Anoma Application Researcher
About Heliax
Heliax is a remote-first public goods lab which researches, develops, deploys, and maintains open-source protocols and mechanisms designed to serve the everyday needs of humanity. Using this, we build vertically integrated open-source products and networks that form coherent open systems which are capable of acting as an alternative to existing exploitative paradigms.
Heliax’s work includes Anoma, a novel architecture that is intent-centric for decentralized counterparty discovery, solving, information flow control, and multi-chain atomic settlement; Namada, a proof-of-stake L1 for interchain asset-agnostic privacy, designed to bring the best privacy to the multichain and with the vision of building a portal between public and private worlds.
Overview
The systems of coordination and finance in our world today are not secure enough for safe use by citizens, corporations, or dissidents. Heliax is looking for an application researcher interested in designing and implementing some of the very first applications using the distributed operating system Anoma, ranging from distributed P2P chat to distributed P2P currencies, novel public-goods funding systems, MUDs, and more.
This role offers the chance to work closely with researchers and engineers in various domains. From cryptography to distributed systems research, a good sample of the work we do can be found on our Anoma Research Topics page, and descriptions of some possible Anoma applications can be found on the Anoma Research Forums. As an application researcher, your job will often be to help synthesise ideas found in research into a consistent, integrated system, implementing a prototype, and helping other engineers or hackers (often outside of Heliax) take the prototype further into reality and production.
Responsibilities
- Conduct research into the design and feasibility of different possible applications on Anoma, primarily from the perspective of technical design criterea and implementation difficulty.
- Specify, document, and implement end-to-end application prototypes (implementation work will happen primarily in Juvix).
- Coordinate with researchers and engineers to understand design intentions, give feedback on existing technical designs and specifications, and help other engineers understand implementation requirements.
- Author and publish blog posts, tutorials, and similar content to explain the application prototypes to external parties (particularly developers who might themselves wish to take the application concept further). For now, we envision Heliax’s role as taking applications from concept to working prototype, then handing them off to members of the wider Anoma community, and supporting them in taking these applications to the next stage.
Qualifications
- Experience with distributed application development. This could take the form of blockchain applications / smart contracts, applications developed for earlier or different distributed operating systems, or full-stack distributed applications (e.g. local-first P2P designs).
- Ability to conceptualise, design, and clearly describe application concepts in written documentation, specifically technical specifications and blog posts aimed at other researchers and engineers.
- Excellent communication ability with both researchers & engineers.
- Passionate about the Anoma vision and driven to help us succeed.
Misc
Ideally based in or willing to relocate to Berlin. Must be based in Europe (including UK) and willing to travel to Berlin and/or Zug for initial onboarding. We can help with relocation to Germany (e.g. visa assistance).
Ideally someone who enjoys travel, nature, and hiking. Often we find that protocols are best designed not in a meeting room but rather on a trail.