Staff Backend Engineer

The role focuses on the systems between onchain protocols and the applications built around them. This includes vault management and curation systems, constraint-based allocation solvers, secure protocol infrastructure, high-throughput blockchain indexing, and performant, well-documented APIs.

You’ll work on systems where correctness, reliability, performance, and security directly affect user funds and protocol integrity. The role has significant ownership and autonomy across offchain infrastructure and components that interact closely with smart contracts and onchain state.

You will also work closely with Quant Engineers. Quant owns the financial models, assumptions, validation, and calibration. Backend owns the production systems, data pipelines, and services that run those models. Smart contract engineers own their onchain integration and enforcement.

How you can make an impact:

• Design, build, and operate backend infrastructure for new DeFi protocols and vault products
• Build vault management, curation, and constraint-based allocation systems
• Build high-throughput blockchain indexers and data-ingestion pipelines
• Design performant, stable, and well-documented APIs for applications and internal systems
• Work with Quant Engineers to turn reviewed models into reliable production services
• Work closely with smart contract engineers on systems that consume onchain state and submit onchain transactions
• Take technical ownership of projects and help maintain a high engineering standard across the team

• 5-8+ years of backend engineering experience, including ownership of production systems
• Strong experience with Rust. Experience with C++, Go, Zig, or another systems language can substitute
• Experience building high-performance, data-intensive, or event-driven backend systems
• Strong PostgreSQL knowledge
• Experience with blockchain, DeFi, financial infrastructure, or another environment involving real capital
• The ability to work independently in a high-autonomy environment

• Strong judgment around correctness, reliability, and security Nice to haves:

• Experience with cross-chain blockchain indexing or large-scale data ingestion
• Experience designing constraint, optimization, solver, or allocation systems
• Experience reading smart contracts and integrating with EVM-based protocols
• Experience operating financial systems where correctness and reliability affect capital
• Hands-on experience with Kafka and ClickHouse or similar analytical databases Haven’t quite met all the criteria? Let’s not miss out on the chance to speak. Whilst you might not meet every single requirement, you might bring other, more exciting skills to the companies! Equal opportunities statement: Aave Labs celebrates diversity and views each and every team member as a separate individual with their own unique identity. No matter your race, religion, gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation or even the wallet you use, we welcome you at Aave Labs. As an equal opportunities employer, we take accountability and believe in everyone’s potential to build, create and inspire changes. With a mission to build a diverse workforce, we are proud to foster a working environment in which everyone can feel safe and valued for who they are.