Staff Engineer (Cryptography)

At Matter Labs, we believe freedom drives progress and prosperity. We don’t see ourselves as a company, but as a team aligned around a single mission: to advance personal freedom for all (see ZK Credo).

To achieve this goal, we’re building zkSync — a credibly neutral, fully open source technology stack and network on top of Ethereum, which is owned and governed by its community. We use advanced cryptography called zero-knowledge proofs to scale Ethereum infinitely without compromising on security or decentralization. With a world-class team, a community of over 1M supporters across Twitter + Discord, and hundreds of millions $ in funding, we have abundant resources to accomplish the mission.

The Role

We are looking for talented cryptographers or developers with strong math background to join our core team. Your task scope will include design and implementation of the latest zero-knowledge proof systems and cryptographic protocols (mainly FRI-based systems or modern sum-check based), as well as exploration of efficient application of existing ideas for implementation of the particular proven statements. This role will move towards a leadership position with direct reports in the cryptography team.

You will have a chance to attend major cryptography conferences and work with the world's top scientists in the field.

Task complexity ranges from implementing Poseidon hash function to building a full ZK proof system like RedShift and helping GPU and prover network engineers to integrated it. 

What You'll Be Doing

• Implement ZK provers and circuits for them.

• Research and propose optimizations for provers and circuits.

• Become very familiar with problems of physical hardware and large-scale prover deployments.

• Help to supervise a small team of talented engineers and researchers.

• Lead an effort to implement and deploy your ideas end to end.

What We Look For in You

• Strong background in math / cryptography / information security (although most people in our crypto team hold a PhD in cryptography or physics, we do not strictly require a formal academic degree) – we want to work and push the cutting-edge technology.

• Proficiency in Rust. We are working primarily with Rust, and an ability to write the code to express ideas is mandatory – many ideas require empirical testing, and it should not take a lot of your precious time. 

• Ownership- and results-driven mindset – we want all those new developments and achievements to be used and deployed for real-case uses, that also requires cooperation with other team and desire to see the final results of own work.

Working at Matter Labs

At Matter Labs, you have the freedom to work how you want, when you want, and from where you want. All positions are 100% remote (with optional travel to team and/or industry events). We operate in lean and nimble teams, with no time tracking and minimum bureaucracy. We move fast. Only results matter. We will provide you with everything you need to learn, grow, and be productive.

Our results-only environment means anyone who believes in our mission can join us, regardless of background, sexual orientation, race, gender, and age. Both our team and community are made up of people from diverse backgrounds. That's why, out of politeness and respect, we refrain from opinions on politics, religion, or sex at the workplace.

We designed our culture around the tenants of freedom and ownership. This ethos will underpin our positive-sum community as we evolve toward full decentralization.

What we Offer

- Competitive compensation

- Equity and token package 

- Premium coverage for health, dental and vision insurance 

- 16 weeks of parental leave

- Flexible paid time off 

- Company closure weeks 1-2x per year

- $2000 USD work equipment stipend

- $300 USD monthly co-working allowance 

- Company offsites 1-2x per year

- $500 USD learning & development stipend 

- 401k plan for US Employees 

Don't meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Matter Labs, we think big with a long-term view and encourage you to apply even if you don't think you check every box in the job description.

If this role resonates with you, please apply now.

Read more about working at Matter Labs here.

Important: We are remote-first, operating in the timezones between UTC-5 (Latam and Atlantic Coast) to UTC+7 (South-East Asia).

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