Blockstream is hiring a Rust-Simplicity Maintainer in Research — Remote. The overview below is synthesized from the employer posting on jobs.ashbyhq.com: factual requirements and scope are preserved, but prose is rewritten with editorial context. Verify details and apply via the employer link.
Blockstream was founded in 2014 by Dr. Adam Back and a group of fellow cryptographers and engineers who are passionate about Bitcoin and its potential to change the world.
As Rust-Simplicity Maintainer, you will be the primary steward of Blockstream’s Rust-based Simplicity implementation and associated libraries. These libraries include rust-simplicity, SimplicityHL, hal-simplicity, rust-elements, and elements-miniscript, all of which need to work together performantly, coherently and in sync with the wider Simplicity project.
This role includes architecture, implementation, review and maintenance of these libraries, which are written and Rust and cover creation, analysis and wallet integration of the Simplicity blockchain language.
What You’ll Be Doing (Responsibilities)
Day-to-day scope for the Rust-Simplicity Maintainer as described in the posting:
- Core Ownership: Maintain the Rust implementation of Simplicity, expanding it to cover new use-cases and improving our CI and QA processes.
- Multi-Repo Maintenance: The Simplicity integration covers multiple crates, including rust-simplicity, SimplicityHL, hal-simplicity, rust-elements, and elements-miniscript.
- Code Review & Quality Assurance: Provide at least one additional maintainer-level code review for each repository to ensure that nothing merges without at least one signoff independent of the author.
- Continuous Integration: Maintain and improve CI pipelines to ensure robust, automated testing and quick feedback on code changes.
- Ecosystem Integration: Collaborate with other teams to integrate Simplicity into Bitcoin-related projects, such as Elements and Liquid.
- Community Engagement: Review pull requests, manage GitHub issues, and guide open-source contributors across all maintained projects.
- Documentation: Maintain clear, developer-friendly documentation for internal and external audiences.
What We Look For In You (Required Qualifications)
Experience and skills the team lists as required:
- Strong proficiency in Rust (2+ years professional experience preferred).
- Familiarity with Bitcoin, blockchain protocols, or cryptographic systems.
- Strong written communication skills and ability to work in a globally distributed team.
Nice To Haves (Preferred Qualifications):
- Proven track record of maintaining or leading open-source projects.
- Knowledge of formal methods, theorem provers, or functional languages like Haskell.
- Understanding of Simplicity’s design goals and architecture.
- Experience with blockchain virtual machines, scripting systems, or transaction policy tools like Miniscript.
- Prior contributions to Bitcoin Core, Elements, or related protocol implementations.
🔒 Stay Safe from Job Scams
All official Blockstream communication will come from an @blockstream.com email address. We will never ask you to share sensitive information or purchase equipment during the hiring process.
Build a standout application
For the Rust-Simplicity Maintainer at Blockstream, reviewers look for concise evidence over buzzwords. Mirror the language of the posting sparingly, quantify support or delivery outcomes, and show how you handled ambiguity, time-zone collaboration and user empathy. Keep your resume to impact, keep your cover note to one page, and link to artifacts — tickets resolved, docs shipped, dashboards owned — that prove you can operate in a fast-moving Web3 team. Prepare to discuss a time you turned a confusing user report into a clear fix and how you measure quality in support and operations.
Web3 hiring values reliability: on-time follow-through, clear writing, and a track record of improving runbooks and tooling. Treat the application as a work sample. For interviews, be ready to walk through how you prioritize across time zones, handle a difficult user, and decide when to escalate versus resolve directly. Show how you document decisions so the next teammate benefits.
In a distributed Web3 org, trust builds through written clarity. Use the cover note to demonstrate it.
