This internship aims to provide you with a valuable, hands-on learning experience in the blockchain space. Our goal is to help you develop new skills, expand your knowledge, and acquire practical experience in your field of interest. We hope that with a rich learning environment, guidance and support, you will grow and thrive during your time with us.
We are committed to providing all interns with opportunities to challenge themselves, and we will do what we can to help you achieve your goals and make the most of the internship here at Nethermind.
interns have participated since inception
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got full-time jobs in the ecosystem
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 7
• 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
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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
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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:
Communicating research concepts through technical writing
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
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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 VerificationFormal 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 monitoringThe 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
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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. The cutting-edge toolbox we build:
Voyager - The Starknet block explorer and data analytics platform
Juno - A full node Starknet client implementation
Starknet.GO - A Starknet RPC library in Golang
Beyond tooling, we're deeply involved in the Starknet ecosystem, from Starklings to ENS integration, Cairo education, and 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
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.
Focused on AI and zero-knowledge, this group advances research boundaries while maintaining a strong foundation in Engineering. Our projects range from developing fundamental protocols for ZK components to designing and engineering software solutions powered by AI. If you've envisioned yourself at the forefront of AI and Cryptographic innovation, then this team offers you the perfect opportunity to transform that vision into reality.
Skills to Develop with Us:
• Cryptography: Unravel the mysteries of secure communication.
• Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Champion privacy in the digital age.
• Protocol Design: Build the foundations of decentralized networks.
• Artificial Intelligence: Explore the possibilities of AI x Crypto and AI Assistants.
• Blockchain Data Science: Explore hidden features from blockchain data.
• Cairo: Master the art of Starknet smart contracts.
What are the requirements and pre-requisite to apply?We are looking for blockchain enthusiasts with proficiency in software engineering and strong backgrounds in computer science, mathematics or cryptography. As our group straddles the line between Research and Engineering, candidates who have the ability to read complex papers and apply the concepts are ideal.
Previous knowledge in any of the following is helpful: • Cryptography
• Mathematics
• Zero-Knowledge Proofs
• Writing Technical Papers
• AI, ML, LLM, RAG
• Data Availability
• Cairo Language
• Rust Language
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