Staff Protocol Engineer

fomo Labs
New York, NY
On-site

Who this role is best for

Experienced blockchain engineers with EVM and DeFi expertise will find this senior-level role in onchain trade execution systems at a fast-growing NYC-based startup.

Best fit for

  • Senior engineers with deep EVM and smart contract experience who have built offchain systems at scale
    — “Deep understanding of the EVM, with production experience writing and shipping smart contracts in Solidity”
  • Candidates familiar with DeFi primitives and how transactions are processed onchain
    — “Strong grasp of DeFi primitives: AMMs, aggregators, MEV, and how transactions actually land onchain”

Things to consider

  • In-person presence in NYC is mandatory, with no remote flexibility implied
    — “This role is in-person in NYC. We have a strong in-person culture”
  • The role demands high autonomy and ownership over technical direction
    — “Staff+ level engineer (6+ years of experience), able to come up with and execute on plans autonomously”

How to stand out

  • Highlight production smart contract experience and gas optimization techniques in your resume
    — “Designing and shipping the smart contracts behind trade execution, with a focus on security, simplicity, and gas efficiency”
  • Emphasize your work with offchain systems like relayers or execution bots in your interview narrative
    — “Has built offchain systems that interact with contracts at scale (execution bots, relayers, solvers, keepers, or indexers)”
  • Demonstrate familiarity with cross-chain protocols and intent-based systems in your application
    — “Experience with cross-chain infrastructure such as bridges, intents, or solver networks”
  • Showcase your ability to debug complex EVM-level production issues during interviews
    — “Debugging hard production issues at the EVM level, from reverted transactions to gas spikes and chain reorgs”
  • Include examples of how you’ve engaged with onchain trading platforms as a user or developer
    — “An active onchain trader. All of our engineers use the app to understand what to improve”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Designed and shipped smart contracts
  • Built cross-chain execution systems
  • Owning trigger execution for automated trades
Typical background
6+ years of experience as a backend engineerExperience with blockchain and smart contracts

Skills & requirements

Required

SolidityEVMSmart ContractsDefiCross-chain InfrastructureOffchain Systems

Preferred

RustGoFormal VerificationSolana

Stack & domain

SolidityEVMDefiAmmsAggregatorsMEVGas EfficiencySmart ContractsCross-chain ExecutionLimit OrdersStop LossesOnchain DataIndexingPnlSocial FeedReverted TransactionsGas SpikesChain ReorgsProtocol SecurityDesign ReviewsTestingExternal AuditsFinanceBlockchainTrading

About the role

Original posting from fomo Labs via Ashby

ABOUT FOMO

  • fomo is a trading app for the rest of us. Sign up in seconds and start trading right away, with no prior experience needed. Our social features are actually useful: follow top traders, see their full portfolios and trades, and find opportunities early. Under the hood, we deliver best-in-class execution and data for experienced traders.
  • In just over a year, fomo has onboarded over 3.4 million users who have collectively done over $28 billion in trading volume.
  • fomo has made over $100M of revenue since launching in May 2025, and has raised a total of ~$100M from T1 investors. Investors include Benchmark, Index Ventures, and Union Square Ventures.
  • https://fomo.family/
  • https://x.com/fomo

ABOUT THE TEAM

  • You’ll be joining an engineering team of 12: 4 frontend engineers and 8 backend engineers. Everyone on the team has experience building at scale from companies like Google, Pinterest, Snap, Two Sigma, Square, and dYdX. We have high standards for ourselves and the people we work with.

Want to learn more about the team, our growth, and life at fomo? Check out our Work at fomo https://stealth-harmonica-74d.notion.site/Work-at-fomo-3d6bac0068ef80db81e2f2d8e65b780e page.

ABOUT THE ROLE

  • Every trade on fomo ends up onchain. As a Staff Protocol Engineer, you’ll own the systems that make that fast, safe, and reliable for millions of users, from the smart contracts that settle trades to the offchain services that route, trigger, and track them. Things you’ll work on include:
  • Designing and shipping the smart contracts behind trade execution, with a focus on security, simplicity, and gas efficiency
  • Building cross-chain execution, including solver and intent-based routing, so users get the best fill no matter which chain a token lives on
  • Owning trigger execution for limit orders, stop losses, and other automated trades, making sure they fire correctly and on time under heavy market load
  • Designing the read side: indexing and serving onchain data accurately and with low latency for portfolios, PnL, and the social feed
  • Debugging hard production issues at the EVM level, from reverted transactions to gas spikes and chain reorgs
  • Setting the bar for protocol security across the team through design reviews, testing, and working with external auditors
  • You’ll work closely with our backend team and founders, and you’ll have real ownership over the technical direction of fomo’s onchain stack.
  • This role is in-person in NYC. We have a strong in-person culture and work together out of our office in Manhattan.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

  • Staff+ level engineer (6+ years of experience), able to come up with and execute on plans autonomously
  • Deep understanding of the EVM, with production experience writing and shipping smart contracts in Solidity
  • Has built offchain systems that interact with contracts at scale (execution bots, relayers, solvers, keepers, or indexers)
  • Strong grasp of DeFi primitives: AMMs, aggregators, MEV, and how transactions actually land onchain

NICE TO HAVES

  • Experience with cross-chain infrastructure such as bridges, intents, or solver networks
  • Experience with Solana or other non-EVM chains
  • Familiarity with security tooling like Foundry, Slither, Echidna, or formal verification, and experience working through external audits
  • Rust or Go experience, or familiarity with client internals (geth, reth)
  • An active onchain trader. All of our engineers use the app to understand what to improve, and the best protocol engineers think like the users they’re building for.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

fomo offers:

  • Competitive cash compensation and equity
  • Comprehensive health insurance including medical, dental, and vision for you and your dependents; including tax savings benefits such as HSAs and FSAs
  • 401(k) with match
  • Group term life insurance
  • Flexible time off
  • Annual company offsites

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

fomo is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the hiring process, please let us know.

Source: fomo Labs careers (Ashby)

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