Senior Software Engineer, Cryptography and Zero-Knowledge

About Pagoda

Pagoda is shepherding a future where NEAR becomes the blockchain operating system. We believe that re-inventing how software is made and distributed is our greatest opportunity to open economic access to those who are not fully integrated into the global economy. Our products empower people to find opportunity, invent new experiences, and collaborate. Let’s build an Open Web world. A world where people control their assets, data, and power of governance.

We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. Pagoda is committed to creating an inclusive culture, and we celebrate diversity of all kinds.

What You’ll Get For Joining:

• Flexible Annual Leave / PTO with an encouraged 20 day per year minimum
• Paid Holiday Week: the last week of the year
• Paid Wellness Week: the first week of July
• $2,000 Yearly Continued Education Reimbursement
• $2,000 Home Office Setup Reimbursement
• Co-working Space Reimbursement
• Company Retreats (2022 was in Lisbon!) & Team Offsites
• Mental Health Support and access to licensed therapists through Spill, 100% paid by Pagoda

**Temporary short term contractors do not receive the above benefits

About The Role:

Pagoda is looking for a software engineer with experience building and maintaining cryptography and Zero-Knowledge projects. You will be the in-house expert on cryptography and Zero-Knowledge technology. You will initiate, implement, and lead a variety of projects in this area, including integrating the results of Zero-Knowledge research done by teams in the Near community into NEAR Protocol. Your work will have a major impact on the scalability and decentralization of NEAR Protocol.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Apply advances in cryptography and Zero-Knowledge technology to improve security, scalability, and decentralization of NEAR Protocol.
• Audit external ZK projects in the NEAR ecosystem and seek opportunities to integrate them into NEAR Protocol
• Act as a subject matter expert and provide consultation to internal and external teams on Zero-Knowledge technology

What We’re Looking For:

• Knowledge and experience with cryptography
• Knowledge and experience with Zero-Knowledge
• Demonstrated experience writing well-structured, clean, maintainable code
• Ability to learn new languages, APIs and SDKs quickly
• Knowledge of Rust or other low-level language
• Strong communication and remote friendly working skills
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related fields is a must

We’d Love If You Have:

• Open source contributions and previous or continued involvement in open source communities
• Familiarity with Ethereum development and related technologies (web3.js, ethers.js, etc)
• Familiarity with other crypto or blockchain technologies
• Experience working at a startup

Here’s What Our Interview Process Looks Like:

Depending on calendar availability, from the first stage to the final stage, we do our best to keep the entire process to under three weeks. Our interviews take place via Zoom and typically consists of the following stages:

• Internal Recruiter Call (30 to 45 minutes)
• Meet with the Hiring Manager (30-45 minutes)
• Technical Interviews (4 x 60 minutes)
• Pagoda Values Interview (30 to 45 minutes)

Please let us know if you require any special requirements for your interview and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

Ideal Location For This Role

This is a fully remote role, so that your timezone matches or overlaps with our leadership for this role, you’ll ideally be located in Remote – US, North America, South America or, Europe.

Our Values at Pagoda

Innovate and deliver—so our customers can build. We deliver new solutions for real, often urgent, customer needs. Practical over hype. We uphold our standards of excellence while balancing velocity and pragmatism.

Focus precious time and energy on what matters. We are intentional about where we aim our resources. We channel our talents to focus on the critical missions in order to make an outsized impact.

Favor ownership, agency and action. Everyone is an owner. As individuals, we are responsible and accountable for our work. We empower builders to make decisions and innovate without the burden of unnecessary roadblocks or complexity.

Work as a team of empathetic humans. We practice mutual respect, open communication, humility and collaboration. We are kind and empathetic. We are welcoming towards diversity in all forms, including differences of perspective.

Never break trust. Integrity is rare—and valuable—in this space. Reputation is hard to build and easy to break.