Blockchain Engineer

Spiral is the first free, open-source, non-profit organization dedicated to bitcoin within a large technology company. We contribute to the development of bitcoin by writing code, providing grants to open-source projects and individuals, raising public awareness, entertaining, and pushing the boundaries of what a small team can achieve to influence the future of money. While many see bitcoin only as digital gold, Spiral believes that, thanks to the Lightning Network, bitcoin is on its way to fulfilling its promises and realizing its potential as a global standard for peer-to-peer payments.

The Team

We are looking to strengthen our team of six engineers, who are exclusively dedicated to the development of the Lightning Development Kit (LDK).

The LDK is a comprehensive open-source project that allows developers to efficiently build Lightning applications. It includes a full implementation of the Lightning Network protocol written in Rust, APIs, language bindings, demo applications, and much more. The LDK is used in dozens of projects around the world, including Lightspark, Cash App, Alby, and BitKit.

LDK engineers working for Spiral spend a large part of their time writing code, reviewing it, answering questions, writing documentation, and accepting relevant patches and merge requests proposed by other contributors. The goal of the LDK is to develop a sustainable open-source project that is welcoming to newcomers, beneficial to users, and ultimately not dependent on a single source of funding. The development roadmap is transparent, and company priorities do not take precedence over those of the users.

Your Responsibilities

• Contribute to the LDK by writing and reviewing code, improving testing infrastructure, and providing support to projects and companies that use the LDK
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of features such as:
  • Language bindings, including Java/Kotlin, C#, JavaScript/WASM/browser extensions, and Swift
  • Support for splicing and dual-funded channels
  • Support for Taproot, including musig, PTLCs, multi-signature scripts, and custom scripts
  • Improving the performance, scalability, and robustness of the LDK
  • BOLT 12, VSS, and anchor outputs
  • A server version of the LDK
• When you are not focused on these tasks, you will contribute to improving bitcoin through exciting projects of your choice. Almost anything is possible.

Your Skills

• 8+ years of professional experience
• Hands-on experience with bitcoin and the Lightning Network
• Programming experience with Rust, C, or C++
• The ability to thrive in ambiguity and develop creative solutions to complex problems
• An interest in bitcoin

How to Apply

• Add a link to your GitHub profile (if you have one), mention any side projects you have worked on that you think are interesting to share with us, and explain in a few words why you are a good fit for this position.

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We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build an inclusive workplace? Check out our Inclusion & Diversity page

Application Guidelines

Candidates may submit up to 9 active applications within a 60-day period. Reapplications to the same role are accepted 90 days after a previous application has been reviewed.

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Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Remote work, medical insurance, flexible time off, retirement savings plans, and modern family planning are just some of our offering. Check out our other benefits at Block.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) builds technology to increase access to the global economy. Each of our brands unlocks different aspects of the economy for more people. Square makes commerce and financial services accessible to sellers. Cash App is the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Afterpay is transforming the way customers manage their spending over time. TIDAL is a music platform that empowers artists to thrive as entrepreneurs. Bitkey is a simple self-custody wallet built for bitcoin. Proto is a suite of bitcoin mining products and services. Together, we’re helping build a financial system that is open to everyone.

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