International Association
for Cryptologic Research

About the Role: The candidate will be expected to research cryptographic protocols that will be useful in blockchain applications or more generally. They will additionally dedicate some fraction of their time to projects that more directly benefit Ethereum. There is a lot of flexibility to work on topics they find interesting and also to collaborate with other teams for example in academia. We have a culture of open source and no patents will be put on any work they produce. The role is remote. The position is permanent however the details of the contract will depend on the location and personal circumstances of the candidate.

Requirements: The successful candidate will have a PhD in either cryptography, consensus, or a closely related field. They will have a strong track record of publishing in top tier conferences and a clear vision of how they wish to continue their research for the benefit of blockchain and other communities. They will be comfortable working both independently and as part of a larger team. The candidate should be able to prototype their protocols/algorithms in a programming language of their choice.

The focus of this position is on Zero Knowledge Virtual Machines. Experience with the following is an advantage but not required:

• Zero-Knowledge proof schemes such as Pairing-based SNARKs (Groth16, PLONK), Bulletproofs, STARKs, etc.
• Different arithmetization schemes such as AIR, R1CS, PLONK.
• Different methods of implementing recursive SNARKs.
• Implementing RAM in SNARKs, e.g. TinyRAM.
• Knowledge of how virtual machines work and how to scale them.

Interested candidates that have more diverse skills but do not fit the above requirements should also consider applying as there may be other roles within the foundation.

Closing date for applications:

Contact: Please email cryptography@ethereum.org with a CV and a short document (either 1 or 2 pages) detailing how you have personally contributed to each of your publications. If you have contributed to any open source projects then additionally discuss this in the short document or provide links.