Engineering Manager Cryptography Team

Irreducible; Berlin; Vor Ort; EUR 70.000 - 90.000; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

A leading technology company in Berlin is seeking a Systems Engineer to lead their Cryptography Team. You will manage a talented group of engineers focused on delivering high-performance cryptographic solutions. This role involves project management, collaboration with research teams, and ensuring timely delivery of innovative technologies. The ideal candidate will have experience managing engineering teams and a strong background in cryptography and software development.

Qualifikationen

• Proven experience managing high-velocity engineering teams (at least 5 engineers).
• Prior experience as a staff-level engineer or equivalent.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to clearly articulate technical concepts.

Aufgaben

• Lead and mentor a team of 5-10 engineers, fostering a collaborative culture.
• Manage delivery of cryptographic protocols focusing on performance optimization.
• Facilitate collaboration with systems software and hardware engineering teams.

Kenntnisse

Communication

Organizational skills

Adaptability

Ausbildung

Degree in computer science

Degree in engineering

Degree in applied mathematics

Tools

Rust

Jobbeschreibung

Irreducible is a team of innovators pushing the boundaries of cryptographic computing. Join us as we accelerate the ZK revolution by supporting web3 networks with the world's fastest, most reliable, and cost-efficient proof generation through cryptographic software and hardware co-design. We challenge conventional wisdom, simplify complexity, and execute with precision to build category-defining technology. As we continue to scale, we are looking for a talented Systems Engineer to join our Systems Engineering team in Berlin.

Role Overview

As the Engineering Manager of Irreducible's Cryptography Team, you'll lead a talented group of engineers dedicated to making Binius the leading open-source library for verifiable computing. Your team's mission is to deliver high-performance, secure, and developer-friendly cryptographic solutions, positioning Binius as the preferred choice for zero-knowledge applications.

You will be responsible for both people and project management, collaborating closely with the CTO—who serves as the product's technical lead—to prioritize development efforts, allocate resources, and ensure timely delivery. Your role involves coordination with the cryptography research team to seamlessly transition theoretical innovations into robust practical solutions.

Role Location

This role is based in Berlin. You must be located there or open to relocation and willing to come to our Mitte Berlin office 3 days per week.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas for this role. However, we aren't able to successfully sponsor visas for every candidate. If we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to secure a visa, but we cannot guarantee it.

You will need to be in the office three days per week, with additional days as needed. For example, during a weeklong company offsite, you will need to be in the office the entire time.

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead and mentor a team of 5-10 engineers, mostly senior-level, fostering a high-performing, collaborative culture.
2. Manage the delivery of cryptographic protocols and algorithm implementations designed by the research team, focusing on performance optimization, security, and simplicity.
3. Oversee efforts aimed at low-level software performance improvements leveraging Rust and other optimization techniques.
4. Ensure an excellent developer experience for external teams integrating Binius into their applications and virtual machines.
5. Facilitate collaboration with systems software and hardware engineering teams to integrate and enhance our hardware-accelerated proving stack.
6. Ensure technical documentation clearly communicates complex cryptographic concepts and is maintained at a high standard.
7. Lead hiring initiatives to actively grow the team in line with strategic goals.

Necessary Qualifications

1. Proven experience managing high-velocity engineering teams (at least 5 engineers) focused on deep technology areas such as cryptography, AI, quantum computing, robotics, etc.
2. Prior experience as a staff-level engineer or equivalent.
3. A degree in computer science, engineering, applied mathematics, or a related field.
4. Demonstrated organizational skills and adaptability in fast-paced environments.
5. Excellent communication skills, including the ability to clearly articulate technical concepts in writing.
6. Previous experience working effectively within remote or hybrid remote team structures.

Bonus Qualifications

1. Experience in an early-stage startup environment (20-40 employees).
2. Familiarity with cryptographic principles, especially zero-knowledge cryptography.
3. Previous contributions to or maintenance of open-source software projects.
4. Hands-on programming experience in Rust.

About Us

We are building a high-performance, cost-efficient compute stack for advanced cryptographic proofs, specifically zkSNARKs. Verifiable computing with zkSNARKs addresses scalability and privacy issues faced by current blockchains. Protocols like Polygon zkEVM, Starknet, and zkSync already use zkSNARKs in production. We see a significant market opportunity to generate proofs at scale cost-effectively.

Our approach involves co-designing hardware and software systems to accelerate SNARK generation end-to-end. Our initial tech stack uses FPGA accelerators with custom digital logic tailored for our use case. We also conduct cryptography research to develop computationally efficient algorithms, resulting in the cryptographic construction called Binius, which we are developing into a production-grade system.

Our team includes hardware designers, low-level systems software engineers, cryptography engineers, and data center specialists, many with HFT experience.

Additional Notes

Irreducible values diversity and inclusion, encouraging candidates from varied backgrounds to apply, even if they do not meet 100% of the qualifications.

We do not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs email or any Irreducible employees or locations. We are not responsible for fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Required Experience

Manager

Key Skills

Employment Type: Full-Time

Department / Functional Area: Engineering

Experience: Years

Vacancy: 1