Senior Hive Member - Blockchain, Cryptography & Digital Asset Offensive Security

Role Description

At CovertSwarm, we are redefining offensive security through constant, relentless attack. As a Senior Hive Member specialising in blockchain, encryption and digital asset security, you will lead sophisticated offensive security engagements against the systems that move, protect, sign for and settle digital assets.

This role is focused on environments where cryptography, blockchain infrastructure, financial systems and operational controls intersect. You will assess:

• Custody platforms
• Wallet infrastructure
• HSM/MPC/TSS signing services
• Smart contracts
• Institutional trading APIs
• Stablecoin settlement rails
• Blockchain nodes
• Tokenisation platforms
• Cloud environments
• CI/CD pipelines
• Operational workflows

This is not a generic offensive security role and it is not limited to smart contract audits. You will take an adversarial view of the full digital asset ecosystem: on-chain, off-chain, cloud, application, cryptographic, operational and human.

Your work will help clients understand how their most valuable systems could fail under real attack conditions, including:

• Unauthorised signing
• Private key exposure
• Smart contract exploitation
• API abuse
• Settlement failure
• Reconciliation breakdown
• Insider misuse
• Market disruption
• Irreversible asset loss

Qualifications

• Experienced offensive security operator
• Deep technical curiosity
• Proven capability across blockchain, cryptography, encryption, secure protocols and complex distributed systems

Requirements

You will lead research-led attack plans against environments similar to those used by:

• Institutional digital asset firms
• Market makers
• OTC trading desks
• Custodians
• Stablecoin settlement providers
• Tokenisation platforms
• Web3 product teams

These environments commonly include:

• Institutional trading platforms using REST, WebSocket, FIX, RFQ and GUI workflows
• Market-making, OTC execution, post-trade settlement and treasury operations
• Experience in attacking communication protocols, specifically the Matrix protocol
• Stablecoin settlement across Ethereum, Solana, Tron, L2s and other chains
• Custody architectures involving hot, warm and cold wallets
• HSM, KMS, MPC, threshold signing, multisig and key ceremony workflows
• Smart contracts, token contracts, bridges, escrow, governance and DeFi mechanics
• Cloud-native infrastructure, Kubernetes, CI/CD, secrets management and privileged access
• Operational approval flows, reconciliation systems, audit trails and incident response processes

You will be expected to go beyond checklist testing. The role requires someone who can identify how a weakness in one layer could be chained into a material compromise of digital assets.

• Deep cryptography skills are essential
• Ability to review cryptographic designs
• Challenge trust assumptions
• Assess implementation weaknesses
• Evaluate key management, encryption, authentication and secure messaging controls from an offensive perspective

Strong experience with the Matrix protocol would be extremely beneficial, including:

• Federation
• End-to-end encryption
• Identity
• Homeserver behaviour
• Client-server and server-server APIs
• Bridge architectures
• Security implications of decentralised messaging at scale

Benefits

• True remote flexibility - work from anywhere
• No report-writing drudgery - we use our custom portal
• Unlimited training to keep your skills sharp
• Unlimited vacation - because burnout helps no one
• Private medical insurance and pension scheme
• Conference speaking bonuses
• Hardware, software, lab environments, cloud credits and research materials you need to excel
• A culture of radical candor, continuous improvement and technical excellence

Company Description

At CovertSwarm, we take pride in pushing the boundaries of offensive security. Our team consists of passionate and humble professionals who value creativity, technical depth and delivering results that matter.

If you want to work at the intersection of offensive security, blockchain, encryption and financial infrastructure, we want to hear from you.

Ready to join the Swarm? Take the next step in your cybersecurity career by applying today. Let’s talk about how your skills, research mindset and offensive capability align with CovertSwarm’s mission to redefine offensive security.