Category Labs
Senior Researcher, Mechanism Design
New York, NY, USA2w ago
New York, NY, USA Posted on Mar 19, 2026 Apply now Category Labs (formerly known as Monad Labs) is a team of systems engineers and researchers on a mission to design and build at the frontier of decentralized technology. We strive to design and build step-function improvements over existing blockchain solutions. After raising $225M in series A funding, led by Paradigm, we are growing our team.
Category Labs is looking for a Smart Contract Engineer to join the core engineering team to build at the application layer. The work can range from direct collaboration with external app and infrastructure teams to design and implementation of new primitives enabled by a high-performance EVM client. You will be part of a small, high-functioning team in a fast-paced startup environment.
You’ll implement smart contracts that are well suited to the resources and throughput enabled by the Monad client built by Category Labs You’ll identify needs in the app developer ecosystem and address them through close collaboration with the core engineering team You’ll work directly with external application or infrastructure teams to unblock them with deep understanding of their domain AND the Category Labs client
You have at least 4 years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years of experience writing smart contracts in Solidity You have prior experience in blockchain engineering at a Layer-1, Layer-2, or Infrastructure (Oracle, Bridge, Indexer, RPC Provider, Wallet, or other high-performance app) project You are an expert with tools like Foundry and Hardhat and deeply understand security vulnerabilities at the application layer You have backend engineering experience in low-level languages such as C, C++, or Rust You have built something significant from scratch - preferably with users (the more, the better) You are a great communicator who is willing to participate in technical discussions, reviews, and documentation You value the following qualities that define our engineering team Ability to DO things. When it comes to problem-solving, we value practicality and common sense. Strong design skills (e.g. higher-level thinking about system design, appropriate abstractions, maintainability) Excellence in whatever you have worked on before Rigorous development mindset
Challenging problems. You’ll work on extremely challenging problems with massive impact. Huge opportunity. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard is ubiquitous, but existing EVM-compatible chains are very slow. Monad’s core innovations offer developers the best of both worlds (portability and performance) and are a game-changer for mass user adoption in crypto. The right team. You’ll be part of a small, exceptional team. Culture. We’re a lean team working together to achieve very ambitious goals. We are united in our culture of collaboration, low egos, and high-quality outputs. As an early member of our team, you’ll help to shape our culture. Compensation. You’ll receive a competitive salary and equity package. Resources and growth. We’re well-capitalized, with backing from leading venture funds like Paradigm, Electric Capital, Greenoaks, Dragonfly, and Coinbase Ventures. We keep a lean team, and this is a rare opportunity to join. You’ll learn a lot and grow as our company scales.
The target annual salary range for this US-based role is $180,000 – $250,000. This range represents our good-faith estimate at the time of posting and is not a guarantee of compensation. The final offer may vary based on factors including experience, domain expertise, and the candidate’s specific geographic location.
World class benefits package (medical/dental/vision) Unlimited paid time off 401(k) retirement plan + company match Lunch and dinner stipend (in-office NYC) Monthly wellness benefit Paid parental leave
Benefits for employees hired through an EOR (outside of the US) will be based on EOR offerings and country-specific requirements.
Compensation Range: $180K - $250K
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