Director Of R&D, Starfleet

About Protocol Labs

Protocol Labs drives breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward. Protocol Labs is a product-development lab, but behind the protocols and tools we build, behind the research and implementations, are passionate people, teammates, and community members. Most teams in the Protocol Labs Network are fully distributed and work remotely around the world. Engineers, researchers, and operators work in the open to improve the internet — humanity's most important technology — as we explore new advances at the intersection of many exciting fields (web3, cryptography, networks, distributed systems) and cultures (startups, research, open-source, distributed work).

Director for Research Development, Starfleet @ PLN

We seek a talented human with a passion leading groundbreaking research projects and guiding teams into delivering quantifiable results in a structured process, interfacing with stakeholders and consumers of the tech produced.

Key Summary

We are hiring a Director to drive Research & Development at Protocol Labs. We're looking for an individual who thoroughly understands the principles of fast research, distributed systems and product development.

As a Director, you will work with an experienced interdisciplinary team to design and build resilient systems for tomorrow’s web. You will collaborate closely with lab leads to drive key aspects of roadmap definition, coordination, execution and delivery. You must be responsive, flexible and able to succeed within a fast-paced environment.

What Is Research Development At Protocol Labs

At the Research Development group, we translate theory into reality. We pick the most challenging problems that are needed to be solve to cross the chasms of planetary scale adoption of decentralized technologies and we take them heads on with a pragmatic and rigorous approach, measuring our progress at every step of the way and interfacing with the integrations teams at Web3 and not only to get the technology in the hands of people.

This direction creates an incredibly rich and fertile ground for ideation and prototyping to happen, with a launch pad for shipping those new ideas into reality, testing them in real world scenarios and creating maximum impact for the research performed.

As the Director for Research Development at Protocol labs, you will…

• Interface with the Research Development Lab Leads and drive effective decision making that gets translated into a consistent Roadmap
• Interact with a multitude of Web3 and Research projects and other key stakeholders to find opportunities for collaboration and new teams to join the Research Development front
• Create, maintain and disseminate project information to stakeholders
• Drive cross-team decision-making on technical decisions and ensure that appropriate resources are employed to deliver high quality results
• Synthesize and align a cohesive strategy for how each Research Development Lab can maximally contribute to Network impact
• Lead cross functional project meetings, communication, and decision making
• Lead milestone reviews & present project status to the executive team
• Identify, assess, track and mitigate issues and risks at multiple levels

You may be a fit for this role if you have…

• Comfort discussing strategic trade offs with engineers, understand the technology and develop a good intuition to aid on the decision making process
• Product & Project Management experience.
• Experience in gathering requirements, developing specifications, and driving execution
• Ability to drive effective teamwork, communication, collaboration and commitment across multiple disparate groups
• Experience managing hardware/software product releases
• Experience with leading 3rd party teams, engineering teams and business stakeholders

Bonus Points:

• Demonstrated ability to manage project/task prioritization, project planning and schedule development
• Proven success of influencing and developing productive working relationships with diverse technical teams and stakeholders
• Experience working in Open Source projects
• Experience working in Volunteer led organizations
• Strong technical and problem solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

What’s it like to work at Protocol Labs?

Protocol Labs' mission is to improve humanity’s most important technology, the Internet. We build protocols, systems, and tools to improve how it works. Today, we are focused on how we store, locate, and move information. Our projects include IPFS, Filecoin, libp2p, and more.

As a distributed team, we hire anywhere in the world, and at various levels of experience (entry, senior, staff). We look for people with unique perspectives and diverse backgrounds.

The base pay for this position currently ranges from $270,000 to $374,000, plus cryptocurrency, equity, and opportunities for upside through performance rewards in cryptocurrency and equity. The base pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, experience, skills, abilities, training, and education. We also have a great benefits package, including parental and other forms of leave, contributions to your retirement, and unlimited time off. For U.S.-based employees, we also provide competitive health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family.

GDPR for Job Applicants and Candidates

When you apply to a job on this site, the personal data contained in your application will be collected by Protocol Labs, Inc. (“Protocol Labs”), which is located at 427 N Tatnall St #51207, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 and can be contacted by emailing legalrequests[at]protocol.ai. Protocol Labs’ data protection team can be contacted via legalrequests[at]protocol.ai. Your personal data will be processed for the purposes of managing Protocol Labs’ recruitment related activities, which include setting up and conducting interviews and tests for applicants, evaluating and assessing the results thereto, and as is otherwise needed in the recruitment and hiring processes. Such processing is legally permissible under Art. 6(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) as necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by Protocol Labs, which are the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of applicants for employment.

Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., a cloud services provider located in the United States of America and engaged by Protocol Labs to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on Protocol Labs’ behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, your personal data will be transferred to the United States once you submit it through this site. Because the European Union Commission has determined that United States data privacy laws do not ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data collected from EU data subjects, the transfer will be subject to appropriate additional safeguards.

Your personal data will be retained by Protocol Labs as long as Protocol Labs determines it is necessary to evaluate your application for employment or to assist in the hiring process. Under the GDPR, you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted. You also have the right to data portability. In addition, you may lodge a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.