Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Proto

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all.

The Role

Proto's vision is to contribute to the health of the bitcoin network by decentralizing both the supply of mining hardware and the distribution of hashrate. To realize this, we’ll introduce competitive mining chips, rigs, and software products that offer new alternatives to mining operators of all sizes and which expand the scope of mining to include innovative applications (e.g. heat reuse, off-grid mining, home mining) beyond the current industrially-dominated market. 

And we are well-positioned to deliver on this vision. Existing miners are not satisfied with our competitors — they’re exhausted with unreliable hardware, difficulty securing supply, unfavorable payment terms, and nearly nonexistent support. All of these weaknesses are amongst our strengths: we’ve shipped tens of millions of reliable devices, are excellent operationally, can support a consistent supply of chips and rigs, and have strong customer support capability built up through multiple successful business lines. Additionally, we bring a clear customer focus and go-to-market capability that doesn’t yet exist in mining — and mining operators recognize Block as a leader in the bitcoin space and are anxious to add an additional supplier, especially one based in the US.

We are seeking a skilled backend engineer for ProtoOS and ProtoFleet. These two products aim to bring the best user experience in the world for miners to control their operation and connect with external services such as pools and miner management systems. Our approach is to give customers a significantly greater degree of control and diagnostic capability than what currently exists in the market. This role will be essential in making this experience a reality, not only focusing on how a miner may use our software to run their fleet, but ensuring we do it in a safe and secure manner.

You Will

• Design and implement APIs for bitcoin miner connectivity.
• Develop APIs to support real-time KPI monitoring, bulk deployment of settings, and parameter updates.
• Integrate miner fleet management systems with third-party tools for monitoring.
• Ensure secure and stable local connectivity for bitcoin mining hardware.
• Collaborate with hardware teams to validate mining system performance.
• Work closely with engineering and product teams to meet milestones, including upcoming demos and pilots, and our eventual launch later in the year.

You Have

• A minimum of 8 years professional experience building software
• Experience developing backend applications that communicate across the network.
• Experience with API design and implementation, particularly in real-time systems.
• Experience building relational databases for transactional and analytical workloads
• Expertise developing highly concurrent or asynchronous web application using NodeJS and Typescript or similar languages such as Go, Kotlin, Rust or Ruby
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, milestone-driven environment.
• Familiarity with bitcoin mining hardware and protocols.
• Experience working with Electron or Tauri application frameworks.
• Experience implementing secure web authorization and authentication schemes.

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, and always assess candidates on an individualized basis.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we're doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.

Block will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances.