Distributed Systems Researcher - Remote Position

About the Role

We are seeking a Distributed Systems Researcher to join our team at Flashbots. This remote position offers the opportunity to work on groundbreaking research in distributed systems and consensus mechanisms at the heart of Ethereum and MEV. You will be instrumental in translating academic ideas into practical applications, contributing to the future of decentralized finance.

What You'll Do

• Read, formalize, and prototype consensus mechanisms relevant to Ethereum L1 and L2.
• Model incentive structures and attack surfaces under realistic MEV and latency conditions.
• Collaborate with colleagues on TEEs, relays, and PBS variants to analyze threat models and improve protocol design.
• Explore questions regarding multiple concurrent proposers (MCP) and their effects on proposer fairness under MEV regimes.
• Investigate the role of relays in a geo-decentralized ePBS-Ethereum and how inclusion lists can improve validator diversity.

Requirements

• PhD or equivalent experience in distributed systems, cryptography, mathematics, or related fields.
• Strong foundation in distributed systems, consensus, or network protocols.
• Experience writing or reading academic-grade research reports and small prototypes in Python, Rust, or Go.
• Ability to formalize and reason about safety, liveness, and incentive compatibility.
• Clarity in technical writing, capable of distilling complex ideas into precise outputs.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Trusted Execution Environments (Intel TDX, AMD SEV).
• Background in cryptographic or privacy-preserving systems (MPC, FHE, ZK).
• Contributions to ethresear.ch, EIPs, or open-source projects.

What We Offer

• Unlimited PTO with a high level of freedom and autonomy for your work.
• Attractive health coverage package for US employees.
• $3000 yearly budget for individual learning and development goals.
• Remote working with a preference for EU/US time zones.
• Paid travel for team on-site meetings and events.