Research Jobs at Optimism Foundation

Optimism is taking an experimental approach to the design of its bi-cameral governance system. As we develop this novel system, we must confront thorny design questions that require rigorous research across multiple disciplines to answer. A research-based approach to design is crucial to ensuring the resilience of the system, making it a top priority of the Collective.

The Governance Research Lead will have a unique opportunity to manage and collaborate with experts from many fields to inform the design of Optimism governance. Uniquely, the role will have the opportunity to implement this research via a series of experiments run in 4-6 month cycles - much faster than iteration cycles in traditional governance systems.

Responsibilities

• Manage a network of experts to answer our most pressing design questions including but not limited to:
  • Parameter setting (veto thresholds, quorums for different voting mechanisms, smart defaults)
  • Incentive design (incentive alignment in non-plutocratic systems)
  • Political systems design (prevention of gridlock and stagnation in bi-cameral design, how to run experiments in sortition vs. elections, open democracy, and deliberative processes; how to better distribute and measure voting power)
  • Evaluation of the trade-offs between private and public voting
  • How to prevent collusion and design for the inevitable development of bribery markets
  • Many others!

• Implement an externally facing research program, supported by Collective Grants and leveraging Mission Requests
• Aggregate and synthesize the output of the above research program to inform individual design components within the full context of the overarching governance system
• Design a comprehensive research strategy to prioritizes design questions and run experiments on a 4-6 month iteration cycle
• Manage experiment design, implementation, and analysis
• Create long term research strategy to ensure relevant governance research is supported and evolves as the organization and design space changes

Requirements

• A deep understanding of governance and DAOs and the existing body of related research
• Relationships with academia and other expert networks
• Experience managing external contributors and working with cross-functional teams
• Preference for candidates based outside the U.S. but not a requirement