Staff Smart Contracts Engineer

Overview

Job Description

Responsibilities

• - Writing and deploying smart contracts that govern the economics of the XMTP protocol
• - Working with the team to design novel incentive models to reward offchain node operators and collect messaging fees
• - Design & Implement Tokenomics Contracts: Lead the development of complex token contracts (ERC-20, staking, governance, vesting, distribution, liquidity management) tailored to evolving protocol needs
• - Upgradability & Governance: Architect upgradeable contracts (e.g., via OpenZeppelin proxy patterns) ensuring safe, controlled, and transparent change management
• - Security & Audits: Champion security best practices, lead internal reviews, coordinate with third-party auditors, and implement continuous monitoring of deployed contracts
• - Production-Grade Operations: Manage large-scale funds in production environments, ensuring availability, integrity, and protection of treasury and user assets
• - Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with economics, product, and legal teams to translate tokenomics know-how into practical, deployable smart contract systems
• - Mentorship & Standards: Establish engineering best practices for smart contract development, mentor other engineers, and raise the bar for security, efficiency, and maintainability

Required Skills

• - Minimum of 7+ years of professional experience as a software engineer, staff level
• - Extensive experience designing, building, and maintaining cryptoeconomic systems
• - Architected and designed complex protocols onchain
• - Experience working with auditors to find vulnerabilities
• - Writing well-tested Solidity code
• - 5+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years focused on Solidity / EVM-based smart contracts
• - Proven track record of deploying and maintaining production-grade contracts managing significant funds
• - Deep familiarity with tokenomics mechanisms: staking, bonding curves, vesting, emissions schedules, treasury management
• - Strong understanding of EVM internals, gas optimization, and advanced contract design patterns
• - Hands-on experience with upgradable contracts, proxy patterns, and governance-controlled upgrade systems
• - Security Focus: Prior experience working with formal verification, fuzzing, or static analysis tools
• - Contributions to audits, incident response, or security-critical systems
• - Leadership: Ability to balance long-term protocol sustainability with near-term delivery needs

Benefits

• - Competitive compensation package, Base + Equity
• - Remote-first environment with semi-yearly gatherings to connect IRL
• - Fully paid Medical, Dental, Vision insurance in the US
• - Parental Leave
• - IT Equipment and WFH setup
• - Monthly Wellness and Lifestyle stipend
• - Personal assistant
• - Unlimited time off