Equity-only until we secure funding
Dover, Delaware, USA
About Work Identity Protocol (WIP)
We're building WIP — a community-driven recruitment platform that minimizes hiring time and errors using the unique blend of Web3-tech, behavioral and monetary incentives for companies & talents.
Our platform creates a web of trust through staked endorsements and verified professional relationships, replacing traditional recruiting with a decentralized reputation system.
WIP has the working prototype demonstrating core referral and staking mechanics
Founders bring to the table 45+ years of entrepreneurship, product management and B2B sales
- Hired several dozens and interviewed hundreds
- Created and launched multiple products with millions of users
- Delivered multimillion-USD deals
- Multi-industrial experience in fintech, corporate software, e-commerce, telecom
👉 Compensation Structure
- Equity-only founding team position until pre-seed funding round (Q2 2025 target)
- Competitive market salary post-funding
Role Impact
As Founding Head of Engineering, you'll shape how blockchain technology can create trust in professional networks while building our technical foundation from the ground up.
This is a unique opportunity to:
- Design and implement novel referral systems using stake-based incentives
- Create the technical architecture that will scale to millions of professional connections
- Build and lead an engineering team that values technical excellence
- Drive technical decisions as a key member of the founding team
Core Responsibilities
Technical Leadership
- Own end-to-end technical architecture and implementation
- Design scalable smart contract systems for:
- Staking and reward distribution
- Network effect incentives
- Reputation and trust scoring
- Select and implement optimal blockchain infrastructure
- Establish security practices and technical standards
Product Development
- Lead development of MVP to production launch
- Create technical roadmap aligned with business milestones
- Build key features including:
- Professional identity verification
- Staked endorsement mechanisms
- Reputation scoring algorithms
Team Building
- Hire and mentor core engineering team
- Establish engineering culture and practices
- Create technical documentation and processes
- Manage external developers/contractors as needed
Required Experience
- 8+ years of software development with full-stack expertise
- Direct experience building and deploying smart contracts
- Track record of technical leadership in early-stage environments
- Strong knowledge of blockchain architectures and tradeoffs
- Experience launching production systems at scale
Ideal Background
- Built or scaled marketplace/network-effect products
- Led engineering teams of 5+ people
- Implemented token economics or incentive systems
- Worked with privacy-preserving blockchain technologies
- Understanding of labor markets and hiring dynamics
Why Join Now?
- Founding team equity
- Technical decision ownership
- A unique chance to overcome novel technical challenges in reputation systems
- Opportunity to shape blockchain use in professional networks
Working Style
- Remote-first team with emphasis on written communication
- Weekly sync with founding team
- Flexible hours with core collaboration windows
Selection Process
- Initial team fit conversations with founders, Q&A exchange about:
- You
- Relevant technical leadership experience
- Previous startup/founding roles
- Experience with blockchain and smart contracts
- WIP and its founders
- What will the future be like when WIP succeeds
- Why are we working on WIP
- Founders background details
- Assignment to present your brief vision for the future technical implementation of WIP
- Technical discussion and architecture review (external expert will be involved)
- Hands-on technical evaluation (external expert will be involved)
- Offer and equity discussion
Commitment Expectation
- Start date — ASAP
- Time dedication
- at least 20 hrs/week until funding
- full-time after funding
