Protocol Engineer, Lodestar/Ethereum (TypeScript)

Toronto, Berlin, Zagreb, Remote (American/European timezones preferred)

ChainSafe is a blockchain research and development firm specializing in infrastructure and tooling for the decentralized web. Alongside its contributions to significant ecosystems such as Ethereum, Polkadot, Filecoin, and more, ChainSafe creates solutions for developers and teams across the web3 space utilizing our expertise in gaming, bridging, NFTs, 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.

To learn more about ChainSafe, look at our GitHub and website.

Here’s what you need to know before reading on

• Our progressive tech stack includes Go, Rust, and TypeScript
• We spearhead ecosystem projects like Lodestar, Forest, and Gossamer
• We are global, remote-friendly, and open to contractors

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

About Lodestar/Ethereum

Lodestar is an Ethereum consensus-layer client (Eth 2.0) and ecosystem of resources to provide and support the next generation of light clients. Light clients are the missing piece in today’s blockchain ecosystems to achieve decentralization across the entire stack. You will contribute to ensuring the long-term success of Ethereum while being at the edge of multiple technological fronts.

Who we need

As a protocol engineer, you will contribute to Lodestar by developing accurate, secure and performant code to implement various specifications. No prior blockchain experience is required, but it is expected for you gain protocol proficiency over time. You’ll also have the opportunity to engage with the wider Ethereum consensus community, and other client teams and contribute to research efforts to influence its future design. The position is full-time and remote-friendly.

Responsibilities

• Understand a protocol specification and develop a highly performant implementation
• Research multiple solutions and evaluate their performance-memory trade-offs
• Research and develop novel light-client solutions
• Refactor and improve existing features in the client and supporting libraries
• Review, audit and test your teammates’ code
• Provide feedback on overall design decisions
• Collaborate with other protocol implementation teams to share knowledge and improve each other’s clients

Required skills and experience

• Proficiency in TypeScrit
  • 3+ years of TypeScrit programming language, paradigms, constructs, and idioms
  • 5+ years of professional software back-end development experience (no front-end experience required)
• Strong familiarity with Node.js C++ internals and/or the v8 javascript engine
• Effective usage of TypeScript debugging tools
• Be able to proactively dive into the novel territory and share knowledge on what you’ve learned
• Basic understanding of cryptography and common applications
• Ability to write clean and effective documentation and comments\
• Experience in distributed applications and peer-to-peer networking
• Comfortable learning complex protocols from scratch
• Takes initiative, is a self-starter, is accountable for work
• Experience with open-source software or strong communication skills as we actively coordinate with external parties

Nice to have

• Experience with Python, as the Ethereum specification is written in Python
• Experience with blockchain protocols, whether it be the usage of a blockchain API, knowledge of how a blockchain operates, or any other experience
• Experience with distributed systems, peer-to-peer systems, network programming, or cryptography
• Experience writing software from a technical specification or a reference implementation
• Experience maintaining a large codebase with many components and keeping it well-designed, future-proofed, and modular
• Experience with documenting a large codebase, both for internal and user-facing components
• Familiarity with open-source software principles
• Familiar with Git and GitHub/GitLab
• Can construct and maintain CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with RPC, WebSockets, or GraphQL
• Performance analysis and optimization, optimizing data structures and algorithms

Tell us who you are

If you feel like you’re the perfect fit for the role, please apply even if you don’t match all the requirements.

Hiring Steps

• Prior to an interview, a technical task or a sample of open-source code will be reviewed by the team along a provided CV.
• Next, candidates will be invited to a values interview with one of our technical project managers.
• Finally, candidates will be invited to an interview with the team lead.

Why Join ChainSafe Systems Protocol Engineering

Founded by developers for developers, ChainSafe is a 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 colour, and members of any other group underrepresented in the blockchain space - or tech in general - to apply.

How to Apply

To apply:

1. send an email to afri@chainsafe.io containing the following
   • an indicator what role you apply for
   • a motivational letter
   • an up-to-date résumé (CV)
2. wait two weeks before you follow up

Note:

• If you do not complete the steps above, we will disregard your application.
• We do not work with recruiters or talent agencies.