Cryptographic Engineer, Bitcoin DeFi
Input Output (IOHK)
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Remote
Location: Remote • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Visit company websiteJob Level
Mid-LevelSenior
Tech Stack
Distributed SystemsHaskellRust
About the role
- Contribute to the design, implementation, and integration of secure cryptographic protocols and primitives across diverse projects.
- Turn advanced cryptographic designs into robust, production-ready systems at the intersection of applied research and engineering.
- Work closely with researchers, protocol designers, software architects, and QA teams to ensure cryptographic correctness, performance, and maintainability.
- Design and implement constructions such as digital signatures, zero-knowledge proofs, VRFs, commitment schemes, and accumulators.
- Develop and maintain cryptographic libraries, primarily using Rust and Haskell, with occasional C for safety and performance.
- Translate academic research and formal specifications into reliable, well-structured production code.
- Participate in cryptographic design discussions, parameter tuning, and performance benchmarking.
- Analyse and validate protocol design for security properties such as soundness, liveness, and resistance to practical attacks.
- Troubleshoot, debug, and optimise cryptographic code and its interaction with broader systems.
- Write and maintain clear documentation, including developer guides and internal design notes.
- Stay current with developments in cryptography and assess their relevance for projects.
Requirements
- Typically, a PhD in Computer Science, Cryptography, Mathematics, or a related field.
- Proven experience in academic publications.
- Practical experience in applied cryptographic engineering through academic research, industry work, or open-source contributions.
- Proven proficiency in Rust (and ideally some Haskell) for systems-level cryptographic development.
- Experience with version control systems, especially Git, in collaborative development environments.
- Exposure to cryptography for blockchain, distributed systems, or consensus mechanisms is a plus.
- Solid mathematical foundation in cryptography, number theory, finite fields, and probability.
- Ability to work independently in highly-complex cryptographic topics.
- Experience with elliptic curve cryptography, digital signatures, multi-signature schemes, and cryptographic commitments.
- Familiarity with zero-knowledge proof systems and their application in distributed or blockchain-based protocols.
- Hands-on experience implementing cryptographic primitives and protocols in Rust; exposure to Haskell is highly advantageous; familiarity with C is a plus.
- Good understanding of cryptographic protocol design, including security properties like soundness and adversarial modelling.
- Ability to read, interpret, and implement cryptographic research papers and formal specs.
- Strong problem-solving and debugging skills, with a security-first mindset.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills to collaborate effectively across engineering and research teams.
Benefits
- Remote work
- Laptop reimbursement
- New starter package to buy hardware essentials (headphones, monitor, etc)
- Learning & Development opportunities
- Competitive PTO
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
RustHaskellCcryptographic protocolsdigital signatureszero-knowledge proofselliptic curve cryptographymulti-signature schemescryptographic commitmentsperformance benchmarking
Soft skills
problem-solvingdebuggingindependent workclear communicationcollaborationtechnical documentationresearch interpretationparameter tuningcryptographic correctnesssecurity-first mindset
Certifications
PhD in Computer SciencePhD in CryptographyPhD in Mathematics