Director of Protocol Engineering

We are seeking a Director of Engineering to join our rapidly growing team of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency enthusiasts and engineers. We are building the Subspace Network, a radically decentralized, next-generation blockchain which allows developers to easily run Web3 apps at Internet scale. Subspace is based on original research funded by the US National Science Foundation and planning to launch its Network later this year. Subspace Labs is an early-stage, venture-backed startup with a remote-first, globally distributed team.

To learn more, visit our website and read the technical whitepaper.

As our Director of Engineering you will primarily be responsible for facilitating the engineering management process across our research, protocol, runtime, integrations, and applications teams by acting as an “air-traffic controller.” You will also lead efforts to translate abstract requirements and designs into an actionable roadmap and implementation plan, while facilitating, documenting, and communicating the organization’s progress towards our long-term goals.

Your responsibilities

• Work directly with the CEO & CTO to translate abstract cryptographic protocols into an engineering roadmap and implementation plans.
• Identify the key tasks and critical path, anticipating potential roadblocks
• Translate developer estimates into realistic ship dates and timelines
• Track velocity towards key milestones, while making it visible to the wider team and community using Github projects, Lucidchart, and Notion.
• Ensure everyone is working productively, while quickly and proactively unblocking developers from unexpected roadblocks
• Lead our support team to maintain standards for documentation, code quality, and testing while overseeing deployments across environments.
• Conduct pre-interview screening of engineering candidates from recruiters
• Facilitate the transition from a company-led to a community-led roadmap as we launch the Subspace Foundation and split our engineering team.

Key Requirements

• A strong background in software engineering or computer science.
• Experience leading engineering teams in blockchain, crypto, or Web3.
• Experience working with open-source, community-driven software projects.
• Experience facilitating remote-first, distributed software engineering teams.
• A passion for decentralized, peer-to-peer systems and Web3 technologies.

Bonus Experience

• Understands the design and trade-offs between leading blockchain scalability frameworks such as ETH2/Rollups, Near, Solana, Polkadot and Dfinity.
• Understands the architecture behind leading blockchain clients and frameworks, such as Bitcoin Core, Geth/Solidity, and Substrate.
• Experience with smart contract development, full-stack decentralized application development, or blockchain infrastructure & dev tooling.
• Familiarity with a systems programming language such as Rust, C/C++ or Go.
• Experience with cryptography, distributed systems, and peer-to-peer networks.

Benefits

• Work remotely from anywhere in the world.
• A competitive salary with generous equity and token grants.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (US-based only).
• Team offsites in various locations around the world.
• A unique opportunity to shape the future of the Subspace Network and play a critical role in building the world’s most scalable blockchain.