Senior Software Engineer

What do we do?

Chainflip is revolutionizing the way users swap native assets across different blockchains. Our cutting-edge swapping protocol offers seamless cross-chain transactions with competitive pricing. We aim to be the largest on-chain market for BTC, ETH, SOL, and other major cross-chain routes, and have processed over $1Billion in trades one year after full launch.

We’re not just another bridge. Our protocol design removes the need for wrapped tokens through MPC (Multi-Party-Computation), and in particular, TSS (Threshold Signature Schemes). This technology enables the creation of aggregate keys held by a permissionless network of 150 Validators. These validators manage simple smart contracts/wallets, known as Vaults, across multiple blockchains simultaneously.

On top of that, we developed our own substrate-based application-specific blockchain — the Chainflip State Chain — to track balances, process events, and execute instructions. The end result? Fast, efficient, and ultra-competitive swaps. We’re taking on the Centralised Exchanges for BTC volume!

This is an exciting challenge that we’ve been working on for 4 years now with our growing team of almost 40. While our heart beats in Berlin, we champion flexible work arrangements, encouraging both in-office collaboration and the freedom of remote stints.

What’s the Job?

We are looking for a (Senior) Software Engineer to join our Protocol Team which builds the core of the Chainflip protocol, consisting of two key components: the Chainflip Node and the Chainflip Engine. The former is a substrate-based blockchain node. The latter is a companion process that communicates with the outside world and relays information to and from other Blockchains.

Almost all of our codebase is written in Rust. While some experience with Rust would be beneficial, this role is open to talented and motivated Engineers from any language background as long as you are willing and able to adopt Rust as your primary language.

Some attributes we look for when hiring:

• Adaptability: You hold strong opinions but embrace change easily.
• Resilient and agile: You pivot quickly when things don’t go as planned.
• Determination: When presented with a challenge, you try to solve it to the best of your abilities.
• Humility: Despite your determination, you know when to take a break and ask your colleagues for help. You are receptive to feedback and constructive criticism.
• Initiative: You don’t wait around to be told what to do, you proactively investigate issues and suggest improvements.

We are open to candidates of all backgrounds, however there are of course some particular skills and experiences that would be beneficial. We are particularly interested in hiring someone with a strong background in any of the following:

• Building and debugging distributed systems: Chainflip relies on a myriad of actors cooperating to process high-value currency transfers. We need to make sure that our protocol is no more complex than it needs to be, and that every edge case and error path is covered.
• Experience working with large and complex code bases: Chainflip has grown immensely since its inception and we plan to continue. If you can bring experience of managing the complexity of a large codebase, particularly in Rust, you will be well-received.
• Testing, releasing, compatibility: Evolving a live system with real users (yes, we have real users!) brings a host of practical challenges with it - the age of going fast and breaking things is in the past. Ideally, you know how to keep building responsibly without introducing any nasty surprises for our API consumers.
• Rust: While knowledge of the language is by no means a defining criterion for the role, if you do have deep knowledge of Rust, in particular running Rust in production, we want to hear about it.

If you apply for this role, please choose one (or two) of the above and tell us about it: What are common mistakes or misconceptions? What are some key principles to stick to, and what are the inevitable exceptions to the rule?

About the Company

We are a Berlin-based company with our own office space in the heart of Kreuzberg, but we have remote workers in a couple of countries in Europe and a team in Melbourne, Australia. We arrange a company-wide meet-up once a year (previous off-sites have been in the Canary Islands, Cape Town, and Brandenburg), have a very open and flexible culture, and enjoy meaningful personal connections with one another. Our team has a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to share, and we hope you’ll be able to contribute with yours too.

We offer all Berlin-based employees standard employment contracts under German law and the following list of benefits:

• 🚉 Public transport: Enjoy the “Deutschland Ticket” subscription
• 🏊🏽‍♂️ Stay Active: We have you covered with an Urban Sports Club membership
• 🎓 Learning: Annual budget for personal development (eg Udemy courses)
• 📚 Language courses: Go multilingual with our sponsored courses
• 🌴 Loyalty Rewards: Extra holidays for every year working at Chainflip. It is very important to us that our team members are well rested and take the time to recharge from time to time
• 🍲 Team Vibes: From in-office cooking sessions, sports like volleyball and padel, to music streams and events, we ensure you’re always connected and engaged. After all, it’s the collective spirit that makes Chainflip unique.

Who Should Apply?

This is the role for you if:

• 🇪🇺 You’re based in Europe and open to calling Berlin your new home
• 💼 You boast 6+ years of development experience
• 🚀 Decentralization and blockchain technology spark your interest
• 🔧 You’re familiar with crafting and scaling robust systems
• 📚 Eager to broaden your horizons into the realm of Web3 with us
• 💡 Beyond tech, your communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities set you apart.

A quick note: If you don’t check every box but are passionate and bring unique perspectives, we still want to hear from you! We deeply value diverse experiences and talents. Our offered salaries and token packages reflect the depth of your skills and experience. With your application, kindly indicate your expected salary range.

The Process

Please submit your CV for review. A screening call will be conducted by our COO. The next steps are a more technical chat followed by a take-home challenge which will then be expanded upon in a 1-hour in-person or remote code interview. Then you will have a more informal meeting with some other members of the team, including the CTO and CEO. This whole process can take as little as a week.