Chief Protocol Architect, DeFi

X-Team; United States; On-site; USD 230,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

X-Team is seeking a senior protocol architect to shape the future of DeFi infrastructure from design through mainnet deployment. You will lead architectural decisions, guide a top-tier engineering team, and ensure robust security across critical code paths and audits.

You will engage with governance bodies, external auditors, and ecosystem partners to advance protocol reliability, security, and scalable performance in a remote, US-based engagement.

Qualifications

• Extensive production experience designing, deploying, and maintaining high-stakes smart contracts.
• Proven ability to define clear onchain/offchain boundaries balancing decentralization, security, gas, and performance.
• Experience building, scaling, and mentoring high-performing protocol engineering teams.
• Security-first mindset with experience modeling failure scenarios, audits, and upgrades.
• Experience establishing guardrails for AI-assisted development with formal ownership.

Responsibilities

• Architect the protocol roadmap from design to mainnet deployment.
• Lead and develop a world-class protocol engineering team.
• Oversee security reviews, audits, and critical code paths.
• Represent Protocol Engineering in governance forums and with auditors.

Skills

DeFi & Smart Contract Mastery

Architectural Vision

Engineering Leadership

Embedded Security Rigor

Directed AI-Assisted Development

Job description

X-Team is seeking a senior protocol architect to shape the future of DeFi infrastructure from design through mainnet deployment. You will lead architectural decisions, guide a top-tier engineering team, and ensure robust security across critical code paths and audits.

You will engage with governance bodies, external auditors, and ecosystem partners to advance protocol reliability, security, and scalable performance in a remote, US-based engagement.