Head of Applied Cryptography

Who are we?

IOHK, is a technology company focused on Blockchain research and development. We are renowned for our scientific approach to blockchain development, emphasizing peer-reviewed research and formal methods to ensure security, scalability, and sustainability. Our projects include decentralized finance (DeFi), governance, and identity management, aiming to advance the capabilities and adoption of blockchain technology globally.

We invest in the unknown, applying our curiosity and desire for positive change to everything we do. By fueling creativity, innovation, and progress within our teams, our products and services are designed for people to be fearless, to be changemakers.

What the role involves:

As Head of Applied Cryptography at IOG you are responsible for defining the roadmap for cryptographic innovation consistent with the requirements of different projects that are developed in the company, delivering of the cryptographic primitives implementation and managing the team of applied cryptographers from the engineering team.

• Define a short, mid and long term roadmap for implementation of cryptographic primitives.
• Synchronize with the Director of Architecture (or by default the CTO) to validate the roadmap, requirements and strategy for the cryptographic engineering team.
• Interact and coordinate with research, engineering and product management teams when cryptographic work is required.
• Define and structure the team that is required to satisfy this roadmap.
• Interview cryptography engineer candidates.
• Manage a team of cryptographers, organize the development methodologies and enforce the best practices defined by the engineering division.
• Provide secure implementations of the cryptographic primitives that are required by IO projects.
• Read and review cryptographic research papers and contribute when possible to implement them as  prototypes. 
• Design, specify, implement, improve cryptographic primitives in production-grade software directly or delegate to and supervise the applied cryptographers in charge of it.
• Review, integrate, improve common cryptographic primitives, and translate them to other programming languages  or delegate/supervise the applied cryptographers in charge of it.

Leadership 

As Leaders it is our responsibility to motivate, develop and progress our fellow team members. As a Leader there is a need to communicate openly with all members of your team, address any issues head on and not shy away from difficult conversations.

Empowering your team to provide the best results by organizing clear processes and coordinating team efforts should be your top priority.

Please read our Leadership at IO Global document for more information on your duties and responsibilities as a leader at IOG

Requirements

Who you are:

• A Master or PhD degree such as computer science, software engineering, mathematics or a related technical discipline. 
• A solid experience in managing small teams of cryptographic engineers.
• A solid understanding of cryptography, its basic theories and uses.
• Extensive expertise of either Rust or C.
• Understand and follow best engineering processes and practices.
• Ability to translate specifications (eg, cryptography research papers and RFCs) into working code. 
• Experience with formal verification of crypto primitives.
• Senior expertise in developing cryptographic primitives in C/C++ and Rust
• Senior expertise in standard cryptography domains
• Ability to learn new domains like zero knowledge proofs and MPC and project innovation roadmaps
• Clear understanding and experience of  implementing cryptographic primitives delivered by researchers
• Experience with formal verification and security audits of cryptographic libraries
• Expertise in security best practices
• Experience with quick check or other property-based testing
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Interpersonal skills
• Line management and performance reviews
• Development processes and methodology

Are you an IOGer?

Do you find yourself questioning the status quo? Do you tinker with ideas and long to turn those ideas into solutions? Are you able to spark thoughtful debates, bringing out the inquisitiveness in others? Does the promise of continuously growing excite you? Then get ready to reimagine everything you thought wasn’t possible because that’s what it means to be an IOGer - we don’t set limits, we break them. 

Benefits

• Remote work
• Laptop reimbursement
• New starter package to buy hardware essentials (headphones, monitor, etc)
• Learning & Development opportunities
• Competitive PTO 

At IOG, we value diversity and always treat all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.