Senior Protocol Engineer

Job Description:

About Magic Labs

Magic is innovating at the intersection of crypto and AI to make wallets invisible and capable of running on autopilot.

In 2018, we introduced the first embedded wallet, enabling users to create wallets with just an email or social login. This approach has since become standard across much of the industry. To date, we’ve helped onboard over 50 million wallets and 200,000 developers, supporting projects like Polymarket, Helium, WalletConnect, and Immutable, as well as enterprises such as Forbes, Mattel, and Naver. We’re backed by investors including PayPal Ventures, Lightspeed, Placeholder, SV Angel, Naval Ravikant, and Balaji Srinivasan.

Today, we’re building Newton to help bring about the wallet endgame—where AI and automation completely abstract away the complexity of onchain interactions beyond wallet creation. This means applying state of the art technologies from both AI and crypto, and delivering them through a product and protocol that can scale to billions. Our vision is a future of self-driving capital that extends the financial system upgrade made possible by web3.

Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship (ex., H-1B transfer) of employment visas at this time, and applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the US or Canada.

Role Overview:

As a Protocol Engineer, you’ll be responsible for building the core features of our Rust-based, VM-less Layer 2, built on Reth and inspired by Vitalik’s “keystore rollup” design. You will play a critical role in defining the technical foundations of Newton Keystore Rollup, architecting systems that are performant, secure, and scalable.

This is a hands-on, high-impact engineering role where you’ll work cross-functionally with product, infrastructure, and security teams to align technical execution with real-world use cases. You’ll drive projects from zero to one, solve complex protocol-level challenges, and help shape the future of self-custody and account abstraction.

Key Responsibilities: 

Protocol Engineering & Architecture

• Architect and ship foundational protocol components in Rust for our custom execution layer.
• Own end-to-end implementation: translate ambiguous product ideas into precise technical plans, timelines, and deliverables.
• Debug hard issues across layers—performance bottlenecks, consensus bugs, and security flaws.

Cross-Functional Execution

• Collaborate with our product, infra, and security teams to ensure the protocol aligns with user needs and strategic goals.
• Maintain a high standard of code quality, documentation, and testing through design reviews and mentorship (no direct reports).

Research & Innovation

• Explore and implement modern scaling techniques, from data availability to account abstraction.
• Stay current on Ethereum fundamentals and zk/Rollup innovations to inform protocol decisions.

Qualifications:

• 7+ years of backend or distributed systems experience, with 4+ years focused on blockchain client/protocol development.
• 4+ years writing production-grade Rust.
• Deep familiarity with Ethereum execution clients (Reth, Geth): profiling, extending, and debugging at the internals level.
• Proven track record owning high-throughput, low-latency distributed systems or L2 stacks.
• Strong foundation in Ethereum architecture: P2P, blocks, Merkle trees, tx pools, etc.
• Security-first mindset with experience threat-modeling wallets and bridging flows.
• Highly self-directed, thrives in environments with evolving priorities and high ownership.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills; works well in fast-paced, collaborative teams.
• Location: Pacific Time zone ( Bay Area preferred but not required) 

Nice-to-Haves :

• Experience guiding an L1/L2 roadmap or driving EIPs/RFCs.
• Familiarity with zkVMs (e.g., SP1, Risc0) and building Rust-based zk circuits.
• Contributions to open-source crypto or distributed-systems projects.
• Knowledge of account abstraction tools (Bundlers, Paymasters) and solver-based cross-chain designs.
• Deep understanding of smart contract best practices and onchain security patterns.

Why you'll love working with us:

• Remote-first culture with flexible working hours
• Competitive salary with stock options
• 99% company-paid medical*, dental and vision insurance; 100% company-paid life and disability insurance
• 401(k) plan* (US) or pension plan (CAN)
• $3,600 annual reimbursement for remote work, wellness and professional development
• Flexible time off
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• Family planning and reproductive health benefits, including up to $5,000 reimbursement, through Maven*

*Benefits available to US employees only. Canada healthcare coverage differs.

Salary Range:

US: $ $200k-$250k
CAD $170k-$220k

At Magic, we believe building a team full of diverse perspectives and experiences is vital to success. Therefore, we strongly encourage anyone historically underrepresented in tech to apply for this role. Magic does not discriminate based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, citizenship status, age, or physical ability. Empathy, authenticity, and inclusivity are at the core of all we do.

US Candidates: Magic Labs, Inc. participates in E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new US hires.