Blockchain Research Engineer (R&D)

ChainSafe is a leading blockchain research and development firm specializing in infrastructure solutions for the decentralized web. Alongside its contributions to significant ecosystems such as Ethereum, Polkadot, Filecoin, and more, ChainSafe creates solutions for developers across the web3 space utilizing our expertise in gaming, bridging and decentralized storage. As part of the mission to build innovative products for users and better tooling for developers, ChainSafe embodies an open-source and community-oriented ethos.

At ChainSafe, you’ll be part of a global remote team that believes in the community’s vital importance and contributes to advancing humanity with open-source and decentralized technology.

To learn more about ChainSafe, look at our website or check out our work on GitHub.

Here’s what you might want to know before reading on:

• Our stack is progressive and open-source and includes Go, Rust, and TypeScript.


• We spearhead ecosystem projects like Lodestar, Web3.js, Forest, and Gossamer.


• We are global, remote-friendly, and open to contractors.

Culture fit and alignment with our core values are extremely important to us. We are fueled by an immense intellectual curiosity of what technology can do and the impact it can have. You will thrive here if you are intensely driven by tackling technical challenges that no one else has solved yet and are inspired by the possibility of building the next generation of web infrastructure and decentralized systems.

Who we need

The ideal candidate would be a software developer with a deep passion for research and development, a cryptography background, and blockchain experience.

As a Research Engineer:

• you like solving complex problems and do not give up until a solution is found


• you like learning new things and explaining them to people


• you are comfortable understanding and contributing to complex codebases


• you are good at reviewing and writing long research documents


• you are a trusted source of clear and accurate information for clients


• you value practicality over perfection


• you are passionate about decentralization and blockchain

This role will provide an opportunity to be up-to-date with the latest innovations around blockchain technology. The right candidate would be motivated to be both an observer and a driver of these innovations. You will have the opportunity to work on a variety of projects. Every project is on the cutting-edge and quite often we’re figuring things out as we go, so continuous learning & teaching is the norm.

Responsibilities

• Architect and prototype novel blockchain-based and blockchain-adjacent software solutions to enable new features, improved performance, cross-chain integrations, and more for our clients


• Communicate with internal and external stakeholders regularly to understand their goals, share project progress, and address ambiguities


• Write proposals for new research and development, including detailed project plans with milestones and developer time/cost estimates


• Write specifications and supporting documentation to help developers implement our solutions


• Peer review research, proposals, and code

Requirements

• Familiar with cryptography and/or blockchain stack including front-end, back-end, smart contracts, and protocol layers


• Experience building blockchain protocols or applications


• Ability to break down complicated concepts into simple language


• Writing technical articles, specifications, white papers


• Deep understanding of cryptography and security in the context of blockchain


• Comfortable reviewing code in the absence of documentation


• Some experience with Go, Rust, JavaScript, and/or Solidity


• Understanding of distributed systems & peer-to-peer network protocols


• Ability to proactively plan, lead, execute, provide updates, and be accountable for projects


• Strong interpersonal skills when collaborating with clients and teammates


• Eager to constantly learn, ask questions, and deepen your understanding

Bonus points

• Experience with open-source development


• Experience writing academic articles and publications


• Product or business development experience

Hiring Steps

• Selected candidates will be invited to a 30-minute screening call with one of our tech recruiters


• Then, candidates will be invited to a 60-minute cultural fit interview with the hiring team


• Next, the candidate will be given a take-home technical assignment, due in one week


• Based on the technical assignment delivered, candidates will be invited to a 60-minute technical interview

Why join us

Founded by developers for developers, ChainSafe is a remote-first company with an international team. We continue to provide opportunities for personal and professional growth, value autonomy and responsibility, have a results-driven environment, and offer flexible work hours.

We care deeply about our values and look for these attributes in every new team member. In addition, we recognize the benefits of cultivating a diverse team and aspire to embed respect for all people into our culture. We encourage women, the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, and members of any other group underrepresented in the tech space to apply.

How to Apply

Please click on Apply Now and fill out the Greenhouse application form and ensure that you attach your resume and link your Github/Gitlab profile or any software project you have contributed to (if applicable).