Lead Specialty Software Engineer (Protocol Engineer)

Innova Solutions•Concord, CA

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

A client of Innova Solutions is immediately hiring for a Lead Specialty Software Engineer (Protocol Engineer). This is a full-time, 12-month contract position with possible extension and/or conversion, located in Concord, CA, requiring 3 days onsite and 2 days remote. The role focuses on contributing to a next-generation Digital Asset Platform designed to solve the critical challenge of achieving regulatory compliance without compromising transaction confidentiality. The position involves architecting and developing the core settlement engine while working at the intersection of distributed systems, blockchain technology, and applied cryptography. The ideal candidate will translate complex mathematical and cryptographic concepts into high-performance, production-grade Go applications.

Requirements

Specialty Software Engineering experience or equivalent.
Backend or systems programming experience with expert-level Go (Golang) proficiency.
Hands-on experience with Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).
Experience with BFT consensus algorithms, P2P networking, and distributed systems.
Strong experience with Cosmos SDK and CometBFT/Tendermint.
Experience building custom blockchain modules and modifying consensus logic.
Knowledge of Pedersen Commitments, Bulletproofs, Zero-Knowledge Proofs, and MPC concepts.
Ability to translate mathematical specifications and academic whitepapers into working code.

Responsibilities

Architect and build custom blockchain applications using Go, Cosmos SDK, and CometBFT (Tendermint).
Design and develop the core settlement engine for a next-generation Digital Asset Platform.
Implement and optimize privacy-preserving cryptographic primitives including Pedersen Commitments and Bulletproofs (Range Proofs).
Engineer custom ABCI++ extensions, specifically PrepareProposal and Vote Extensions, to implement an on-chain Multi-Party Computation (MPC) mixing network.
Design custom KVStore state machines that manage homomorphic encrypted balances (Elliptic Curve points) instead of plaintext integers.
Optimize cryptographic operations including scalar multiplication and point addition to improve latency and throughput in distributed environments.
Build secure off-chain query layers and view key mechanisms to support granular, permissioned regulatory auditing.
Translate complex cryptographic and mathematical specifications into high-performance, production-grade Go code.
Work at the intersection of distributed systems and applied cryptography to solve privacy and regulatory compliance challenges.
Contribute to architectural decisions involving cryptographic curves, libraries, protocol design, and engineering patterns.
Develop and maintain reliable distributed systems leveraging BFT consensus algorithms, P2P networking, and state replication.
Build custom blockchain modules and participate in consensus logic enhancements.
Collaborate with engineering teams to design scalable, secure, and privacy-preserving digital asset infrastructure.
Apply knowledge of MPC, Verifiable Secret Sharing (VSS), Zero-Knowledge Proofs, and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) in protocol development.
Support the design and implementation of privacy-preserving ledger architectures and settlement mechanisms.