Senior Data Scientist

Skills

About the Role

You will lead empirical research into blockchain protocols, MEV, and market structure to inform Optimum's networking products and analytics strategy. Reasoning from raw on-chain data, protocol behavior, MEV, orderflow, market structure, and network-level timing signals, you will generate product insights at the intersection of networking infrastructure, decentralized systems, and empirical blockchain research, where millisecond-level differences can have meaningful economic consequences. This is a high-ownership, high-visibility role where you will shape research methodology, influence product direction, and communicate findings across Product, Research, Economics, and Engineering.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in quantitative research, empirical blockchain research, data science, or a similarly analytical role, ideally in crypto, market structure, distributed systems, or latency-sensitive environments
• Strong statistical background and experimental rigor, including A/B testing, causal inference, quasi-experiments, diff-in-diff, and instrumental variables
• Strong blockchain research expertise with Ethereum or another major L1/L2 ecosystem and hands-on empirical on-chain research experience
• Direct familiarity with MEV, block building, orderflow, validator/proposer dynamics, transaction propagation, and blockchain market structure
• Experience building predictive and analytical models including regression, classification, time-series analysis, and modern machine learning techniques
• Fluency in Python and SQL and experience with modern analytical data platforms such as BigQuery or Snowflake
• A product mindset with ability to frame ambiguous questions and translate research into actionable insights
• High autonomy and ownership
• Prior work in a research organization, protocol team, crypto trading firm, MEV/searcher team, or infrastructure company is a plus
• Familiarity with networking concepts, latency measurement, and distributed/decentralized systems is a plus
• Experience working in an early-stage company is a plus

Responsibilities

• Own empirical research into MEV, block building, orderflow, validator/proposer behavior, latency-sensitive execution, and related market-structure dynamics
• Work with on-chain, mempool, relay, validator, and network-level datasets, including sources such as Xatu, to identify actionable patterns and quantify opportunity areas
• Translate open-ended research questions into rigorous analysis, clear conclusions, and product-relevant recommendations
• Formulate clear hypotheses, define falsifiable tests, evaluate evidence rigorously, and translate findings into actionable decisions
• Design and evaluate experiments, measurements, and causal analyses for latency-sensitive blockchain systems
• Build analytical frameworks that distinguish signal from noise in complex, high-variance environments
• Develop predictive, statistical, and simulation-based models that answer concrete product, research, and strategy questions
• Document assumptions, limitations, methodology, and results to a high standard
• Partner closely with Product, Economics, Research, and Engineering to turn blockchain research into product direction and strategic insight
• Help define which signals matter, how they should be measured, and how they could become customer-facing product primitives
• Work with Engineering on data pipelines, evaluation tooling, and production-ready research infrastructure
• Communicate complex methodology and market-structure insights clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences

Benefits

• Flexible time off
• Fully remote work
• Equity