.

To build technology and products that are used and loved by people and solve real-world problems, we need to build a team with many different perspectives and experiences. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply and always consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Applicants in need of special assistance or accommodation during the interview process or in accessing our website may contact us by sending an email to assistance(at)celo.org. We will treat your request as confidentially as possible. In your email, please include your name and preferred method of contact, and we will respond as soon as possible.