Salary
Contract type
Technologies & frameworks
Benefits & perks
- Remote working
- Flexible working
Role overview
Role overview
Metastate is looking for a cryptographer & researcher interested in zero-knowledge cryptographic protocols and their application to distributed ledger technology to work with us to design, evaluate, and implement zero-knowledge proof constructions such as zkSNARKs and zkSTARKs, distributed cryptographic protocols such as threshold encryption and distributed key generation, and cryptographic primitives such as elliptic curves and hash functions, then put this cryptography into practice in order to realise privacy and scalability capabilities required by the next generation of blockchain networks.
This role offers the chance to work closely with a small team on compelling cross-disciplinary problems in theoretical computer science, cryptography, game theory, economics, and systems design, and enjoy a high degree of independence in working conditions and task prioritization.
Responsibilities
- Evaluate and analyze existing zkSNARK and zkSTARK proof systems such as Groth '16, Ben-Sasson '18, and PLONK for security, expressivity, and performance; monitor the state of the research field for compelling new theoretical advances
- Update & alter existing cryptographic protocols, customize them for specific proof-of-concept and production use-cases
- Produce technical specifications for designs & instantiations of cryptographic protocols and assist with implementation in coordination with team members
- Implement, review, and test cryptographic operations & protocols, primarily in Rust, evaluate existing implementations
Example projects & publications
- The Multi-Asset Shielded Pool (to be published soon)
- PLONK & plookup (in progress)
- The PLONK by hand series
- The Demystification series (Supersonic, Fractal)
Qualifications
- Prior experience with cryptographic protocols, especially zkSNARKS or zkSTARKs (though not specifically required)
- Prior experience in low-level systems programming, ideally in Rust
- Self-motivated & self-organized
Bonus Qualifications
- Academic research background in mathematics, computer science, economics, and/or game theory
- Prior experience with distributed ledger (blockchain) technology
- Experience in a functional programming language such as Haskell or Ocaml
- Experience with a proof assistance such as Idris, Coq, or Agda
Misc.
Remote or local (Zürich/Zug, Berlin). When remote, preferred if mostly located within (+/- 7 hours) Central European time zones. North America is fine.
Ideally someone who enjoys travel, nature and hiking. Often we find that protocols are best designed not in a meeting room but rather on a trail.
- 10-49
Metastate is a research and engineering team focused on implementing cutting-edge research from numerous disciplines (distributed systems, PLT, zero-knowledge cryptography) and deploying them to solve hard problems in the blockchain space, such as scalability, secure smart contract languages, secure randomness or privacy. Metastate is a remote-first team, currently composed of 15 cross-disciplinary researchers and engineers 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. Metastate was founded in early 2019 by @adrian_brink, @awasunyin and @cwgoes, with extensive experience in the blockchain space and who previously co-founded Cryptium Labs, a security-oriented proof-of-stake validator from the Swiss Alps.
Salary
Contract type
Technologies & frameworks
Benefits & perks
- Remote working
- Flexible working
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Engineers who find a new job through Blockchain Works average a 15% increase in salary.
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