Research Engineer

Plasma is a purpose-built blockchain for stablecoin payments. Engineered from the ground up to address the unique needs of stablecoins, Plasma provides a scalable, efficient, and secure foundation for the next generation of money movement. We believe stablecoins can transform global finance and improve financial access worldwide. To reach the next level of adoption, dedicated and purpose-built infrastructure is required. We are looking for a Research Engineer to join the team. This is a high-impact role which will involve creating initiatives to develop our chain from the specific lens of optimising Plasma One, our stablecoin-focused neobank.

What You Will Do

• Turn ill-defined problems into executable plans: clarify the problem, identify constraints, define success metrics, and propose a small number of viable approaches.
• Evaluate build vs buy decisions for cryptography and privacy, e.g. confidentiality mechanisms and confidential transaction designs: assess existing solutions, identify gaps, and recommend whether to integrate, adapt, or design anew.
• Produce high-quality design specifications that engineers can implement: threat models, protocol sketches, interface boundaries, performance assumptions, and roll-out considerations.
• Build proofs-of-concept where useful to validate feasibility, performance, and integration risk (coding is important, but not the primary focus of the role).
• Research and recommend improvements across key protocol concerns, including (but not limited to): Zero-knowledge and applied cryptography, Block propagation and networking, Consensus and finality trade-offs, Latency reduction and performance tuning.
• Communicate trade-offs clearly across functions (Product, Research, Engineering, Platform): help align “where we want to go” with “how we get there” and what is realistically deliverable.
• Operate with focus and leverage: work as part of a small research group (2–3 people maximum), prioritising the highest-impact investigations and unblocking others through clear guidance.
• Maintain high standards of rigour: produce work that stands up to scrutiny (security assumptions, adversarial thinking, and correctness), while staying grounded in what’s practical to ship.

Who You Are

• A researcher at heart who can also build: you can take an idea from “promising on paper” to “credible in practice”.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity: you enjoy shaping ill-defined problems into clear questions, options, and decisions.
• Pragmatic and product-aware: you balance what’s possible with what’s worthwhile, and you know when to integrate existing solutions vs building something novel.
• Cryptography- and protocol-minded: you think in terms of trade-offs, adversaries, performance constraints, and real-world deployment.
• Clear communicator: you can explain complex technical choices simply, and produce crisp artefacts (design specs, evaluations) that engineers can execute.
• Opinionated but evidence-led: you can propose a direction, defend it, and change your mind quickly when the data says so.
• Comfortable working closely with leadership and across functions, reporting into our CTO and collaborating with our Product and Engineering teams.

Nice to Have

• Strong publication track record, particularly in top-tier security/crypto venues (e.g. IEEE S&P, CCS, NDSS, USENIX Security, Financial Cryptography) or equivalent demonstrated impact.
• Experience with real-world ZK systems (proving systems, circuit design trade-offs, verifier constraints, performance/security considerations).
• Prior work on protocol performance: block propagation, mempool dynamics, networking under adversarial conditions, latency/finality trade-offs.
• Applied cryptography experience beyond papers: taking ideas from research into prototype implementations and production-minded designs.
• Comfortable forming and defending technical opinions: you can propose a direction, explain why, and update your view quickly when evidence changes.
• Familiarity with modern blockchain protocol design, especially areas adjacent to privacy, throughput, and latency (rather than unrelated academic optimisation problems).

Team Culture

At Plasma, you’ll be joining a team that’s redefining how the world interacts with money. We’re building the best team in the world - people who are relentless about their craft and expect the same from you. This is not the place for half measures; it’s where you’ll do the hardest, most meaningful work of your career alongside those who demand excellence of themselves and everyone around them. We work with trust, clarity, and ambition. Everyone owns their craft and contributes beyond it, moving fast and backing each other to deliver. Our culture is built for those who thrive on challenge and want to leave a mark → because here, good isn’t good enough.

Salary and Benefits

At Plasma, we provide each team member with the tools they need to succeed. Benefits for full-time employees include:

• An above market salary with token compensation.
• Comprehensive insurance coverage with premiums for you and your family covered by Plasma.
• Monthly wellness stipends.
• Visa sponsorships and re-location benefits.
• Offices located in the heart of London, including access to a gym and daily lunches.
• Generous annual software and hardware allowances and a flexible time off policy.

We look after you.

Data Protection & Privacy

We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. Any personal information you provide during the recruitment process will be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable local data protection laws.