Research Cryptographer & Mathematician
Heliax is a remote-first company that researches, develops, deploys, and maintains open-source protocols and mechanisms.
Maintainer signals as of 9/2/2026
About Heliax
Heliax develops open-source protocols, cryptographic mechanisms, products, and networks for decentralized coordination, privacy, finance, and distributed systems. Its work includes research and implementation involving zero-knowledge proofs, threshold encryption, distributed key generation, and related cryptographic protocols. Heliax’s explicitly identified projects include Anoma, an intent-centric distributed operating system architecture, and Namada, a proof-of-stake Layer 1 focused on interchain, asset-agnostic privacy.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
Design, evaluate, and implement cryptographic protocols and primitives, including zero-knowledge proofs, threshold encryption, distributed key generation, elliptic curves, hash functions, and multi-party protocols. Produce technical specifications, implement and test cryptographic operations primarily in Rust, review implementations for correctness and performance, and collaborate with engineers on production implementations.
Requirements
- Mathematical and/or cryptographic background in complexity theory, abstract algebra, and cryptographic protocol design
- Expertise in constructive protocol design and analysis of distributed cryptographic protocols
- Experience designing or implementing a protocol through research, experimentation, professional work, or detailed technical writing
- Proficiency in Rust for implementing and testing cryptographic code
- Must be based in Europe, including the UK, and willing to travel to Berlin for initial onboarding
Responsibilities
- Design new cryptographic protocols from first principles
- Evaluate and analyze existing cryptographic protocols such as zkSNARKs and zkSTARKs
- Update, alter, reimplement, and combine cryptographic protocols for proofs-of-concept and production use-cases
- Produce comprehensive technical specifications for cryptographic protocol designs
- Implement, review, and test cryptographic operations and protocols primarily in Rust
- Collaborate with engineers on implementations of cryptographic protocols
Benefits
- Remote-first work
- Relocation assistance and visa support