Principal Engineer

Who We Are:

Our aim is to facilitate the world's shift towards web3. Established in 2019, the focus of Horizen Labs is to construct a safer and fairer digital realm at the core of the decentralization movement. Concentrating on tackling real-world predicaments, our primary objective is to generate a meaningful and quantifiable impact on productivity, transparency, and revenue creation. At Horizen Labs, our personnel are our most valuable resource, and we are fostering a culture of empowered individuals who are enthusiastic about bringing their ideas to fruition. We seek imaginative individuals to join our team of the brightest minds in the blockchain domain. You will encounter the excitement of becoming part of a swiftly expanding and creativity-driven firm. Understanding that diversity fuels innovation and engagement critical for creating an exceptional product. We work within a hybrid model with a globally dispersed workforce collaborating with our studio offices in New York City, NY, and Milan, Italy. This framework offers us the flexibility to source talent worldwide. Are you prepared to assist us in altering the future with the latest groundbreaking blockchain technology? Join us!

We seek an adept and seasoned Principal Engineer to undertake a pivotal role in the design, development, and optimization of our Web 3.0-enabled blockchain ecosystem. As a senior technical figure, your influence is extensive and far-reaching, forming technical strategies, coordinating the company's technical path, and spearheading authentic advancement across broader blockchain/crypto/software communities. Remaining finely attuned to day-to-day execution activities, you will propel crucial products across different product teams, all while adhering to elite coding principles and practices. Our global team operates within a motivating and inventive atmosphere, where technical proficiency and experience are instrumental in creating cutting-edge blockchain technology. You will join a close-knit, profoundly motivated team of highly technical minds amidst an ethos of transparency and practicality, addressing challenging issues spanning software engineering, systems design, cryptography, and computing.

Responsibilities:

• Steer the architecture, design, and implementation of assorted components of our blockchain ecosystem spanning core L1 protocol components, L2 scaling frameworks, cryptographic toolkits, off-chain and multi-chain interactions, APIs, node infrastructure, and usability.
• Play a significant role in defining with authority the direction and objectives for the entire engineering setup, particularly in terms of project impact, quality, and engineering efficiency.
• Continuously shape and refine our overarching technical roadmap to expand across varied dimensions of blockchain integrations, applications, and engineering functions as we expand.
• Transform imaginative blockchain products from concept to reality by collaboratively working with senior engineers, cryptographers, and product managers to competently resolve uncertainties, navigate through trade-offs, and guarantee smooth, punctual software deployments.
• Steer engineering culture by elevating the technical standards, accelerating pace, and advocating for enhanced code quality and engineering efficiency.
• Proactively pinpoint areas of technical strategic potential, embarking on intelligent risks aligned wholly with the company's mission and product objectives.
• Educate, mentor, nurture, and extend guidance to engineering managers, senior/junior engineers, product managers, project managers, and senior leadership.

Requirements:

• Ten years or more of software development experience, particularly in designing, constructing, and magnifying multiple operational services, components, and infrastructures.
• Five years or more of experience in a technical leadership role (like Senior/Staff Engineer), steering technical direction, shepherding critically important projects to Mainnet/Production, and fortifying multiple operational services over several years as they adapted to rise in user demand and hurdles.
• Extensive hands-on proficiency with at least one major blockchain protocol (Ethereum, Bitcoin, Polkadot, Cosmos), encompassing applied cryptography, consensus algorithms, UTXO/Account-based models, rollups, zero-knowledge proofs, zkEVM/zkVMs, peer-to-peer network topologies, and bridging mechanisms.
• Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.
• Inclination for and ardor concerning programmable blockchains and their influence in the forthcoming landscape of finance, privacy, and digital identity.
• Exceptional communication skills (both oral and written) to convey articulately the composition of an entire system, impact peers concerning a broad spectrum of technical and business resolutions, and formulate technical specifications aiding other engineers' implementation.
• Innate readiness to delve into grasping, debugging, and refining any stratum of the stack.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficiency in Rust and/or C++, having steered multiple prosperous projects into Mainnet.
• Engagement with cryptographers to render cryptographic primitives and protocols into competent and secure Production-grade code.
• Solid comprehension of cryptographic primitives, protocols, and algorithms including zero-knowledge proving systems, homomorphic encryption, and secure multiparty computation.
• Deep immersion in the latest cryptographic, zero-knowledge proofs, and blockchain protocol advancements, and demonstrated capability to assimilate pertinent discoveries into real-world products for the company.