About Protocol Labs

Protocol Labs drives breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward. Protocol Labs is a product-development lab, but behind the protocols and tools we build, behind the research and implementations, are passionate people, teammates and community members. Most teams in the Protocol Labs Network are fully distributed and work remotely around the world. Engineers, researchers, and operators work in the open to improve the internet — humanity's most important technology — as we explore new advances at the intersection of many exciting fields (crypto, networks, distributed systems) and cultures (startups, research, open source, distributed work).

Enthusiasm about the decentralized web and blockchains has brought an influx of people who want to use distributed systems but who don't know how to build the necessary infrastructure. We are building that infrastructure. To continue that work, we're looking for people who thoroughly understand the principles of distributed systems and cryptography, and who will lean into the challenges of applying those principles in open-source code that will be deployed worldwide.

Filecoin

Filecoin, a decentralized storage network to store humanity's most valuable information, is one of the most promising projects of Web3. In the two years since its launch, over 18 exabytes of storage have been pledged to the Filecoin network, which is proven and verified by node operators every single day. As we look forward, many challenges remain to be solved such as continuing to scale the network, allowing user programmability through the addition of a Virtual Machine, and implementing cutting-edge ideas coming from the latest in cryptographic research.

Filecoin Saturn

One such challenge is the reliable, performant, and economic retrieval of content from Filecoin. Filecoin Saturn is a decentralized content delivery network (CDN) for Filecoin. We're seeking a tech lead engineer to join the Filecoin Saturn team.

For this role, we particularly value experience independently designing and implementing significant components of complex systems, and the execution focus and discipline to carry projects to completion. Experience leading strong open source communities and/or contributing to other blockchain-like projects will be very highly regarded, as well as experience working on low-latency engineering projects.

As Tech Lead for Filecoin Saturn at Protocol Labs, you will...

• Lead engineering and technical efforts for Filecoin Saturn, Filecoin’s Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Be responsible for Saturn’s technical architecture and design
• Lead other engineers – directly and set an example of engineering excellence
• Design and implement performant and resilient distributed systems at scale
• Run, scale, and maintain production software used by millions around the world
• Contribute to protocol design and specification efforts
• Interface with other technical teams both inside and outside of Protocol Labs
• Solve hard problems in low-trust distributed systems
• Take research and turn it into working, scalable programs and systems
• Work with a cross-functional team including engineering, design, community, product, and business
• Engage and educate the community, from users to contributors
• Provide guidance and review for open source contributions and contributors around the world (Filecoin Saturn is open source on Github!)

You may be a fit for this role if you have....

• BA/BS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, related field or equivalent practical experience
• Significant experience building applications using Javascript and Python, Go, or Rust
• A solid understanding of distributed systems principles and applications
• Experience designing and building distributed and/or peer-to-peer software systems and applications
• A strong technical design ability informed by broad experience across multiple domains/specialties
• Leadership experience building and maintaining large-scale, production software
• Literacy with cryptographic principles and practices
• Proven track record of independently driving projects in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent communication skills on both technical and non-technical issues
• A keen awareness of teamwork, process, and patterns of successful collaboration
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Bonus Points

• Experience leading open source projects, and/or guiding their communities
• Security engineering and/or cryptography principles and practices
• Large-scale systems (especially networking, performance, storage, or reliability engineering)
• Experience building with decentralized building blocks such as DHTs, consensus protocols, smart contracts, blockchain, p2p networking, etc.
• Experience building a CDN

What’s it like to work at Protocol Labs?

Protocol Labs' mission is to improve humanity’s most important technology, the Internet. We build protocols, systems, and tools to improve how it works. Today, we are focused on how we store, locate, and move information. Our projects include IPFS, Filecoin, libp2p, and more.

As a distributed team, we hire anywhere in the world, and at various levels of experience (entry, senior, staff). We look for people with unique perspectives and diverse backgrounds.

The base pay for this position currently ranges from $248,000 to $328,000, plus cryptocurrency, equity, and opportunities for upside through performance rewards in cryptocurrency and equity. The base pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, experience, skills, abilities, training, and education. We also have a great benefits package, including parental and other forms of leave, contributions to your retirement, and unlimited time off. For U.S.-based employees, we also provide competitive health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family.

#LI-Remote

Engineering at Protocol Labs

With IPFS, libp2p, Filecoin and other related projects we are laying the foundation for a more resilient, more secure, distributed version of the web. This requires rigorous engineering from protocol design through all the phases of implementation. We strike a balance between pragmatism (put it on a ship ⛴), deeply informed protocol design, and strict application of strong engineering principles. All of this happens in an environment defined by curiosity, passion, and a love for open source.

If you’re passionate about the future of computing and a more democratized internet, we want to talk to you. Please reach out to Ansgar at [email protected] and say hi! 👋