Research Cryptographer & Mathematician

Research Cryptographer & Mathematician

Employment type: Full-time/Company: Heliax

Heliax is a remote-first company that researches, develops, deploys, and maintains open-source protocols and mechanisms to serve everyday needs. They build vertically integrated open-source products and networks, including Anoma (an intent-centric distributed OS architecture) and Namada (a privacy-focused proof-of-stake L1).

Applicants must be based in Europe (including the UK) and willing to travel to Berlin for initial onboarding.

Responsibilities:

- Design new cryptographic protocols to meet specified information flow, security, and performance goals.
- Evaluate and analyze existing zkSNARK/zkSTARK proof systems (e.g. Halo2, ProtoStar, Risc0 zkVM) for security, expressivity, and performance.
- Update, reimplement, and combine existing cryptographic protocols for proofs-of-concept and production use-cases.
- Produce comprehensive technical specifications for protocol designs and collaborate with engineers on implementations.
- Implement, review, and test cryptographic operations and protocols, primarily in Rust.

Requirements:

- Strong mathematical and/or cryptographic background (e.g. complexity theory, abstract algebra, cryptographic protocol design).
- Expertise in constructive protocol design and analysis of distributed cryptographic protocols.
- Demonstrable examples of protocol design work (research papers, experiments, past projects, or detailed write-ups).
- Experience implementing or evaluating cryptographic code, preferably in Rust.

Nice to have:

- Published papers in mathematics, theoretical CS, or cryptography.
- Experience with distributed systems and/or operating systems architecture.
- Experience with Zerocash/Zexe/VeriZexe or related architectures.
- Academic qualifications in cryptography or mathematics.

Stack:

Rust, zkSNARKs, zkSTARKs, Halo2, ProtoStar, Risc0 zkVM, Arkworks, elliptic curves

Benefits:

- Relocation assistance to Germany (e.g. visa assistance)

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