About:

XMTP, Inc. was co-founded by Matt Galligan and Shane Mac, and is headquartered on the web. Our mission at XMTP Labs is to build a secure, open, and decentralized communication protocol that connects creators, communities, apps, and users. We set out to design a modern organization from the start—one that’s global, remote, and asynchronous-by-default.

We’re backed by some of the best investors in tech and crypto: a16z Crypto, Offline Ventures, Sound Ventures, Distributed Global, Redpoint, IDEO CoLab and many more key ecosystem investors and operators.See the full list here.

XMTP Labs is currently seeking a Head of Engineering to join our leadership team. XMTP enables the world's leading web3 developers to build apps that empower customers to have complete ownership over their communications and reach any wallet using end-to-end encryption Employees at XMTP Labs care deeply about privacy, encryption, and data sovereignty. We believe applications like Signal, iMessage, and WhatsApp have paved the way on privacy, and that the next step in giving individuals control over their communications is to decentralize the underlying messaging protocol.

As the Head of Engineering, you will leverage your expertise in managing teams working on deep, hard technical problems to further drive our company mission around privacy. Your technical vision, drawn from your own experiences and the shared experiences of our open-source community, will inspire developers to imagine what they can build in the XMTP ecosystem.

Your direct responsibility will be to lead the team overseeing all technical aspects of designing, developing, and operating a secure, decentralized network for high-throughput asynchronous private messaging. You will also be a member of our leadership team and will work closely with Product & Design to prioritize a user-friendly and developer-friendly experience, even given the complexity of technical operations required for managing a global distributed system.

This is an executive position requiring in-depth technical understanding and a proven track record of building and leading world-class software development organizations.

Your responsibilities

Technical vision

• You will establish a cohesive technical vision for all layers of the XMTP protocol and ecosystem, covering decentralization, messaging security, system scaling and reliability, developer tools and SDKs, and client applications.
• You will provide guidance to engineering teams on architecting practical technical solutions to critical problems faced by users, developers, and network operators.
• You will leverage extensive practical experience building complex systems and exhibit deep customer empathy to make efficient tradeoffs that optimize for protocol simplicity, developer satisfaction, and user value.

Delivery and execution

• You will lead engineering managers in applying best practices to ensure that teams deliver efficiently on an ambitious product roadmap.
• You will drive high-quality execution while building openly with a growing community of open-source developers.
• You will effectively manage company-level risks and dependencies, and regularly communicate progress to your peers, the team, and the community.

Team building

• You will oversee organizational design, staffing, and budgeting for a rapidly expanding team of teams.
• You will attract and retain top talent, providing mentorship and career development opportunities to team members.
• You will cultivate a collaborative work environment and an empowered team culture characterized by ownership, trust, and agility.

Your background

• You possess a strong background in distributed systems, blockchain infrastructure, and consensus mechanisms, and you have significant exposure to applied cryptography, secure system design, and privacy by design. You have at least 12 years of experience in related fields, with 2 years of working on web3 companies or projects. You are recognized in the industry for your technical contributions and leadership.
• You have at least 8 years of experience managing engineering teams, with 4 years of experience building, leading, and scaling larger engineering organizations from 20 to 50+. Your leadership experience includes hiring, managing, and developing engineering managers and tech leads, and you have a proven record of attracting top talent.
• You have experience with open-source software development, growing and developing open source communities, and managing teams working on open source projects.
• You possess strong verbal and written communication skills and can communicate effectively with technical, non-technical, and external stakeholders. You have been a close and trusted collaborator with PMs and Product leaders.
• You have a record of driving execution and action-orientation in a remote work environment.
• You have a Bachelor's degree or equivalent career experience in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field.

Benefits

• Generous and competitive compensation package
• Salary range between $230 - 275k(depending on experience + location)
• Remote-first environment with semi-yearly gatherings to connect IRL
• Full paid Medical, Dental, Vision insurance
• Parental Leave
• IT Equipment and WFH setup
• Monthly Wellness and Life>
• Personal assistant
• Flexible vacation (with minimum requirements to ensure rest and time-off to pursue your passions outside of work)
• And much more!

Culture

We think of ourselves as a “grown-up” startup—building a company that’s fair, equitable, and rewarding for everyone to work at, with an emphasis on having fun while building an ambitious project.