Zero Knowledge Researcher (Nescience)

About Vac

Vac builds public good protocols for the decentralized web.

We do applied research based on which we build protocols, libraries and publications.

This role is within the Vac Nescience unit, which develops Nescience A zkVM leveraging hiding properties.

The role

In this role, you will be responsible for conducting in-depth research and analysis of ZK argument systems.

The ideal candidate should be well-versed in zero-knowledge circuits written in Rust,

with the ability to adapt to evolving research needs.

Your responsibilities will include designing zero-knowledge circuits, writing comprehensive specifications, and effectively communicating research findings through detailed write-ups.

Join us in pushing the boundaries of private computation technology and contribute to groundbreaking advancements in the zkVM field.

Key responsibilities

• Research, analyze and design ZK argument systems and architectures for private computation.
• Write specifications and communicate research findings through write-ups.
• Analyze and give feedback for zero-knowledge circuits written in Rust.
• Break down complex problems, and know what can and what can’t be dealt with later.
• Perform security analysis, measure performance of and debug circuits.

You ideally will have

• Very strong academic or engineering background (PhD-level or equivalent in industry); relevant research experience.
• Deep understanding of Zero-Knowledge argument systems and related technologies (Nova, Plonk/Halo2, zk-STARK, zk-SNARK, circom), elliptic curve cryptography, and circuit design.
• Keen communicator, eager to share your work in a wide variety of contexts, like internal and public presentations, blog posts and academic papers.
• Experience in, and passion for, blockchain technology
• A strong alignment to our principles: https://status.im/about/#our-principles

Bonus points if

• Experience with low level / strongly typed languages (C++/Go/Rust)
• Experience with Open Source software

[Don’t worry if you don’t meet all of these criteria, we’d still love to hear from you anyway if you think you’d be a great fit for this role. Just explain to us why in your cover letter].

Hiring process

The hiring process for this role will be:

1. Interview with our POps team
2. Interview with team member from the Vac team
3. Pair programming task with the Vac team
4. Interview with Vac team lead

The steps may change along the way if we see it makes sense to adapt the interview stages, so please consider the above as a guideline.

Compensation

The expected compensation range for this role is negotiable, dependent on how we assess your skills and experience throughout our interview process. We are happy to pay in any mix of fiat/crypto.