Where the Ethereum & Starknet protocol magic happens

Our Blockchain Core Engineering team is the longest-standing team at Nethermind. The execution layer client is a full Ethereum client implementation written in C# .NET. It runs on all major platforms supporting Ethereum mainnet, Clique, and AuRa chains, as well as Gnosis, Energy Web, and private networks. It comes with features like Prometheus/Grafana dashboards, seq enterprise logging, and complete JSON RPC, including two formats of tracing, and offers a variety of advanced built-in plugins. On the back of building the popular Ethereum client, the core engineering team also works closely with the L2 tooling team on delivering Juno, a full-node client implementation for Starknet.

Skills that you will use and learn at the Core team include:

Technical perspective
• NET 10
• Distributed networks (P2P)
• Performance and memory optimizations
• Blockchain internals EVM/ TransactionPool/JSON RPC
• Complex data structures Patricia/Merkle/Verkle trees
• RocksDB

Broader perspective
‍• Work on EIP's with Ethereum Foundation and wider Ethereum community
• Work on Ethereum extensions
• Open source development

Improving the product development life cycle

This team is responsible for processes related to product development operations. Building processes, infrastructure, security, cloud, and administration is all within this team’s scope.

Skills that you will use and learn at the DevOps team include:

• Deploy and maintain the blockchain infrastructure in a multi-cloud environment (DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Linode, others)
•  Build and maintain company-wide CI/CD pipelines for different projects (Github Actions)
•  Bash scripting
•  Linux knowledge
•  Ethereum node management
•  Docker and Docker-Compose
•  Monitor the infrastructure with tools like Grafana, Prometheus, Seq, OpsGenie
•  Automate work - yours and others’ (Terraform, Ansible)
•  Networking skills
•  High scalable systems
•  SecOps and GitOps-related practices
•  Orchestration with Kubernetes

Blend of theory and implementation

Nethermind Research merges the fields of cryptography, decentralized finance (DeFi), and protocol research, creating synergies that enhance each respective area.

Within cryptographic research, our expertise spans areas like zero-knowledge proofs, distributed validator technology, decentralized identity, verifiable credentials, privacy-preserving payment systems and private voting.

Within DeFi our role involves conducting technical due diligence on various protocols, engaging in on-chain analytics, designing tokenomics, and developing quantitative financial models. Our primary focus is researching the latest technological trends in the DeFi space, and guiding financial institutions on particular investments or blockchain initiatives. Our approach integrates stress testing, system refinement, quantitative scrutiny, risk evaluation, and the deployment of multi-agent simulations.

Protocol research in Nethermind focuses on various designs of L2-s, their decentralization, and MEV research, such as PBS. We investigate how rollups are built and where their security comes from, and analyze potential security risks.

Skills that you can use and learn working with the Cryptography Research team include:

Cryptography
‍•  Theoretical analysis and implementation of STARKs and SNARKs
•  Signature schemes and how they are used in blockchains
•  Abstract algebra

Understanding and designing building blocks in Ethereum, such as:
‍•  Distributed validator technology
•  Decentralized identity
•  Liquid staking

Programming:‍
‍•  Implementing novel zk proof systems in Rust/C++
‍•  Smart-contract implementations, especially those related to zk-proofs‍

Technical due diligence on novel blockchain projects

Communicating research concepts through technical writing

The security arm of Nethermind

The team's activities are organized into three core groups: smart contract audits, formal verification and real-real time monitoring.‍

Smart Contract Audits
We use manual inspection and automated analysis tools when performing security audits on Solidity and Cairo smart contracts.

Skills that you will use and learn include:‍
• Blockchain and smart contract security
• Ability to detect logical bugs
• Gas optimization strategies

The ideal candidate has the following:‍
‍• Previous programming in writing Smart Contracts (Solidity, Cairo, or Rust)
• Blockchain and Ethereum Virtual Machine background
• Familiarity with the most common attack vectors for Smart Contracts
• Previous experience in CTFs
• Experience running static analyzers for Smart Contracts‍

Formal Verification‍
‍Formal verification is the act of proving or disproving the correctness of intended algorithms underlying a system concerning a certain formal specification or property using traditional mathematics methods. We leverage the Lean proof assistant to formally verify smart contracts and compilers, and develop open-source tools for the community.

The ideal candidate has the following:‍
• Background on Formal Verification
• Experience in Writing formal specifications in Lean
• Knowledge of formally specifying programming languages. (Solidity, Yul, EVM, Cairo, etc.)
• Background on creating formal specifications of distributed systems
• Experience in Cryptography, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, and Abstract Algebra
• Blockchain and Ethereum Virtual Machine background‍

‍‍Real-time monitoring
‍The team is responsible for developing real-time monitoring solutions for Blockchain systems. We build generalized and protocol-specific detection bots on the Forta Network, as an official Forta bot developer. The bots are developed after research into the latest techniques attackers use to exploit protocols, as well as researching the documentation and codebase of protocol clients.

The ideal candidate has the following:‍
• Experience in writing and testing TypeScript
• Experience in reading and writing Solidity
• Experience in reading protocol documentation and audit reports
• Ability to provide thorough code reviewsUp-to-date knowledge of exploits
• Knowledge of common DeFi services and products‍

Join our L2 tooling team and be part of the Starknet revolution

We're forging tools and products for ZK scaling solutions. We also collaborate with top protocols like Aave and Uniswap. We're looking for bright minds, creative problem solvers, and the weirdos keeping Starknet strange. Work on projects like:

Voyager - The block explorer shedding light on the on-chain goings-on

Juno - A Starknet full-node

Agentic Solutions for Starknet - Building AI bots and agents

Beyond tooling, we're deeply involved in the Starknet ecosystem organising hackathons, doing Cairo education, and conducting research on governance mechanism design. As part of the team, you will work with an ecosystem of talented builders inside and outside Nethermind.

Skills to develop with us:
‍
• Cairo & Solidity: Master the art of smart contracts
• Compilers, Assembly Code & Runtimes: Dive into the core of coding
• Ethereum & Starknet Virtual Machines: Explore the engines of Starknet
• Abstract Algebra: Explore the depths of mathematical structures
• Cryptography: Unravel the mysteries of secure communication
• Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Champion privacy in the digital age
• Financial Mathematics: Master options pricing and Monte Carlo simulations
• Protocol Design: Build the foundations of decentralized networks
• P2P networking: Get connected without (and with all of) the middlemen

Bridging the gap between web2 and web3

Our protocol research and development team consists of tech-savvy blockchain and financial professionals who specialize in Technical Due Diligence (TechDD), DeFi Research, Solidity Smart Contract Development, Full-stack Engineering, and Data Solutions. Our team provides these services to institutional clients who are entering or expanding in the blockchain and DeFi space.


Skills that you will use and learn in the DeFi Research & Development team include:

DeFi Research
• Academic writing
• Business writing
• Technical writing
• How to perform the research professionally and factually
• Discover and detect valuable information from Crypto Twitter, Community Discord, and Protocol Forums
• Research tools (Parsec, Nansen, Dune)

‍Technical Due Diligence
• How to investigate and evaluate various types of projects based on data and publicly available information
• How to see the business value in proposed products & protocols
• What are the most common Tokenomics models, and what are their principles
• Understand best practices of Risk Management
• How to communicate with internal & external stakeholders

Data Solutions
• Building data analytics tools while using on-chain and off-chain data (Clouds, SQL, Python, data scrapping, data standardization, data orchestration, various blockchains, DeFi Lama, Elastic)
• Data visualization (Kibana, Metabase, Graphana, Dune Dashboards, Nansen Dashboards, Parsec Dashboards, Google Sheets)
• Data integration from external sources (REST and non-REST APIs, data feeds, data parsers)
• Data Infrastructure set-up (Clouds, VMs, DBs)
‍
‍Mentoring, leadership, and coaching
• 1:1 session with more senior Analysts and Researchers
• Continuous, open, and transparent feedback based on facts and quantitative factors
• Workshops, brainstorming, and design team sessions
• Regular team meetings to keep the information flow smooth and stable
‍
‍Smart Contract Development
• Solidity, Cairo, Truffle, Hardhat, Ganache
• ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 Token Design
• Decentralized Finance (structured products, derivatives)
• SDLC or Software Development Lifecycle
• Software engineering best practices
• Agile methodology
• Code review techniques


What are the requirements and pre-requisite to apply?
‍We are looking for students and recent graduates with a strong background in software engineering, computer science, mathematics, financial mathematics, or quantitative finance.

‍Previous knowledge in any of the following is helpful:
‍• DeFi AMM (automated market maker)
• Derivatives pricing (Options, Black Scholes, Futures, Swaps)
• Stochastic calculus
• Algorithms
• Cryptography
• Ethereum


But above all, we look for passion and hunger to work in the blockchain, Ethereum, and DeFi space.

Work on Challenging Real-World Problems with the Hardware Team

The Hardware Team at Nethermind is at the forefront of designing and developing cutting-edge hardware solutions that blend cryptography and blockchain, applying these technologies to fields such as automation, physical security and robotics.

Our focus areas:

•  Integrity, Security, and Identity: Transforming how humans leverage unique signatures such as identity to secure data, prove data authenticity and providence, securely share their identity, and prove their humanity.
•  Robotics and Automation: Developing technologies that underpin our future automated society, improving robot perception, coordination, and safe human interaction through applied cryptography and blockchain technologies.
•  Secure Computing and Cryptographic Hardware: Accelerating applied cryptography applications, leveraging technologies such as Trusted Execution Environments to harden the security of physical systems which underpin the flow of information and antonymous systems.


Skills you will learn and use:
‍
• Technical Research: Conduct comprehensive research and translate theoretical findings into practical hardware solutions.
• Applied Engineering and Science: Apply research and skills in Physics, Electronics Engineering and Mechanical engineering to solve hard and challenging product development problems.
• Embedded Systems Development: Gain expertise in designing and programming embedded systems that integrate hardware and software seamlessly.
• Robotics Systems and Control: Develop a deep understanding of robotics systems, automation, and control mechanisms.
• Data Processing: Enhance your skills in processing and securing data for various applications such as security and cryptography.
• Algorithm and Process Design: Design, implement and optimize cryptographic practical algorithms.
• Industrial Design: Master the principles of designing hardware products that prioritize user experience and functionality.
• System Integration and Testing: Learn to integrate various hardware components and perform rigorous testing to ensure system reliability and security.
• Power Management and Optimization: Understand and apply techniques for efficient power management in hardware systems.
• Firmware Development: Develop low-level software that controls and manages hardware components effectively.
• Product Development: Apply a product mindset to build practical devices to solve challenging real world problems - always keeping the end user in the back of your mind.
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‍
What are the requirements and pre-requisite to apply?
‍We are looking for passionate engineers, designers and  with proficiency in hardware engineering and strong backgrounds in computer science, electrical engineering, robotics, or cryptography. As our group operates at the intersection of Research and Engineering, candidates who can read complex papers and apply the concepts to practical hardware solutions are ideal.
‍
‍Previous knowledge in any of the following is helpful:
‍• Hardware Design: Experience in designing, optimizing and engineering hardware devices.
• Hardware Security: Experience working with physical or virtual security evaluation and testing for hardware systems and device.
• Robotics Engineering: Knowledge of robotics systems, automation, and control systems.
• Biometric Systems: Understanding of biometric data processing and security.
• Applied Cryptography: Familiarity with cryptographic hardware acceleration and secure computing.
• Industrial Design: Skills in designing user-centric hardware products.
• Technical Research and Development: Ability to conduct research and translate findings into practical applications.
• Product Development: Experience or a desire to develop hardware from ideation through to manufacturing and development.


If you’re passionate about hardware, cryptography, and deep technology; and eager to work on projects that have a real-world impact, we’d love to hear from you.