Staff Engineer

Abacus Works is building Hyperlane, the modular interoperability protocol that empowers developers to build secure, permissionless cross-chain applications. Our vision is an interconnected ecosystem where developers can compose across chains as easily as deploying a smart contract. Hyperlane is built by a world-class team of engineers from Uniswap, Celo, and Gauntlet, and we are rapidly expanding our reach across chains, from Ethereum to Cosmos and beyond.

We are looking for a Staff Engineer to drive the technical evolution of Hyperlane, shaping its architecture, performance, and developer experience. You will play a critical role in designing and building secure, high-performance distributed systems that power cross-chain communication. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you will work across teams, mentor engineers, and define the future of modular interoperability.

What You’ll Do:

• Design and implement core infrastructure for Hyperlane, ensuring security, reliability, and scalability.
• Own critical components of the Hyperlane stack, working in TypeScript, Rust, or a smart contract language like Solidity to develop cross-chain messaging systems.
• Collaborate closely with product, research, and ecosystem teams to translate strategic goals into technical execution.
• Mentor and coach engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and innovation.
• Contribute to open-source development, engaging with the Hyperlane community and developer ecosystem.

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with TypeScript or Rust expertise.
• Proven track record of designing and building scalable and sustainable systems.
• Strong understanding of security principles.
• Experience leading technical projects, making high-level architecture decisions, and mentoring engineers.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-impact environment, balancing execution speed with technical excellence.
• Strong interest in interoperability and the crypto ecosystem—deep understanding of cross-chain communication is a plus.
• Crypto nativity is a major advantage—whether through work experience, contributions to open-source projects, or self-driven exploration.

Salary range for this role is $180K to $250K USD (NY). Compensation subject to experience and location. Published salary bands pursuant to transparency laws, and do not include possible variable compensation such as annual merit increases, bonus eligibility, commission, or equity incentive.