About the role
A protocol only matters when somebody other than its author implements it. We run two: PCHP, the consent handshake behind every access to a person's data, which is live in the product today; and hu_ssh, which is a published design rather than shipped code, and we say so plainly. You do the unglamorous work that turns both into real specifications, reference implementations and conformance tests.
What we need to see
- You have written a specification precise enough that somebody else implemented it correctly
- Protocol or systems engineering, including the wire-level detail
- You build conformance tests, because a spec without them is a suggestion
- Intellectual honesty about what is implemented versus what is designed
Nice to have
- Standards-body experience: IETF, W3C, or similar
- Applied cryptography
- You have shipped an SDK others adopted
What winning looks like
- Independent implementations that pass conformance without our help
- Ambiguities found and closed before they reach an implementer
- Spec and shipped code stay aligned — drift caught in review, not in the field
Where and how we work
In the office together five days a week, in any of these cities. Remote-friendly around your family, arranged one person at a time.