About Pagoda
Pagoda is shepherding a future where NEAR becomes the blockchain operating system. We believe that re-inventing how software is made and distributed is our greatest opportunity to open economic access to those who are not fully integrated into the global economy. Our products empower people to find opportunity, invent new experiences, and collaborate. Let's build an Open Web world. A world where people control their assets, data, and power of governance.
We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. Pagoda is committed to creating an inclusive culture, and we celebrate diversity of all kinds.
About The Role
The Protocol Engineering team at Pagoda is responsible for the infrastructure of the Layer 1 Blockchain, NEAR Protocol. We focus on building a scalable, performant, and reliable infrastructure to actualize visions of NEAR Protocol, including the Blockchain Operating System (BOS).
The core component of NEAR is a WebAssembly virtual machine that runs in a completely trustless and fully deterministic mode, as it executes contracts implemented in WebAssembly-friendly languages (e.g. Rust and Javascript) using a fast compiler. NEAR contributes a lot of effort into performance and safety optimizations of WebAssembly VMs/compilers which helps not only the NEAR protocol but the entire WebAssembly ecosystem.
We are looking for an Engineer with experience in low-level programming who is intrigued by a variety of open problems inherent to running compilers in completely trustless but high-performance settings, and who likes contributing to and collaborating with open-source communities.
What You'll Be Doing
In this role, you will be solving cutting-edge compiler and VM problems related to safe, deterministic, and high-performance compilation and execution. You will interface with many open-source projects where you might be asked to represent the NEAR organization. In the future, your work might also extend beyond WebAssembly VMs into other types of VMs that NEAR chooses to support. You’ll work on a collaborative and globally distributed team of world class experienced engineers, providing an opportunity to learn and grow your technical skill set.
What We're Looking For
- Knowledge and experience using Rust, C, or C++ in a production environment. We can teach you Rust if you are already a C or C++ expert
- Familiarity with low-level programming (compilers, operating systems, hypervisors, etc)
- Experience designing, maintaining, and debugging distributed systems built with open source tools
- Solid foundation with Algorithms and Data Structures and their real world use cases
- Demonstrated success working on a globally distributed team
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related fields is a must
We'd Love If You Have
- Contributions to open-source software
- Experience with Rust API design
- Experience with virtual machines
Here’s What Our Interview Process Looks Like
Depending on calendar availability, from the first stage to the final stage, we do our best to keep the entire process to under three weeks. Our interviews take place via Zoom and typically consists of the following stages:
- Internal Recruiter Call (30 to 45 minutes)
- Meet with the Hiring Manager (30-45 minutes)
- Technical Interviews (4 x 60 minutes)
- Pagoda Values Interview (30 to 45 minutes)
Please let us know if you require any special requirements for your interview and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
Ideal Location For This Role
This is a fully remote role, so that your timezone matches or overlaps with our leadership for this role, you’ll ideally be located in American continents or Europe.
Benefits & Perks
- Flexible Annual Leave / PTO with an encouraged 20 day per year minimum
- Paid Holiday Week: the last week of the year
- Paid Wellness Week: the first week of July
- $2,000 Yearly Continued Education Reimbursement
- $2,000 Home Office Setup Reimbursement
- Co-working Space Reimbursement
- Company Retreats (2022 was in Lisbon!) & Team Offsites
- Mental Health Support and access to licensed therapists through Spill, 100% paid by Pagoda
**Temporary short term contractors do not receive the above benefits
Our Values at Pagoda
Innovate and deliver—so our customers can build. We deliver new solutions for real, often urgent, customer needs. Practical over hype. We uphold our standards of excellence while balancing velocity and pragmatism.
Focus precious time and energy on what matters. We are intentional about where we aim our resources. We channel our talents to focus on the critical missions in order to make an outsized impact.
Favor ownership, agency and action. Everyone is an owner. As individuals, we are responsible and accountable for our work. We empower builders to make decisions and innovate without the burden of unnecessary roadblocks or complexity.
Work as a team of empathetic humans. We practice mutual respect, open communication, humility and collaboration. We are kind and empathetic. We are welcoming towards diversity in all forms, including differences of perspective.
Never break trust. Integrity is rare—and valuable—in this space. Reputation is hard to build and easy to break.