Research Intern – Applied Cryptography, Mechanism Design

Job Description

Research Internship | Chainlink Labs

The Tone:
This is a Research Internship at Chainlink Labs, a globally remote company. Chainlink is the industry-standard oracle platform, powering the majority of decentralized finance (DeFi) by bringing capital markets onchain. It provides essential data, interoperability, compliance, and privacy standards for advanced blockchain use cases, having secured tens of trillions in transaction value and being adopted by major financial institutions worldwide. This role is crucial for identifying and solving key research challenges, developing production solutions, and keeping Chainlink at the forefront of oracle system deployment to fuel the success of the smart contract ecosystem.

The TL;DR
• Role: Internship
• Location: Remote, Global

• Mission: Identify and solve critical research challenges across applied cryptography, mechanism design, and distributed systems, while building production solutions that advance Chainlink’s oracle technology leadership and fuel the smart contract ecosystem.
• Tech Stack: Go, Typescript, Solidity, Python, LATEX, git, Linux/Unix

What You’ll Actually Do
• Research Identification: Identify short- and long-term research challenges critical to the company’s success in decentralized oracle technologies.
• Innovation Transition: Transition innovations from Chainlink Labs into production solutions that keep Chainlink at the forefront of oracle system deployment.
• Oracle Technology Development: Study, invent, and build cutting-edge oracle technologies for the benefit of both the company and the wider community.
• Ecosystem Monitoring: Stay abreast of the evolution of relevant technology ecosystems, including blockchain and smart contracts.
• Community Engagement: Participate in relevant technical communities for more effective application development and to guide research toward practical and impactful work.

The Must-Haves
• Background: This role requires a B.S. in computer science or equivalent professional experience, combined with coursework in algorithms, data structures, and discrete math. This is an internship for students or early-career professionals.
• Experience: Candidates must have professional software development experience. Familiarity with the academic process, including the ability to perform literature searches and comprehend relevant research papers in a wider context, is also required.
• Skills: Core skills include algorithms, data structures, discrete mathematics, and professional software development. The ability to engage with academic literature and comprehend research papers is essential.
• Bonus: Preferred qualifications include an advanced computer science or related degree, coursework in applied and theoretical cryptography, mechanism design, or distributed systems. Familiarity with Go or Rust, alongside broad knowledge of blockchain technologies and smart contracts, is also a plus.