Head of Protocol

World is building a real human network designed to accelerate people in the age of AI. As bots and autonomous agents reshape the internet, people, institutions, and applications need a trusted way to confirm who is a real human while preserving privacy. Our products make this possible: the Orb verifies real people, World ID proves it privately, and World App enables and distributes the new applications made possible by this technology. Together, they form a new layer for AI internet. We're one of the fastest growing networks in tech, with more than 17 million people across 160 countries verified with World ID and over verifications each week. Developers are integrating World ID to build safer online experiences and create spaces where real people can participate, earn, and be recognized in ways AI simply can't replicate. World was founded in 2019 and launched globally in 2023. We are more than 400 people across hardware, software, AI, cryptography, mobile engineering, and global operations. Our teams come from OpenAI, Tesla, SpaceX, Apple, Google, Stripe, Meta, Coinbase, Palantir and MIT Media Lab. We're backed by leading investors including a16z, Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Variant, Tiger Global, Coinbase Ventures, and prominent operators and founders across fintech and AI.

• Deliver great capacity and exceptional UX: improve World Chain block execution throughput to 100 M gas per second, shorten block confirmation time, publish simple public SLOs and dashboards.
• 10 year architecture roadmap: codify a durable plan from today's OP Stack baseline to the end state protocol at global scale, prove the path with a public testnet and a safe, reversible mainnet cutover plan.
• Decentralization: design a credible decentralized sequencer strategy with automatic failover, distribute AMPC and other critical services across independent operators, align fees and incentives so that neutral parties can run core infrastructure sustainably.
• Interoperability and DevX: ship SDKs for uniqueness and credential attestations that let developers integrate once and run across EVM, mobile, and at least one non EVM stack, keep APIs stable and deterministic, provide reference apps and tests for fast first integrations.
• Team and technical visibility: build a senior, co located SF team across protocol, ZK, security, and infra, hire 8 12 ICs with clear bars, lead hands on with specs, code reviews, on call, cadence of capacity reviews, chaos drills, post mortems, publish research and standards work.

Must have:

• Ability to attract, hire, manage and grow senior engineers; operate hands on and write crisp design docs.
• Excellent written communication and public technical presence.

Nice to have:

• Proven protocol architecture at L1/L2 or equivalent core distributed systems work at scale.
• Deep ZK literacy and Ethereum/rollup stack expertise.
• Track record shipping audited, upgradeable on chain systems with clear SLOs and dashboards.
• Device attestation or secure hardware integration.
• EIP or standards authorship; multi client experience.
• Prior leadership of an open protocol community.

The reasonably estimated salary for this role at Tools for Humanity is $400,000, plus a competitive long term incentive package. Actual compensation is based on factors such as the candidate's skills, qualifications, and experience. TFH offers a wide range of best in class, comprehensive, and inclusive employee benefits including healthcare, dental, vision, 401(k) plan and match, life insurance, flexible time off, commuter benefits, professional development stipend, and more.

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