We are looking for a Protocol Engineer with deep Rust expertise and smart contract security experience to join our team. In this role, you will play a critical part in securing Rust-based smart contracts and blockchain integrations, ensuring their robustness, reliability, and security.

Your responsibilities

• Design and secure smart contract architectures for Rust-based environments, ensuring safe and efficient execution.
• Conduct in-depth security assessments of Rust-based smart contracts (CosmWasm, Solana, or other Rust-based VMs), cryptographic implementations, and blockchain interactions.
• Identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities, including reentrancy, access control flaws, and cryptographic weaknesses.
• Optimize smart contract performance and memory safety in Rust environments.
• Work closely with engineering teams to integrate security best practices throughout the development lifecycle.
• Develop secure coding guidelines, automated security testing frameworks, and fuzzing tools for Rust-based smart contracts.
• Investigate and respond to security incidents, conducting post-incident analysis and implementing preventive measures.
• Stay up to date with the latest developments in blockchain security, smart contract vulnerabilities, and Rust security best practices to enhance our security posture.

Your profile

• 5+ years of experience as a Protocol Engineer, Blockchain Engineer, or Smart Contract Security Engineer.
• Strong expertise in Rust and Rust-based smart contract development (CosmWasm, Solana, or other Rust-based blockchain VMs), best practices and conventions
• Deep understanding of smart contract security vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies in Rust environments.
• Strong cryptographic knowledge relevant to blockchain security.
• Hands-on experience with penetration testing, code audits, or security research in Web3 ecosystems.
• Excellent communication skills to work effectively across teams.

Why us?

• Autonomous, distributed environment with the opportunity to work collaboratively in a diverse team worldwide.
• The scope to contribute to high-impact work and make a difference in a decentralized protocol.
• The chance to challenge yourself whilst learning heaps of stuff in the process.
• Unlimited time off throughout the year to rest and recharge.
• Competitive compensation with stock options, experiencing growth from the initial phase.

About us

Interop Labs builds interoperability technology.

Interoperability between blockchains is crucial technology infrastructure for the growth of Web3 and the advancement of internet technology as a whole. Interop Labs is the initial developer of Axelar Network - the programmable Web3 interoperability platform, scaling the next generation of internet applications to billions of users. Axelar network’s key attributes are programmability, security and scalability.

Axelar has raised over $100 million from leading VCs including DCVC, Galaxy, Polychain, Dragonfly, Coinbase, and more. Its diverse partner ecosystem spans industry heavyweights such as Ripple, Circle, dYdX, Uniswap, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft, and others—underscoring Axelar’s unique market position and opportunity in unifying stacks between traditional finance and decentralized ecosystems. Axelar protocol was founded by Sergey Gorbunov (MIT PhD, UWaterloo Professor) and Georgios Vlachos (MIT MSc, Math Gold Medalist), who previously helped to build and launch Algorand.