Ethereum Foundation is hiring a Protocol Security Researcher (Europe).
The Ethereum Foundation
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is a global non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Ethereum. Our mission is to help Ethereum remain secure, decentralized, and resilient over the long term by supporting critical protocol work and the broader ecosystem.
Key Responsibilities
The Protocol Security team helps prevent vulnerabilities from reaching Ethereum mainnet.
We work across the execution layer, consensus layer, networking, specifications, testing, and client implementations to identify security issues before they become production incidents. Our work combines deep protocol knowledge with security research, manual review, fuzzing, AI-assisted analysis, audits, and coordinated disclosure.
We're looking for engineers who already understand Ethereum deeply.
The strongest candidates are already active in Ethereum protocol development. Ideally you have deep experience with the execution layer, consensus layer, specifications, testing infrastructure, or other protocol-critical components.
What you'll work on
Examples include:
- AI-assisted security research and automated bug discovery.
- Reviewing upcoming hardforks.
- Finding vulnerabilities across Ethereum protocol implementations.
- Building and improving fuzzers.
- Improving the team's automation and security tooling.
- Manual security review of Ethereum protocol changes.
- Working closely with Protocol DevOps, Specifications, researchers, and protocol implementers.
- Coordinating responsible disclosure.
- Supporting external audits and audit competitions.
Qualifications & Requirements
We're primarily looking for people with deep Ethereum protocol experience.
Ideal backgrounds include:
- Deep familiarity with the execution layer or consensus layer.
- Deep familiarity with EL or CL specifications.
- Experience implementing or reviewing protocol changes.
- Strong understanding of Ethereum networking, consensus, or execution internals.
Security experience should include one or more of:
- AI-assisted security workflows.
- Protocol security research.
- Fuzzing.
- Vulnerability research.
- Manual application security review.
- Building security tooling.
Languages commonly used include Go, Rust, Java, C#, Nim, and Python.
We're much less concerned with a specific number of years than with demonstrated technical depth.
About Ethereum Foundation
Ethereum Foundation, established in 2014 in Zug, Switzerland by Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood and fellow Ethereum founders, stewards the Ethereum protocol and ecosystem as a non-profit. With headquarters in Zug and teams distributed globally, the Foundation funds protocol research, client development, cryptography, Devcon and grant programs spanning scaling, privacy and public goods. Ethereum itself launched in 2015 as a general-purpose smart contract platform now securing significant on-chain value and developer activity worldwide. The Foundation emphasizes minimal intervention, credibly neutral research and long-term sustainability over commercial product building. Its work includes support for upgrades such as The Merge and ongoing Verge, Scourge and Purge roadmaps. Expect a research-oriented, community-minded culture that values open collaboration, rigorous peer review and building enduring public infrastructure for the open internet.