Chat Protocol Research Lead

Summary

Join Logos, a movement building a decentralized web, and contribute to the development of Waku, a family of P2P communication protocols. As a Protocol Engineer, you will research and document existing chat protocols within the Status application, design new protocols using Waku and other IFT technologies, build proofs-of-concept in Nimlang and JavaScript, and collaborate with various teams. You will ensure protocols are secure, scalable, and privacy-preserving. This role requires a strong academic background in applied research, excellent communication skills, and experience with networking stacks and encryption. Bonus points for remote work experience and familiarity with specific cryptographic protocols. The compensation range is $120,000-$150,000, payable in fiat or crypto.

Requirements

• A strong academic background with proven experience in applied research and translating research findings into user-facing products
• Excellent verbal and written skills, especially in interpreting and compiling new technical specification documents
• Experience with off-the-shelf networking stacks such as libp2p
• Familiarity with encryption and key exchange mechanisms
• Experience with building end-to-end instant messaging protocols
• Experience with low level/strongly typed languages (C/C++/Go/Rust)
• A strong alignment to our mission: https://free.technology/ ; https://waku.org/about

Responsibilities

• Research and document the current chat and related app protocols implemented in the Status application
• Design and specify new application protocols that use Waku, Codex and other IFT technologies; ensure the protocols are securely scalable and privacy-preserving
• Use a layered protocol approach that is mindful and explicit about what it requires, what it provides, under what threat models, and with what trade-offs
• Build PoCs to demonstrate the working of new or modified protocols in nimlang and JavaScript
• Liaise with the Waku research team to understand the Waku protocols and how to build secure applications using them
• Liaise with Status leadership to agree on properties for new protocols and related user-facing features
• Collaborate with the expert researchers within Vac and apply their specialised knowledge in cryptography and other related fields
• Collaborate with Waku test engineers to simulate and test behaviour of new and modified protocols

Preferred Qualifications

• Comfortable working remotely and asynchronously
• Experience working for an open source organisation
• Experience with cryptography such as OTR, X3DH, Noise protocol
• Experience in, and passion for, blockchain and decentralized technologies

Benefits

The expected compensation range for this role is $120,000 - $150,000 (negotiable, dependent on how we assess your skills and experience throughout our interview process). We are happy to pay in any mix of fiat/crypto