Senior Software Engineer, Proofs

Who are we?

We believe Ethereum has the potential to solve some of humanity’s most crucial coordination issues. Since our initial inception as a research group, we have sought to scale both its technology and values.

At present, the most pressing bottleneck to the growth of Ethereum is its performance and scalability. We are building the most elegant solution to this problem. We do this in the open (under an MIT open source license) because we believe in open source innovation and its ability to accelerate growth.

OP Labs contributes to the Optimism protocol, an extension to Ethereum that scales both its technology and values. Optimism enables orders of magnitude of improved performance and scalability to Ethereum while doubling down on its commitment to public goods.

The Optimism Collective leads the blockchain protocol landscape, dedicated to fostering a scalable and sustainable ecosystem. Optimism’s ethos, in sync with Ethereum's vision, tackles pivotal coordination challenges of the digital age. Optimism’s goal is to harmonize private incentives with public good, shaping a resilient future for the Internet. Optimism’s scope spans diverse areas like Gaming, DeFi, NFTs, and Enterprise.

Position Overview:

The Proofs team is looking for an experienced software engineer. We’re developing the infrastructure that enables the secure and permissionless withdrawal of funds from OP Stack chains and the Superchain.

We’re developing the Optimism fault proof system, which is already in production, and evolving it to support “stage 2” decentralization with multiple proof systems, including ZK validity proofs.

What are the role responsibilities?

• Evolve our proof system to meet stage 2 requirements using dispute games and/or validity proofs.

• Contribute to important Go-based and possibly Rust-based Ethereum and OP Stack infrastructure, for example Cannon, the Fault Proof VM.

• Work with other teams and other disciplines within OP Labs, and with our ecosystem of external developers and partners.

What skills do you bring?

• Proven experience developing in Go, Rust, or another similar language.

• Blockchain development experience.

• Experience in systems programming, ideally in developing low-level software such as virtual machines, interpreters, or compilers.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to document technical details clearly and collaborate effectively with team members.

• Strong understanding of cryptographic principles.

• Experience with Zero Knowledge Proofs or ZK VMs is a nice-to-have.

What will you like about us?

• We take care of our employees. Competitive compensation, fully paid medical, dental, and vision, and a 4% 401K match—learn more about our benefits, culture, and all recruiting FAQ here.

• We take pride in the accomplishments of our teammates and support each other in doing the best work of our careers.

• Our team is a diverse group of people from varied backgrounds. We cherish our eclecticism and consider it a great strength.

• We’re fully remote, deeply engaged, highly skilled, and like to have fun.

• We think long-term. Our founders have been scaling Ethereum since 2015.