---
title: 'Background Investigator at CertiK'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/background-investigator-certik-europe-nztg4sgm6cdp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Background Investigator at CertiK

- **Company:** CertiK
- **Location:** Europe
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2024-09-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/certik/cea4ec5a-c373-4517-a211-5f1dfbaf9489

## Job description

## About the Company

Founded in 2018 by professors of Yale University and Columbia University, CertiK is a pioneer in blockchain security, utilizing best-in-class AI technology to secure and monitor blockchain protocols and smart contracts. CertiK’s mission is to secure the cyber world. Starting with blockchain, CertiK applies cutting-edge innovations from academia into enterprise, enabling mission-critical applications to be built with security and correctness. CertiK is one of the fastest growing and most trusted companies in blockchain security and has become a true market leader. Our clients include leading projects such as Aave, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Yearn, and Chiliz. Our investors include top VCs like Tiger Global, Coatue Management, Shunwei Capital and Hillhouse Capital as well as industry leaders like Coinbase Ventures and Binance.

## About the Role

As a KYC Investigations Analyst, you will deliver CertiK's KYC badge product—the leading private identity verification service for Web3 project teams. You will conduct background interviews and investigations into project teams, diving deep to understand their transparency and risk levels. If the project team completes the screening, your work will culminate in issuing a CertiK KYC badge at an appropriate level that signifies set standards of verification.

## About You

You are a skilled investigator with experience in conducting behavioral interviews while providing excellent customer service. You excel at finding critical information and analyzing it thoroughly. You communicate clearly and effectively, making it easy for others to understand your findings. You are self-motivated, detail-oriented, and can manage multiple tasks independently in a fast-paced environment.

## Responsibilities

- Manage the delivery of CertiK’s KYC badge product
- Conduct interviews with project team members to assess risks and identify discrepancies
- Perform thorough investigations using open-source information with limited data
- Provide excellent customer service to clients undergoing the KYC process
- Communicate with teams about KYC badge status and requirements
- Help customers submit identification documents and verify them through systems
- Document your findings clearly to support each KYC badge decision
- Evaluate project teams for quality and risk factors
- Create content and thought leadership related to KYC and investigations in Web3

## Requirements

- 3+ years of experience in investigations, KYC or a related field
- Proven experience conducting complex behavioral interviews
- Fluent in English
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Experience performing OSINT investigations
- Familiar with Web3 social media platforms, especially X/Twitter
- Understanding of KYC regulations, AML/CFT laws, and compliance standards
- Highly organized and self-driven, able to work independently
- Comfortable in a fast-paced startup environment
- Able to manage multiple projects and prioritize tasks effectively
- Passionate about crypto and eager to learn about new projects

Target annual salary for this role performed is $60,000 - $100,000. The exact compensation at which this job is filled will be determined by the skills and experience of qualified candidates.

CertiK accepts applications for this position on an ongoing basis.

CertiK is proud to offer medical, vision, and dental insurance, 401(k) plan with company matching, life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, HSA (with high deductible plan), FSA, and other benefits to all full-time employees, along with flexible paid time off and holidays. CertiK also offers a variable commission program for business development sales roles.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

CertiK is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, medical condition, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status or civil partnership/union status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, childbirth, genetic information, military and veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state or local law.

CertiK will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with local and federal requirements. https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/employers/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf

All CertiK employees are expected to actively support diversity on their teams, and in the Company.

## About CertiK

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: CertiK is the largest Web3 security platform, providing end-to-end audit, compliance, and monitoring services for blockchain projects and financial institutions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, $303.7M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2017 (incorporated as Certified Kernel Tech LLC; LinkedIn lists 2018)
- **Founders**: Prof. Zhong Shao (Yale University) and Prof. Ronghui Gu (Columbia University)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Blockchain Security, Cybersecurity, Web3 Infrastructure, Compliance & Risk Management
- Target customers: B2B – crypto exchanges, DeFi protocols, stablecoin issuers, custodians, enterprises adopting DLT, and public blockchain ecosystems (e.g., Aptos, Ripple, Sandbox, Polygon, BNB Chain, TON)
- Mission/Purpose: “Security, compliance, and risk management for every stage of your Web3 journey” – from launch to scale, enabling projects to build with confidence, integrity, and real-time insights.

## Products & Services
- **Smart Contract Audits**: Manual code review combined with AI‑powered analysis and optional formal verification; supports Solidity, Rust, Go.
- **Formal Verification**: Proprietary hacker‑resistant kernel technology (CertiKOS) derived from academic research at Yale and Columbia.
- **Penetration Testing**: In‑depth assessment of off‑chain components, APIs, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), and Web3 applications.
- **SkyNet**: Real‑time security scoring and monitoring for 17,000+ projects (1.8M monthly active users).
- **SkyInsights**: On‑chain AML/CTF compliance, risk analytics, and transaction monitoring (300M+ address labels, 4,000+ incidents detected since 2020).
- **Proof of Reserves**: Attestation services for exchanges and custodians.
- **Bug Bounty Platform**: Fully managed platform with 0% fees on payouts, connecting projects with a global ethical hacker community.
- **DLT Advisory**: Strategy, architecture design, and security assessments for institutions building or integrating distributed ledger technology.
- **Validator & Node Operations**: Managed infrastructure for blockchain networks.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Over $2 billion (source: LinkedIn, citing leading investors).
- **Key Metrics** (public data):  
  - Annual Revenue: $3.9M (LinkedIn estimate)  
  - Total Funding: $303.7M across 10 rounds (latest Series B in April 2022 led by Tiger Global Management and SoftBank Vision Fund)  
  - $483B market cap assessed, 115,000+ vulnerabilities detected, 90,000+ security audit findings  
  - 5,000+ enterprise clients, 500+ applications secured, 100M+ users protected  
  - Team of 125 employees ( +10.9% YoY growth) across 28 countries
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sequoia Capital, Coatue, Goldmann Sachs, Shunei Capital, Insight Partners, Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Vision Fund, Hillhouse Investment
- **Growth Signals**: Expanded into AML/CFT compliance (SkyInsights), SOC 2 Type II compliance, and regulatory partnerships in US, Singapire, Hong Kong, Japan, Abu Dhabi, Korea.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Academic Foundaton**: Founded by leading formal‑verification researchers from Yale and Columbia; CertiKOS is a hacker‑resistnt concurrent OS with published peer‑reviewed results.
- **Full‑Lifecycle Security**: One vendor for audits, monitoring, compliance, bug bounties, and node operations – reduces integration complexity for Web3 projects.
- **Scale & Trust**: Largest Web3 security auditor with >5,000 clients, industry recognition (clients inclue Aptos, Ripple, Polygon, BNB Chain).
- **Regultory Alignment**: Proactive invoement in global crypto policy (MiCA, DORA, HKSCF, MAS) gives clients a compliance edge.
- **Dual‑Layer Defense**: Combines AI‑drive analysis with manual expert review and optional formal‑verification – a rarer deep‑tech approach.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expanding Compliance Sute**: Adding real‑time AML monitoring, risk intelligence, and regulatory advisory to capture institutional and enterprise demand.
- **Deeping AI/Formal Methods**: Leveraging AI to automate more of audit pipeline while maintaining formal verification rigor.
- **Geographic Scope**: Growing regulatory relationships in Asia, Middle East, and Europe to serve global VASPs.
- **Product Diversifiction**: Moving from single‑poit audit services to a full “security + infrastructure” platform (nodes, validators, bug bounties).

## Why Work Here
- **Impactful Mission**: Work on security that protects hundreds of billions in digital assets – directly shaping trust in decentralized finance.
- **Cutting‑Edge Technology**: Daily exposure to formal verification, AI security, blockchain internals, and both Web2/Web3 infrastructure.
- **Global & Remote‑Friendly**: Employees across 28 countries; office in New York but distributed workforce (remote‑first culture likely based on hiring patterns).
- **Career Growth**: Roles from Engineer III to Principal; senior positions in Blockchain Security Engineering (Solity, Rust, Golang) and Formal Methods.
- **Acadamic‑Industry Bridge**: Collaborate with founders who are active professors – access to latest research and top conferences.
- **Perks & Culture**: Not explicitly listed, but professional bug bount platform with 0% fees and team of respected security researchers suggests merit‑based, technically rigorous environment.

## Sources
1. [certik.com/company/about](https://www.certik.com/company/about) – Founders, background
2. [certik.com](https://www.certik.com/) – Products, metrics, client list
3. [certik.com/faq](https://www.certik.com/faq) – Service descriptions
4. [linkedin.com/company/certik](https://www.linkedin.com/company/certik) – Revenue, funding, employee count, valuation
5. [jobs.lever.co/certik](https://jobs.lever.co/certik) – Current job openings

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