Chain Protocol Engineer

Hyphen Connect; Dubai; On-site; AED 257,000 - 441,000; Full time

Job summary

A fast-growing Web3 startup is seeking a Protocol Engineer to design and operate the core software of a L1 Chain. You will ensure reliability and scalability while integrating identity-specific features and zero-knowledge proof systems. Ideal candidates should have strong skills in Go or Rust and experience with blockchain infrastructure, contributing to a privacy-first approach in the digital world.

Qualifications

• Strong systems engineering skills in Go or Rust; solid concurrency and performance tuning skills.
• Experience building backend or protocol-adjacent infrastructure.
• Familiarity with blockchain client internals, like EVM or Cosmos SDK.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance the core node/client covering execution/runtime and networking layers.
• Build identity-focused primitives and optimize performance across state management.
• Integrate zero-knowledge proof systems into the protocol for verification.

Skills

Systems engineering in Go or Rust

Performance tuning

Familiarity with blockchain client internals

Web3 interfaces

Security practices

Job description

We are hiring for one of our clients. They are a fast-growing Web3 startup rethinking how digital identity and reputation work online. They’re building privacy-first infrastructure that lets users prove who they are and what they’ve done—without giving up personal data. Backed by strong ecosystem partners and a passionate founding team, the company is shaping a more trusted and user-centric internet.

We are looking for a Protocol Engineer to design, implement, and operate the core software of a L1 Chain—focusing on reliability, performance, and the identity‑specific features. You’ll work on client/runtime components, networking, cross‑chain identity flows, and ZK integrations that enable private verification at scale.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance the core node/client, covering execution/runtime, mempool, syncing, and networking layers to ensure reliability and scalability.
• Build identity-focused primitives, including credential issuance and verification logic, and extend system capabilities through precompiles or syscalls where needed.
• Optimize performance across state management (I/O, snapshots, pruning, and fast sync) and RPC endpoints to improve throughput and latency.
• Integrate zero-knowledge proof systems directly into the protocol, enabling on-chain verification of zk proofs and web-based attestations (e.g., zkTLS).
• Contribute to the identity oracle layer, defining message formats, securing replay/order handling, and ensuring consistent cross-chain finality.
• Design and maintain verification pathways, such as light clients or optimistic proofs, aligned with ecosystem standards (IBC/ICS, L1–L2 bridges, and messengers).
• Build robust relayer and operator tooling with strong incentives, monitoring, and observability baked in.
• Integrate decentralized storage solutions to enable privacy-preserving, reusable credential data.
• Tune low-level databases and commitment schemes (e.g., RocksDB, LevelDB) for fast and efficient identity verification operations.
• Deploy and operate testnets, manage release rollouts, and ensure smooth upgrades through canary testing and observability practices.
• Establish strong observability, adding metrics, logs, and dashboards to ensure transparency and rapid incident response.
• Expand and maintain test coverage through comprehensive unit, integration, fuzz, and differential testing across client versions.

Requirements

• Strong systems engineering in Go or Rust (or similar); solid concurrency/async, profiling, and performance tuning skills.
• Experience building backend or protocol‑adjacent infrastructure that runs in production.
• Practical familiarity with blockchain client internals (any of: EVM/WASM runtime, Cosmos SDK/Substrate modules, or rollup nodes).
• Comfortable with Web3 interfaces and ops: RPCs (JSON‑RPC/gRPC), node configuration, validator/sequencer operations, snapshots/state sync.
• Sound engineering practices: testing, code reviews, CI/CD, reproducible builds, and clear documentation.
• Security mindset: input validation, DoS/eclipse awareness, rate‑limiting, key management basics.

Nice-to-haves

• Zero‑knowledge integration experience (using/verifying proofs, e.g., PLONK/Groth16/FRI) or prior work on verifier precompiles.
• Exposure to identity/credentials standards (VCs/VPs), replay protection, nonce/sequence management, and capability/permissions models.
• Cross‑chain experience: light clients, optimistic/validity bridges, IBC/XCM, or L1↔L2 messaging.
• Database/storage tuning in high‑throughput chains; experience with state growth and archive modes.
• Contributions to open‑source blockchain clients or identity/zk tooling.