Protocol Director

Galaxy; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Discretionary bonus

Company-paid health benefits

Paid time off

Free virtual coaching sessions

Daily snacks in office

Job summary

Galaxy seeks a leader for its protocol teams to drive technical strategy and manage teams across Ethereum, Solana, and Chainlink. In this role, you'll navigate complex protocol issues and ensure team effectiveness.

Ideal candidates have strong technical communication skills, with experience managing technical teams in high-stakes environments. Competitive salary, benefits, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion are offered.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated protocol depth across Ethereum, Solana, or Chainlink.
• Experience managing technical teams.
• Operational fluency in logistics of multi-team functions.
• Strong technical communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead protocol teams and manage technical leaders.
• Provide technical guidance and resolutions to complex problems.
• Own protocol strategy and operational logistics.
• Support client interactions requiring technical protocol expertise.

Skills

Ethereum

Solana

Chainlink

Team management

Technical communication

Operational planning

Job description

Who We Are

Galaxy is a global leader in digital assets and data center infrastructure, delivering solutions that accelerate progress in finance and artificial intelligence. We believe that blockchain and digital asset innovation will transform how value moves through the world – and we’re building the products and services to make that future a reality.

Our institutional digital asset platform spans trading, investment banking, asset management, staking, self‑custody, and tokenization technology. We also invest in and operate cutting‑edge data center infrastructure to power AI and high‑performance computing, addressing the growing demand for scalable energy and compute in the U.S.

We work at the intersection of finance and technology, helping institutions, startups, and developers navigate a digitally native economy. Led by CEO and Founder Michael Novogratz, our team blends deep crypto expertise with institutional experience and a shared commitment to shaping the future of Web3 and AI.

Galaxy is headquartered in New York City, with offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. To learn more about our businesses and products, visit www.galaxy.com.

What We Value

• Seek Excellence.
• Be Selective To Be Effective.
• Be Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled.
• Disagree Transparently.
• Encourage Independent Decision‑Making.
• Build Dream Teams.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the protocol teams
• Manage the leads of the validators, Solana, and Chainlink teams. Develop them as technical leaders and hold the bar for the engineers beneath them.
• Provide protocol‑level technical guidance to the teams, not just escalation management but genuine depth that helps them work through hard problems faster.
• Set a consistent operating rhythm across the three teams: planning, reviews, incident response, and continuous improvement.
• Own headcount health, retention and performance within your scope. Raise issues early and don't let team problems compound.
• Own protocol strategy
• Develop and maintain a forward‑looking view across the protocols the business participates in. Understand where each protocol is heading technically, what that means for our infrastructure and services and how it maps to business opportunity.
• Be the connective tissue between protocol evolution (upgrades, forks, new mechanisms) and the engineering teams that have to respond to it.
• Advise the Head of Blockchain Engineering and broader leadership on protocol‑level risk, opportunity, and emerging areas worth pursuing.
• Identify where emerging protocol developments represent material opportunities or threats for the business. Examples would be new L1s, staking mechanisms, oracle integrations, cross‑chain primitives, etc.
• Operate the function
• Hold the operational picture across the three teams: who is on what, what is at risk, what is blocked, what is shipping.
• Make staffing and sequencing calls within your scope. Work with the Head of Blockchain Engineering and hiring to plan ahead.
• Run the cadences and rituals that keep the function coherent without adding bureaucratic overhead.
• Coordinate across DIS, client‑facing teams, and engagement leads to ensure the protocol function is pointed at the highest‑leverage work.
• Support client and commercial work
• Step into client conversations where protocol expertise at leadership level is needed, supplying technical depth, not just seniority.
• Represent the protocol function in commercial discussions, scoping conversations and delivery reviews when protocol capability is at the core of what's being sold or delivered.
• Translate protocol complexity into clarity for non‑technical stakeholders internally and externally.

What We’re Looking For

• Demonstrated protocol depth across at least two of: Ethereum (validator/consensus layer), Solana, or Chainlink/oracle networks. You should be able to hold technical ground with senior engineers on these stacks.
• A track record managing technical teams, not just senior ICs but building and developing teams, holding people accountable, and navigating the harder parts of people leadership.
• Experience operating in a fast‑moving, high‑stakes environment where protocol decisions have real business and client consequences.
• Strong technical communication so you can take a protocol problem and explain it clearly to engineers, to clients, and to executives, adjusting for each.
• Operational fluency where you've run the logistics of a multi‑team function: capacity planning, sequencing, on‑call, incident response, hiring. You can hold the whole picture and keep it moving.
• High agency, low ego. You'll own a clear mandate and are expected to drive within it.
• A genuine interest in where the protocol landscape is heading, not just maintaining what we run today, but positioning for what comes next.

Bonus Points

• Hands‑on experience running or building validator or RPC infrastructure at institutional scale.
• Familiarity with Chainlink CCIP, Data Feeds, or Functions. Understanding of the oracle layer as infrastructure, not just integration.
• Experience with Solana's runtime, validator client architecture (Agave/Firedancer), or ecosystem tooling.
• Background working alongside tier‑1 financial institutions (banks, asset managers, custodians) as an engineering or protocol counterpart.
• Exposure to staking economics, protocol governance, or technical due diligence on new chains.
• Experience building or scaling a protocol engineering function from an early or mid‑stage foundation.

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary and discretionary bonus
• Competitive paid time off
• Company‑paid health and protective benefits for employees and their eligible dependents
• Free virtual coaching sessions through Headspace
• Free daily snacks in‑office
• Opportunities to learn about the Crypto industry
• Smart, entrepreneurial, and fun colleagues
• Benefits may vary depending on location.

Galaxy respects diversity and seeks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and job applicants for employment without regard to actual or perceived age, race, color, creed, religion, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), gender identity or gender expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital or partnership or caregiver status, ancestry, national origin, citizenship status, disability, military or veteran status, protected medical condition as defined by applicable state or local law, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristic, or other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ordinances.

We will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known limitations of a qualified applicant with a disability unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. If you believe you require such assistance to complete the application process or to participate in an interview, please contact [e-mail].