About Altius

Altius Labs is building a VM-agnostic, high-performance execution layer designed to unlock scalability and interoperability across blockchains. Backed by Founders Fund, Pantera, we are rethinking how blockchains execute at scale.

Role Overview

We’re hiring a VP of Engineering to lead the design and implementation of our high-throughput execution engine and developer infrastructure. You’ll manage a senior team of engineers and work closely with research, product, and protocol teams to deliver performant, secure, and production-ready systems. This role requires deep technical fluency across blockchain architecture, distributed systems, and performance optimization.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale the engineering team with a culture of ownership, fast iteration, and accountability to timelines.
• Define and oversee the architecture and implementation of the Altius execution layer, including parallelization, scheduling, and state management.
• Optimize system performance across compute, networking, and storage to achieve high throughput and low latency.
• Collaborate with research and protocol engineers to translate new execution models (SSMT, parallel EVM, etc.) into production-ready systems.
• Work directly with design partners across the crypto ecosystem to gather feedback, troubleshoot issues, and co-develop solutions.
• Act as a technical representative in partner discussions—able to translate complex engineering topics into clear explanations.
• Build observability and debugging systems to detect performance regressions early and ensure reliability.
• Maintain engineering velocity (ship fast) through clear processes, agile execution, and consistent delivery standards.
• Operate independently in a high-ambiguity environment; identify priorities, propose solutions, and ship.
• Partner with leadership on OKRs, hiring, and roadmap prioritization to align engineering output with company goals.

Qualifications

Must Have

• 5+ years of systems or infrastructure engineering experience, including 3+ years in technical leadership and managing remote teams.
• Deep expertise in Rust, or C++ with hands-on experience in performance-critical, parallel, or low-latency systems.
• Expert level knowledge of Ethereum internals such as Patricia Merkle Tries, EVM, state storage and consensus.
• Expert level knowledge of one of Ethereum's implementation clients (e.g geth, reth)
• Proven experience optimizing parallel compute, memory management, and low-latency systems at scale.
• Familiarity with database systems, state storage, and distributed architectures.
• Experience leading high-performance teams building core infrastructure, compilers, or protocol software.
• Track record of shipping production systems under tight timelines with iterative, feedback-driven development; knows when “good enough” ships.
• Comfortable in startup environments: self-directed, curious, and effective in ambiguity.
• Skilled communicator able to represent engineering with partners, investors, and technical stakeholders.**
• Bonus: prior experience in L1/L2 protocol engineering, compilers, or building high-performance trading systems.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience contributing to L1/L2 protocols or performance-critical systems (e.g., Solana, Monad, Sei, Optimism, Move-based chains).
• Background in performance profiling, formal verification, or high-throughput trading systems.

Location: Remote (North America preferred).