Senior Zero Knowledge (ZK) Engineer

About Nexus 

The Nexus Project is a scientific and engineering effort bringing truth to the field of computation. We’re enabling bringing to life a new form of compute: verifiable computation, powered by open science and open-source software so it can benefit everyone. Our work aims to bring to life decades of advancements in zero-knowledge cryptography, achieved by many scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, into a single software system.

Nexus raised $25M in Series A funding, co-led by Lightspeed and Pantera, with participation from Dragonfly, SV Angel and more.  

Our team consists of some of the world's top cryptographers, mathematicians, and engineers, all working together with one goal: to unite the world's computers and prove humanity's computations.

We are headquartered in San Francisco, and this role will be in-person, with the rest of the Nexus team.

Senior Zero Knowledge (ZK) Engineer

We're looking for a highly skilled Senior Software Engineer focused to join our team and play a critical role in pushing the boundaries of privacy and scalability within our decentralized platform by designing, developing, and optimizing zero-knowledge proof systems. Your expertise in Rust will be instrumental in building efficient and secure solutions that contribute significantly to the advancement of Nexus and shape the future of computation.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement efficient zk-proof protocols and systems

• Conduct research and analysis of emerging zk-proof techniques and algorithms

• Develop and maintain libraries and tools for zk-proof generation, verification, and integration within the platform

• Optimize the performance and efficiency of zk-proof implementations, ensuring minimal resource consumption and low latency

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional engineering experience with a focus on cryptography 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related technical field

• Deep technical understanding of Rust, including knowledge of ownership, memory management, and concurrency

• Experience with common Rust libraries and frameworks for building high-performance systems

• Proven ability to write clean, efficient, and maintainable code

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills

• Ability to navigate ambiguity and make strategic decisions

Bonus Points

• Advanced degree in a technical field

• Experience with programming competitions and/or participation in the International Olympiad of Mathematics, International Math Olympiad, International Physics Olympiad, etc.

• Entrepreneurial spirit with an interest in spearheading new projects

• Experience with zero-knowledge proofs and zkVM concepts

• Contribution to open-source projects related to distributed systems or Rust programming

Benefits

• Competitive salary and generous equity compensation

• Health insurance for employees and their dependents

• Daily lunch and dinner provided at SF headquarters

• Company-paid travel to events and conferences

 Nexus is committed to diversity in our workforce and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO).