About Us
Defuse Labs develops NEAR Intents, enabling seamless cross-chain interactions across decentralized applications, services, and financial systems. We build intent-driven liquidity infrastructure that abstracts blockchain complexity and allows users and applications to transact efficiently across ecosystems.
With expertise in cryptography, decentralized finance, and distributed systems, our team is building the next generation of interoperability and liquidity infrastructure for Web3.
Our team operates in startup mode: high ownership, fast execution, strong technical standards, and a clear mission to make decentralized systems more accessible, efficient, and useful at scale. We thrive in ambiguity, move quickly, and enjoy solving complex problems that do not have predefined answers.
About the Position
We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer (Solvers) to architect and guide the development of our Solver network—the core infrastructure powering NEAR Intents. In this role, you'll lead engineering design and implementation, enhance performance and reliability, and build the next generation of intent‑powered cross-chain execution.
Responsibilities
- Design & build the Solver framework: Architect the algorithms, execution strategies, and infrastructure that power solver competition, quote aggregation, and intent-ready execution workflows.
- Drive technical excellence: Lead deep code and design reviews, make high-impact architectural decisions, and uphold the highest engineering standards.
- Collaborate across teams: Work with product, research, and ecosystem partners to align Solver capabilities with the NEAR Intents roadmap.
- Guarantee performance at scale: Ensure low-latency, high-throughput execution across chains and decentralized environments.
- Innovate Solver economics: Shape incentive structures, competition mechanisms, and cryptoeconomic models to grow and sustain Solver participation.
- Stay hands-on: Balance leadership with active coding, prototyping, and tackling the most complex technical challenges in real-time.
Requirements
- 7+ years of software engineering experience.
- Deep expertise in distributed systems, high-performance networking, large-scale infrastructure, or low-latency systems.
- Strong familiarity with smart contracts, on‑chain execution frameworks, or cryptoeconomics.
- Strong TypeScript and JavaScript experience is required.
- High degree of ownership: you are comfortable operating with incomplete information, making decisions independently, and driving complex initiatives to successful outcomes in a fast-moving startup environment.
Nice to Have
- Experience with Go, Rust, C/C++ is a strong plus.
- Experience building MEV strategies, solver networks, or competitive auction mechanisms.
- Familiarity with cross-chain messaging protocols or cryptographic signature aggregation.
- Knowledge of AI/ML applied to optimization problems.
- Prior work in open-source ecosystems, especially in Web3-native protocols.
Recruitment Disclaimer
All personal data submitted by you as part of a job application, whether through our website, will be processed exclusively for recruitment and selection purposes. By submitting such data, you acknowledge and consent to its use for assessing your qualifications, contacting you regarding relevant opportunities, and maintaining a candidate profile for potential future openings.
For more detailed information about how your data is processed in the context of recruitment, including your rights under applicable data protection laws, please refer to our Privacy Policy, or contact us at [email protected]
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
