Who are we?

We believe Ethereum has the potential to solve some of humanity’s most crucial coordination issues. Since our initial inception as a research group, we have sought to scale both its technology and values.

At present, the most pressing bottleneck to the growth of Ethereum is its performance and scalability. We are building the most elegant solution to this problem. We do this in the open (under an MIT open source license) because we believe in open source innovation and its ability to accelerate growth.

OP Labs is building Optimism mainnet, and by extension, the infrastructure that powers all OP-Stack chains. We are improving Ethereum’s performance by orders of magnitude and donating the profits from doing so to funding Ethereum public goods. By operating as a Public Benefit Corporation, OP Labs can align its incentives with the public good and take positive-sum steps toward a sustainable future for the internet.

The Optimism Collective leads the blockchain protocol landscape, dedicated to fostering a scalable and sustainable ecosystem. Optimism’s ethos, in sync with Ethereum's vision, tackles pivotal coordination challenges of the digital age. Optimism’s goal is to harmonize private incentives with public good, shaping a resilient future for the Internet. Optimism’s scope spans diverse areas like Gaming, DeFi, NFTs, and Enterprise.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a Head of Security who brings deep expertise in protocols, smart contracts, and the unique challenges of securing decentralized ecosystems. Reporting to the COO, this role will play a pivotal part in driving Optimism’s security strategy. The ideal candidate will have strong ties to the crypto security community, potentially having worked with leading crypto audit firms, and will be comfortable navigating both strategic leadership and technical hands-on work.

What are the role responsibilities?

• Strategy and Leadership: Oversee the security of the Optimism Collective and the entire Superchain security $XXB in assets.

• Detection & Response: Develop robust threat detection and incident response capabilities, and stay up-to-date on emerging threats in the blockchain space.

• Smart Contracts & Protocol Security: Lead security reviews of smart contracts, ensure protocols are secure, identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, and ensure compliance with evolving regulations.

• Crypto Audit Expertise: Work with top crypto audit firms or internal audit teams to ensure the security of our systems, smart contracts, and infrastructure.

• Decentralized Development: Build frameworks that help our open-source contributors ship secure code across the OP-Stack ecosystem.

• Operations: Utilize runtime verification, static analysis, and other advanced tools to ensure security during both development and operational phases.

What skills do you bring?

• Proven experience in security leadership roles, preferably in the blockchain or cryptocurrency industry.

• Expertise in protocol design, smart contract security, and familiarity with formal verification techniques.

• Experience working with or at top crypto audit firms, with a strong understanding of the audit process and security best practices.

• Strong technical skills, including knowledge of automated security tools, fuzz testing, and other cutting-edge technologies.

• Familiarity with Ethereum, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and Layer 2 scaling solutions.

• Understanding of cross-chain bridges and other critical decentralized infrastructure.

• A track record of leading security teams in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, with excellent leadership and communication skills.

We are looking for a motivated security professional who is passionate about protecting the broader Ethereum ecosystem. The ideal candidate has a history of success in auditing smart contracts, working on protocol security, and building security teams in innovative, fast-moving environments.

What will you like about us?

• We take care of our employees. Competitive compensation, fully paid medical, dental, and vision, and a 4% 401K match—learn more about our benefits, culture, and all recruiting FAQ here.

• We take pride in the accomplishments of our teammates and support each other in doing the best work of our careers.

• Our team is a diverse group of people from varied backgrounds. We cherish our eclecticism and consider it a great strength.

• We’re fully remote, deeply engaged, highly skilled, and like to have fun.

• We think long-term. Our founders have been scaling Ethereum since 2015.