Startup Operator, ConsensusLab
About ConsensusLab
ConsensusLab is a research group in Protocol Labs Research that focuses on consensus and related distributed computing problems that lie at the heart of decentralized systems. We explore fundamental problems of coordination, consistency, and scalability, and help engineering teams by addressing key bottlenecks in operational systems and networks (such as Filecoin, IPFS and libp2p). We collaborate with academia and the wider open-source community to deliver world-class research in understanding how decentralized systems scale and interconnect.
As a Startup Operator at ConsensusLab, you will…
Bridge the final stages of the research-to-deployment pipeline by leading productization, marketing, and business development around the technology produced in ConsensusLab, with an initial focus on the Interplanetary Consensus (IPC) blockchain scaling framework.
Attract developers to build on the IPC stack. Build relationships with developers, users, and validators, understand their pain points, and develop new programs to address them.
Drive and collect user research. Provide the “voice of the user” in discussions with the team. Play advocate for user needs to keep broader teams focused and honest on whether user problems are actually getting solved. Contribute to roadmaps and give feedback on technical design docs, ensuring that priority user needs are incorporated.
Drive internal and external communications around IPC. Develop and deploy documentation, websites, explainers, and other support and marketing materials to facilitate newcomers joining the community.
Craft the onboarding and engagement strategy for newcomers to the stack and use a data-driven approach to iterate and improve their experience. Create and monitor metrics to monitor how the initiative achieves product-market fit.
Use your unique position and knowledge to identify high-leverage opportunities across the org (e.g. with ecosystem strategy, research prioritization, services opportunities, etc.)
Identify and lead key business development opportunities that provide high leverage to the product-market fit of our stack. Identify opportunities for close collaboration with ecosystem partners that can accelerate product-market fit and work with the ecosystem team to unify collab strategy.
Explore new business models through incentive design and engineering and drive awareness beyond our core communities.
Attend and present at industry and community events in the space in order to draw attention to the stack, forge new relationships, and pursue the remaining goals.
You may be a fit for this role if you have…
A generalist “founder” skillset and experience running your own startup or high-growth organization, or high-level early-stage roles in such a setting.
Past leadership in the creation and execution of product roadmaps for highly technical endeavours, balancing input across user needs, engineering teams, and stakeholders.
Experience with Web3 communities and a strong network in the space. Experience forging collaborations and organically growing solid ecosystems and communities.
Strong product management experience with fluency in the user research toolkit.
Exceptional project management skills to execute effectively and efficiently.
Self-starter mentality, and the drive and ability to lift new projects single-handedly.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills.
Understanding of programming fundamentals and of the engineering process.
Bonus points…
Professional experience in consensus, L2 networks, or blockchain scaling projects.
Background in software engineering.
MSc or PhD in a relevant topic, or equivalent experience in a research setting.
Professional experience in data science and analytics.
Experience with open-source communities and projects.
Previous experience with the Protocol Labs ecosystem (e.g. Filecoin, IPFS, or libp2p).
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