Core Protocol Engineer

About the Company

Ritual is building a sovereign, execution layer for AI, with our private testnet already live and running. The Ritual chain is the first blockchain custom-built to support AI-native operations, designed from the ground up to enable a new class of applications at the intersection of crypto and AI.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement extensions to EVM clients (Geth/Reth) for supporting stateful precompiles
• Implement novel mechanism design primitives into the execution layer
• Develop and optimize transaction processing pipelines for heterogeneous workloads
• Research and implement solutions for state access conflicts
• Contribute to core protocol development and EIP implementations
• Collaborate with the research team on protocol specifications and mechanism design improvements
• Design and implement robust testing frameworks for execution client modifications

Requirements

• Deep understanding of EVM internals and Ethereum execution clients (Geth/Reth)
• Strong experience implementing and optimizing precompiles
• Expertise in Go, Rust, and Solidity
• Thorough knowledge of Ethereum's roadmap and protocol discussions
• Experience with parallel execution patterns in blockchain systems
• Strong understanding of consensus mechanisms and blockchain architecture
• Ability to read, understand, and implement EIPs and protocol specifications
• Proven track record of shipping production-grade blockchain systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of mempool dynamics, transaction ordering, and mev-boost
• Background in mechanism design or market systems
• Deep knowledge of proof systems and their trade-offs
• Experience optimizing proof generation and verification pipelines
• Experience with cross-chain bridges or interoperability protocols
• Contributions to Ethereum client codebases
• Background in distributed systems and concurrent programming

Benefits

• Highly competitive compensation package including annual discretionary bonus
• 100% of premiums covered on highest quality healthcare
• Aggressive company 401k match
• Fully remote work options