Research Lead

Gauntlet leads the field in quantitative research and optimization of DeFi economics. We manage market risk, optimize growth, and ensure economic safety for protocols facilitating most spot trading, borrowing, and lending activity across all of DeFi, protecting and optimizing the largest protocols and networks in the industry. We build institutional-grade vaults for decentralized finance, delivering risk-adjusted onchain yields for capital at scale. Designed by the most vigilant, quantitative minds in crypto and informed by years of research. As of April 2025, Gauntlet manages risk and incentives covering over $42 billion in customer TVL.

Gauntlet continually publishes cutting-edge research that informs our risk models, alerts, and analysis, and is among the most cited institution — including academic institutions — in terms of peer-reviewed papers addressing DeFi as a subject. We’re a Series B company with around 75 employees, operating remote-first with a home base in New York City.

Our mission is to drive adoption and understanding in the financial systems of the future. The unique challenges of decentralized systems call for innovative approaches in mechanism design, smart contract development, and financial product utilization. Gauntlet leads in advancing this knowledge, ensuring safe progression through the evolving landscape of financial innovation.

The Role

We seek a Research Lead to lead client-facing research under the Applied Research organization. This role is pivotal in providing deep quantitative expertise to top DeFi protocols and ecosystems including Uniswap, Near and Movement on how they can grow, optimize, and de-risk mechanisms within their various system. This person will lead a team of researchers to analyze on-chain and off-chain data, develop models, and provide actionable insights into the rapidly evolving crypto and Web3 ecosystem. This role requires deep expertise in blockchain analytics, quantitative research, statistical modeling, and strong leadership skills to drive data-driven decision-making and the ability to interface directly with clients.

Responsibilities

• Own multiple clients by developing research roadmaps and managing the team responsible for executing these roadmaps at a high-quality bar.
• Support, grow, and develop a team of high-performing researchers capable of tackling DeFi's most complex problems.
• Perform in-depth mechanism design and research to develop the next generation of DeFi mechanisms and patterns.
• Develop predictive models, statistical analyses, and machine learning algorithms to extract insights into blockchain and market data.
• Work with large-scale structured and unstructured datasets, ensuring data integrity and efficient processing.
• Publish research reports and insights on blockchain data trends, protocol performance, and economic models.
• Attend international conferences to present Gauntlet’s research to the larger DeFi and Web3 community.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in research, data science, or mechanism design.
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, along with the ability to operate in a client-facing role.
• Deep understanding of DeFi and crypto topics either through professional work or personal interest and experience.
• Proven mentorship capacity & experience.

Bonus Points

• DeFi, crypto, or blockchain development experience (e.g. Web3, Hardhat/Truffle, Solidity, etc..)

Benefits and Perks

• Remote first - work from anywhere!
• Competitive packages with the added opportunity for incentive based compensation
• Regular in-person company retreats and cross-country "office visit" perk
• 100% paid medical, dental and vision premiums for employees
• Laptop, monitor, keyboard and mouse setup provided
• $1,500 WFH stipend upon joining
• $100 per month reimbursement for fitness-related expenses
• Monthly reimbursement for home internet, phone, and cellular data
• Unlimited vacation policy
• 100% paid parental leave of 12 weeks
• Fertility benefits

Please note at this time our hiring is reserved for potential employees who are able to work within the contiguous United States and Canada. Should you need alternative accommodations, please note that in your application.

The national pay range for this role is $180,000 - $220,000 plus additional On Target Earnings potential by level and equity in the company. Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for a company of our size and industry, and are one part of many compensation, benefits and other reward opportunities we provide. Individual pay rate decisions are based on a number of factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skill set, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company.  

#LI-Remote