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 a Senior Software Engineer to join the fast-growing Filecoin Saturn team.
As a Senior Software Engineer for Filecoin Saturn, you will...
- Play a lead role in the development and deployment of Saturn’s next generation CDN to realize the full potential of IPFS’s edge caching performance properties
- Function as an engineering leader, working with the existing team to deliver outstanding technical results
- Be responsible for Saturn’s technical performance, improving key metrics such as time to first byte, average MS latency and uptime
- Create or maintain software libraries and programs depended on by other systems and applications
- Contribute to protocol design and specification efforts
- Participate in the design and implementation of performant and resilient distributed applications
- Solve hard problems in low-trust distributed systems
- Uplevel and guide engineers on your team
- Interface with other technical teams both inside and outside of Protocol Labs
You may be a fit for this role if you have....
- Worked on massively distributed internet scale services. While CDN experience is highly relevant, we particularly value experience working on state of the art distributed systems at scale.
- A strong technical design acumen informed by broad experience across multiple domains/specialties
- A solid understanding of distributed systems principles and applications
- Mastery in large-scale modern software development practices (we primarily use Go, Node.js, and Rust, but do not require any particular language experience)
- 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
- Experience designing and building peer-to-peer software systems
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 $225,000 to $260,000, 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!
GDPR for Job Applicants and Candidates
When you apply to a job on this site, the personal data contained in your application will be collected by Protocol Labs, Inc. (“Protocol Labs”), which is located at 427 N Tatnall St #51207, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 and can be contacted by emailing legalrequests[at]protocol.ai. Protocol Labs’ data protection team can be contacted via legalrequests[at]protocol.ai. Your personal data will be processed for the purposes of managing Protocol Labs’ recruitment related activities, which include setting up and conducting interviews and tests for applicants, evaluating and assessing the results thereto, and as is otherwise needed in the recruitment and hiring processes.
Such processing is legally permissible under Art. 6(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) as necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by Protocol Labs, which are the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of applicants for employment.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.
