ZK Cryptography Engineer

About the job

Position Description

O(1) Labs is a blockchain technology company that has successfully incubated the Mina Protocol. Using Mina, we are now building a private and secure way to access Web3 as the world’s premier zero-knowledge application platform.

We are looking for a talented and motivated cryptography engineer with experience in Zero-Knowledge Proofs technology to join our team at O(1) Labs. We are building on the first cryptocurrency protocol with a succinct blockchain, Mina Protocol. This is a chance to join a small, collaborative team and have a ton of independence while working on fascinating problems that span software engineering, systems design, cryptography, and computing. We also offer industry leading competitive compensation both in salary and equity as well as top-of-the-market benefits.

You will be helping us to shape the future of our core zero knowledge protocols, improving the existing proving schemes we have, and suggesting innovative approaches to tackle performance bottlenecks.

Responsibilities

• Implementing, optimizing, and reviewing code for Kimchi (our zero-knowledge proof system), Pickles (our recursion protocol), and cryptographic circuits.
• Writing technical specs for design and use of the crypto protocols.
• Writing high quality, performing, and well documented OCaml and Rust code.
• Clear communication and articulation of abstract ideas.
• Collaboration with the team of crypto engineers in a remote environment on a daily basis.
• Proposing new meaningful approaches based on novel cryptography research available in academia.
• Training new team members in zero-knowledge technology.
• Speaking in some ZK conferences around the world.
• Attending team offsites around the globe.

Key Qualifications:

• Passion for creating effective and pragmatic cryptographic schemes
• Understanding of – or interest in being taught – fundamental cryptographic algorithms and underlying mathematics, such as finite field arithmetic, FFTs, polynomial commitment schemes
• Experience implementing high-performance cryptographic protocols in languages like Rust, OCaml, or C/C++
• An ability to delivery solid work on tight schedules and with the utmost professionalism
• Great written and verbal communication, and a passion for teammate and collaboration with other engineering, marketing, and support teams to provide the best security solutions

Ideal Qualifications:

• Experience implementing zk-SNARK circuits or proof systems
• Knowledge of the state of the art in zk-SNARK systems
• Experience with blockchain-based systems

There is no need to have prior experience in blockchain or cryptocurrency, however experience in Plonk and OCaml are required. It is a bonus if you have experience with recursive zk-proofs. However, experience in Plonk and OCaml are the only hard requirements; we're more interested in learning about your individual background!

Benefits of working at O(1)Labs:

• O(1) Labs is a worker-governed company. Unlike most other companies, we try to bring democracy into our workplace. That means you will have a say in what the company works on and how it does it, as well as the ability to vote on and run for board membership.
• O(1) Labs is on a mission using cryptography and cryptocurrency to build computing systems that put people back in control of their digital lives that is open, secure, and inclusive.
• We believe in self-care. We commonly move meetings for colleagues’ personal obligations. Your life comes first.
• Flexible work arrangements – live where you want and work remotely.
• Code review and testing are concrete parts of our development culture.
• Everything we do is open-source.

We're working on technologies with the potential to reimagine social structures. We believe it's important to incorporate diverse perspectives from conception through realization. This is a chance to join a small, collaborative team and have a ton of independence while working on fascinating cross-disciplinary problems that span cryptography, engineering, product design, economics, and sociology. We also offer competitive compensation both in salary and equity as well as top-of-the-market benefits.

We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive company. People of color, LGBTQ individuals, women, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.