RISC Zero, Inc is hiring a

Blockchain Protocol Engineer

RISC Zero is on a mission to fix the internet. We're a diverse group of hackers, futurists, and nerds dedicated to making the internet the place we all deserve. We've already built the world's first zero knowledge virtual machine capable of running arbitrary code as a zero knowledge proof. We're now building an ecosystem on top of it.

We have a transparent pay structure with above market salaries and premium benefits. We've all been part of many startups before, so we care a lot about making sure everyone is treated fairly - when it comes to equity, founders have no meaningful advantage over the rest of the employees. You'll have tremendous ability to take part in changing the world, and we believe that deserves meaningful ownership.

As a Blockchain Protocol Engineer, you will design and build the core components of an L1 blockchain on top of our existing Rust zkVM. You will be expected to provide technical expertise regarding the impact of design choices on a wide range of characteristics including developer experience, performance, economics, security, and privacy. Your work will involve interfacing with engineers continuing work on the zkVM as well as those working to build out applications.

You're not new to the Web3 world. You've worked on designing, implementing, and critiquing blockchain protocols. You know the ins and outs of writing a quality smart contract on at least one blockchain. You have a track record of providing technical leadership and helping to grow the engineers on your team.

More specifically, you've probably done most of the following:

• Designed and built a decentralized protocol from the ground up
• Published papers about solutions to problems in decentralized protocols
• Built your fair share of smart contracts
• Worked with Zero Knowledge Proofs
• Written large applications in statically typed languages - ideally Rust

That said, we're looking for people who love this problem and are dedicated to making it work. If you don't perfectly match the description but you're still interested - apply anyways. We're always ready to bring on great people, even if we weren't expecting it.