Networking Engineer

About the Ethereum Foundation

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is a global non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Ethereum and related technologies. Our mission is to do what is best for Ethereum’s long-term success. Our role is to allocate resources to critical projects, to be a valued voice within the Ethereum ecosystem, and to advocate for Ethereum to the outside world.

Overview

The EF is looking to hire a peer-to-peer networking R&D engineer. This role focuses on networking research and development as it pertains to Ethereum’s peer-to-peer network. Your work will span many areas across the following topics:

• DHTs / peer-to-peer discovery


• Gossip protocols


• Familiarity with common cryptographic schemes used to secure communications


• Analyzing, securing, and building various networking schemes


• Spec writing and supporting materials communicating the output of the above work

This role requires the ability to research, design, and implement various stages of peer-to-peer networking, all the way from idea to a prototype capable of providing actionable data on feasibility in production. Networking is a cross-cutting concern touching both Ethereum’s consensus layer and its execution layer.

Immediate themes of work concern the above areas as they relate to sharding and the application of data availability sampling to a secure sharding design. However, Ethereum R&D is ever-evolving and thus the role requires flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt to changes.

This is a great role for someone with a strong software development background and some background in applied research in the field. The applicant should not expect a lot of training with respect to generic research and development but can expect as much onboarding as is required for understanding and working with the Ethereum networking stack.

Peer-to-peer networking experience is a must and experience with libp2p or devp2p is nice but not required. Experience with multiple programming languages used in some subset of Ethereum clients is preferred.

About you

• You are fascinated by what is possible with the Ethereum protocol and love diving into the low-level details that make the network function. Bonus points if you are following the latest research updates around extending libp2p’s gossipsub protocol.


• You have an interdisciplinary skillset bridging conceptual understanding and implementation expertise. You are able to read a sketch of some new networking concept, prototype the core software, and provide feedback via metrics or other data on performance to influence further refinement of the research.


• You can learn new fields that interest you. This work spans the fields of cryptography, economics, p2p networking, and game theory. You’re good at learning the basics, asking “dumb” questions, and finding the material you need to get up to speed on something important.


• You’re independently minded and self-motivated. You’re able to work without much oversight, going deep on a topic until you’ve built a sufficient understanding.


• You’re a clear writer & communicator. You’re able to share what you’ve learned with others, increasing the leverage of your work by striving to help others not only understand but even extend your work.


• You’re knowledgeable about the Ethereum ecosystem and are aligned with its long-term success. You don’t want to take shortcuts today at the expense of the network’s security tomorrow.

Contract details

• Prefer full-time candidates but are open to exploring options for the right person.


• We’re flexible. If you’re interested in this role but not sure about how it fits into your life, apply anyway.


• Fully remote

How to apply

• Submit something you have done that highlights your facility with the above work. This could be a link to some research or a Github repo. You can include a CV, link to a website, or reference any materials that you think might help but tangible outputs are prioritized.