Validator Research Analyst

As stewards of the Polkadot and Substrate ecosystem, Parity is laying the foundation for a better web which respects the freedom and data of individuals and empowers developers to create better services through decentralised technology. The internet is too important to billions of people for it to be at the mercy of a few powerful companies.

Like Polkadot, Parity was built on a foundation of being decentralised and open, which trickles down to how we work. We’re a distributed organisation and have been from the beginning. Being distributed isn’t just a way of doing business—it’s a mentality that is at the core of our culture. We have a flat structure that pushes power to the edges and empowers our people to take ownership of their role, authority coupled with responsibilities.

About the team:

As a Validator Research Analyst (VRA) and apprentice to our Master of Validators, you will help Parity’s collaborators in the Web 3 ecosystem build the future of Polkadot by supporting infrastructure partners, application builders, chain builders, and end users.

A VRA will contribute value to the ecosystem by helping decentralize the network further with various infrastructure, governance, and community initiatives. Some days this means reviewing treasury proposals or designing new feature sets of existing external products, other days this means contributing code to core microservices. A VRA works together with the community of builders, enabling them to produce shared value.

About the position:

As a Validator Research Analyst, you will be responsible forl:

• Facilitating Developer Relations with infrastructure providers (~DevOps DevRel).
• Empowering our partners - validators, node operators, exchanges, financial institutions, block explorers, wallets, etc. - to succeed in operating and integrating Polkadot and Substrate-based chains into their systems.
• Coordinating ecosystem builders in designing products and features that bring shared value to the ecosystem
• Enabling parachain builders in launching their networks.
• Maintaining relationships with partners and supporting them long-term.
• Contributing full-stack engineering to systems of microservices that power critical products and services in the ecosystem
• Cultivating community led projects via decentralized governance systems.
• Contributing to documentation to ensure that our resources answers common questions and stays up to date.
• Collecting and communicating feedback to inform product development.

About you:

This role is a ‘generalist’ style role, we aren’t looking for someone with all of these skills, we’re looking for someone who is fundamentally smart, has a genuine and demonstrable interest in Polkadot, decentralisation and working with a like minded community to work towards creating a truly decentralised Polkadot. However we are looking for at least some of the following;

• Deep knowledge of how Polkadot works at a protocol level, including consensus, storage, and various key system pallets
• Exceptional knowledge of Linux, including security aspects, networking and virtualization (3 years min)
• Experience with containerization including Docker and Kubernetes
• Infrastructure as code mindset: Experience with configuration management (e.g. Ansible) and cloud orchestration (e.g. Terraform)
• Values monitoring and observability, with metrics being a guiding factor towards implemenations and operations
• Has worked in Cloud Native (GCP, AWS, Azure, etc) environments before.
• Knowledge of and interest in decentralized technologies.
• Experience in Typescript (Rust is also a nice plus)
• Ability to communicate complex technical information in a clear, precise, and concise manner to a wide range of key stakeholders
• Ability to communicate and function in a distributed team.

About working for us:

For everyone who joins us:

• Competitive remuneration packages, including tokens (where legally possible), based on iterative market research
• Remote-first, global working environment with flexible hours
• Collaborative, fast-paced, and self-initiating culture, designed to mimic an open source workflow
• Energising and collaborative team and company retreats all over the world
• Opportunity to learn more about Web3 while on the job, with access to some of the brightest minds in this space; we have plenty of educational initiatives such as internal sessions, all-hands, AMAs, hackathons, etc.
• Teammates who are genuinely excited about their job, impact, and Parity’s mission
• Opportunity to relocate to Germany or Portugal

For those joining us as employees in Germany, Portugal, or the U.K.:

• 28 paid vacation days per year
• Work laptop (macOS or Linux-based) and equipment to enable you to work successfully

• £2,500 yearly learning and development budget for conferences or courses of your choice