Senior Software Engineer, Core

Blockchain DeveloperInterested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem.In this role you'll be designing, building, and implementing changes to Stellar Core - the primary distributed system that is used for maintaining Stellar's ledger and obtaining global consensus.As a member of our team, you'll have the opportunity to work on a wide variety of problems focused on growing and scaling our global network. This includes designing and implementing features that increase the performance of the network (peer to peer networking and processing performance), decentralization (resilience to nodes failing or coordinating to attack the network) as well as proper incentive mechanics for network participants.You'll be playing with formal models and verification (consensus), simulation (confirm emergent properties) in addition to typical scalability problems (distributed and multi-core).In this role, you will:Design and build key components of Stellar Core - the backbone software behind the Stellar Network.Design and develop robust, scalable, and extensible technologies that empower our developers and network participants.Collaborate on new architectures and subsystems, working alongside our CTO, our team of engineers, and our community of open source developers.Write clean, maintainable code with an emphasis on edge case analysis and future-proofing our work.Own core subsystems of Stellar Core, and help the team hit critical product milestones.Collaborate with the team on code review and design, and contribute to best practices for all of engineering at SDF.Investigate and refactor performance bottlenecks in order to continue scaling the system.Author detailed technical feature and protocol (RFC) specifications - we take design seriously, and we encourage everyone to be a part of our RFC processes.You have:4+ years of experience developing software on a team.A BS or MS in Computer Science or equivalent field.Excel in writing code in modern C++ or Rust in a production environment.A great communicator that can advocate and lead technical discussions, especially during the design and code review process.A solid understanding of software design patterns, and how to build components that are reusable, extensible, and modular.Knowledge of best practices and development tools and a passion for technological innovation.A passion for performance debugging and benchmarking.Love for a good challenge in an ever-evolving space - many of the challenges we face are being faced for the first time!Enthusiasm about working on a small, growing team where you'll be given a lot of autonomy.Open, empathetic, and care about putting the best ideas forward in a collaborative and helpful manner.Bonus Points if:You have direct experience with designing and implementing distributed systems.You have a strong curiosity in blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies, and understand the fundamentals of these systems.We offer competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $180,000 - $280,000 depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen-denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependentsFlexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company-wide holiday breakGenerous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parentsGym reimbursement ($80 per month)Life & ADD (up to $50K)Short & Long term disability401K with 4% matchHealth & Dependent Care FSA AccountsCommuter benefits with $250/month employer contributionHealth Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contributionFamily building benefits through KindbodyWellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)L&D budget of $1,500/yearDaily lunch and snacks in officeCompany retreatsStellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world's economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility.The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting change-makers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else.We look forward to hearing from you!By submitting your application, you are agreeing to our use and processing of your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.SDF is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. SDF does not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal law.