Engineering Lead - Filecoin Saturn
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 on the Internet, including Filecoin. Filecoin Saturn is a decentralized content delivery network (CDN) for Filecoin. We seek an engineering lead to join the growing Filecoin Saturn team.
For this role, we particularly value experience designing, building, scaling, and running complex production software systems that have external customers/users and the execution focus and discipline to productionize these systems to meet business needs. Experience building large-scale production distributed systems (especially with an eye towards networking, performance, storage, and/or reliability), other blockchain-like networks, and work on low-latency engineering projects will also be highly regarded.
As the Engineering Lead for Filecoin Saturn, you will...
- Design, scale, run, and deliver production software at scale used by millions of people around the world
- Lead cross-functional team efforts including engineering, design, community, product, and business to accomplish engineering and business goals
- Lead engineering and technical efforts for Filecoin Saturn, Filecoin’s Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Be responsible for Saturn’s technical architecture and design
- Manage other engineers
- Design and implement performant and resilient distributed systems
- Interface with other technical teams both inside and outside of Protocol Labs
- Solve hard problems in low-trust distributed systems
You may be a fit for this role if you have....
- Designed, built, and scaled global production software services
- Lead engineering with discipline and knowledge of the bigger picture to accomplish business goals
- A strong technical design ability informed by broad experience across multiple domains/specialties
- A solid understanding of distributed systems principles and applications
- Significant experience building applications using Javascript and Python, Go, or Rust
- Experience designing and building distributed and/or peer-to-peer software systems and applications
- 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 and teamwork
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially in an asynchronous work environment
Bonus Points
- Security engineering and/or cryptography principles and practices
- Experience building with decentralized building blocks such as DHTs, consensus protocols, smart contracts, blockchain, p2p networking, etc.
- Experience building a CDN
- Experience with open source
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 $300,000 to $334,000, 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.
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! 👋
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Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., a cloud services provider located in the United States of America and engaged by Protocol Labs to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on Protocol Labs’ behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, your personal data will be transferred to the United States once you submit it through this site. Because the European Union Commission has determined that United States data privacy laws do not ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data collected from EU data subjects, the transfer will be subject to appropriate additional safeguards.
Your personal data will be retained by Protocol Labs as long as Protocol Labs determines it is necessary to evaluate your application for employment or to assist in the hiring process. Under the GDPR, you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted. You also have the right to data portability. In addition, you may lodge a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.
