Job Description
**Company Description Rivellum is an intent-centric Layer-1 blockchain infrastructure company building a new execution model for deterministic outcomes. Instead of centering the protocol around traditional transactions, Rivellum is designed around intents, encrypted submission, deterministic parallel execution lanes, post-seal ordering, and a Universal Value Layer that prevents contracts from directly custodying user funds. The goal is to reduce structural MEV, improve value safety, support predictable fees, and create a stronger foundation for developer tooling, autonomous agents, and real-time applications. The current system is a pre-mainnet Rust codebase with a live testnet, early sustained-load benchmarks, Mist smart contracts, Aurora BFT, post-quantum cryptography from genesis, a developer Console, Explorer, Portal, SDKs, and audit-readiness documentation. Rivellum is incorporated and currently moving from solo founder-led protocol development into company-building, technical hardening, team formation, and seed fundraising. ⸻ Role Description Rivellum is looking for a CTO-level technical co-founder to help turn the current pre-mainnet system into production-grade infrastructure. This is a founder-level role, not a conventional employee position. The right person will take real ownership of protocol engineering, technical strategy, architecture review, security hardening, roadmap prioritization, and founding team formation. Key responsibilities include Reviewing and pressure-testing the existing Rust protocol codebase Identifying what should be kept, simplified, rewritten, or cut Helping define the minimal credible path to audit, expanded testnet, and mainnet readiness Leading protocol engineering across consensus, execution, networking, storage, cryptography, and developer tooling Building and managing the founding engineering team Participating in technical diligence with investors and strategic partners Establishing engineering standards, review processes, testing discipline, and security culture Working closely with the founder/CEO on technical roadmap, fundraising readiness, and long-term company strategy The company is currently pre-funding. Compensation is expected to be founder-level equity/token-aligned pre-funding, with salary planned after financing. Remote or hybrid is possible, with a preference for someone U.S.-based or able to collaborate closely across U.S. time zones. Local connection to Massachusetts / Boston / Cambridge is a plus but not required. ⸻ Qualifications Strong candidates will have experience in one or more of the following: Rust systems engineering Distributed systems Consensus protocols / BFT systems Blockchain protocol engineering P2P networking Storage engines / databases / state systems VM/runtime engineering Cryptography or protocol security Formal methods, compilers, or programming languages High-performance infrastructure Ideal profile Prior experience at an L1/L2, infrastructure startup, serious distributed systems company, or protocol research organization Ability to reason about architecture, not just implement tickets Strong judgment around security, correctness, simplicity, and production readiness Comfortable cutting scope and narrowing toward a practical mainnet path Willing to challenge assumptions and make hard technical calls Interested in company-building, hiring, engineering culture, and long-term ownership Comfortable operating in an early-stage, pre-funding environment Important context The current codebase was built largely solo by the founder using AI/Copilot as an implementation accelerator while the founder drove architecture, protocol design, and product direction. The next phase requires rigorous human review, simplification, testing, security hardening, and production engineering discipline.**