--- title: 'Blockchain Security Researcher - Future Openings at OpenZeppelin' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/blockchain-security-researcher-future-openings-openzeppelin-global-xrzbywq4v0cp' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Blockchain Security Researcher - Future Openings at OpenZeppelin - **Company:** OpenZeppelin - **Location:** Global - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2021-01-06 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://openzeppelin.com/careers/opening/?gh_jid=4254142003 ## Job description ## About us OpenZeppelin is the security standard onchain finance is built on. Founded in 2015, our mission is to accelerate the world's transition to an open financial system, built on open standards and secured by rigorous research. Our open-source Contract Libraries have facilitated over $35 trillion in onchain value and are used by 10 of the top 10 tokenized money market funds and 9 of the top 10 stablecoins by market cap. We combine AI-native security tooling with deep research and a decade of audit expertise to support leading institutions and crypto-native teams shaping the next generation of digital assets like DTCC, Fidelity, Coinbase, Uniswap, Aave, the Ethereum Foundation, and many more across the full secure development lifecycle. Please note: Always refer to OpenZeppelin's official job page for the most accurate information about our open roles, as we have seen multiple third party job sites posting inaccurate information. Note: Please note this position is for a future opening. The Security Services Team OpenZeppelin's Security Services team is responsible for the security of the world's leading web3 protocols and top financial institutions building onchain. Our researchers partner with client teams across the full lifecycle of a protocol: working on architecture and design before any code is written, co-creating novel mechanisms and primitives with engineering teams, conducting deep audits of pre-launch codebases, and providing continuous coverage as production systems evolve. Our clients range from emerging projects shipping their first contracts to global financial institutions running production onchain systems at scale. ## What you'll be doing - Review smart contracts for top decentralized applications, blockchain infrastructure and financial institutions before they launch. Find vulnerabilities, prioritize them, and present findings to the client. - Drive audits independently from start to finish, with AI as your primary collaborator. When useful, partner with another researcher to attack the code together and pressure-test findings. - Partner with client teams during the design phase of new protocols, analyzing architecture, trust assumptions, and operational constraints before any code is written (Design Reviews, Applied Research engagements). - Design and help develop smart contracts as part of co-creative engagements with protocol teams, where research, design, specification, and implementation happen together. - Use AI efficiently throughout the audit process, and build skills, agents, and workflows that compound across the team. - Conduct open-ended research into cutting-edge blockchain technologies, vulnerability classes, and emerging attack vectors, and contribute findings back to OpenZeppelin's internal knowledge base and to the broader ecosystem. You have - Hands-on and practical experience in one or more of the following: software development, cybersecurity, applied mathematics, distributed systems, cryptography, cryptoeconomics or game theory, or DeFi mechanisms. - Experience designing and developing smart contracts, not only auditing them. - Strong working knowledge of Solidity and the broader Ethereum / EVM ecosystem (common libraries, frameworks, smart contract patterns). - Modern AI tooling is central to how you work, not a novelty. You use it daily to expand audit coverage, reason about complex systems, and produce high-quality outputs faster. You evaluate AI-generated code with a critical eye. - Comfort building and extending your own tooling (skills, agents, prompts, scripts, or full workflows) that the rest of the team can adopt and build on. - An advanced English level and strong communication skills (oral and written). ## Nice to have - Experience with non-EVM ecosystems and languages, such as Canton, Move (Sui, Aptos), Golang (Cosmos SDK), Cairo (Starknet), Rust-based blockchains (Solana, Stellar), or ZK circuits and cryptography-heavy systems. - Experience with risk assessment work in the crypto industry (smart contract risk assessment, threat modeling). - Web2 security expertise (penetration testing, web application security, infrastructure security, or appsec). - Experience with formal verification, invariant testing, or advanced fuzzing tools (Echidna, Foundry, Halmos, Certora). - A track record in audit contests (Code4rena, Sherlock, Cantina) or bug bounty platforms (Immunefi, HackerOne). - Public security research output, such as published findings, blog posts, conference talks, or contributions to open-source security tooling. Logistics Our interview process takes place on Google Mee and tends to consist of the following stages: - Recruiter call (30 minutes) - Manager interview (60 minutes) - Technical interview (60 minutes) - Paid work trial (code review and smart contract development assessment) - Reference checks Please let us know if you require any accommodations for the interview process, and we’ll do our best to provide assistance. ## Benefits - Meet your teammates at company gatherings around the world 😎 - Enjoy the flexibility of fully remote work 🌎 - Take the time you need with flexible time off 🏝 - Grow your family with 8 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers, 4 weeks for secondary caregivers, and a one-time $3,600 baby bonus 💙 - Build your ideal home office with up to $500 in equipment support 🪑 - Stay covered with medical insurance 🏥 - Keep growing with learning and development opportunities 🧠 - Get a monthly stipend for your preferred co-working space 💻 At OpenZeppelin, we are an equal opportunity employer and we value different perspectives. We are committed to building a diverse workforce. This includes but is not limited to gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, national origin and other characteristics that make each one of us unique. In this uniqueness, we find the most value. Come join us! Use of AI as part of the recruiting process As part of OpenZeppelin’s recruitment process, we may use automated tools, including artificial intelligence, to assist in reviewing applications and assessing candidate qualifications. These tools are used to support our People team by identifying relevant skills and experience, and are not used to make decisions solely by automated means. All hiring decisions involve human review. Any personal data provided as part of your application will be processed in accordance with OpenZeppelin’s [Data Privacy Notice](https://www.openzeppelin.com/privacy). If you have questions about this recruitment process or would like to request human review of your application, please contact us at talent@openzeppelin.com. ## About OpenZeppelin ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: OpenZeppelin provides the security standard for onchain finance, offering smart contract libraries, security audits, and a developer security platform to help organizations build, secure, and operate blockchain applications. - **Entity Type**: Private (Venture-backed; last known funding round in 2023) - **Headquarters**: United States (distributed/remote-first company with team members across 33+ countries) - **Founded**: 2015 - **Founders**: Demian Brener ## Core Business - Primary industry/industries: Blockchain Security, Smart Contract Development, Cybersecurity, Financial Infrastructure - Target customers: B2B — DeFi protocols, blockchain platforms, financial institutions, and crypto-native organizations (e.g., Coinbase, Ethereum Foundation, Compound, Aave, Uniswap, Matter Labs, ANZ Bank) - Mission or purpose statement: "To accelerate the world’s transition to an open financial system." ## Products & Services - **[OpenZeppelin Contracts](https://www.openzeppelin.com/contracts)**: The industry-standard, battle-tested open-source library for secure smart contract development in Solidity and Cairo. Used by 9 of the top 10 stablecoins and 10 of the top 10 tokenized funds. Over $33.2 trillion in total value has been transferred via these contracts. - **[OpenZeppelin Defender](https://www.openzeppelin.com/defender)**: A developer security platform for operating onchain applications. Includes a Relayer for secure transaction management, Monitors for threat detection and alerting, and Actions for automated incident response. - **[Security Audits](https://www.openzeppelin.com/security-audits)**: Gold-standard smart contract, ZKP, and infrastructure audits. The team has uncovered 700+ critical and high vulnerabilities, with over 1 million lines of code reviewed. They pioneered the smart contract security audit practice. - **[Ethernaut CTF](https://ethernaut.openzeppelin.com/)**: The #1 educational resource for smart contract security, with +140K plays across 5 networks and 10 languages. - **Security Research & Standards**: Active contributors to Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and ERCs, including Account Abstraction (ERC-1271), Metatransactions (ERC-2771), and Upgradeability (ERC-7201, ERC-1967). Members of EthTrust and SEAL911. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total Value Locked (TVL) secured: over **$250 billion** across client protocols. Total value transferred via OpenZeppelin Contracts: over **$33.2 trillion**. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Raised a Venture Round in March 2023 with 1 investor (specific lead not publicly named in available data). Clients include Coinbase, Ethereum Foundation, Compound, Aave, Uniswap, Matter Labs, and ANZ Bank. - **Growth Signals**: 95%+ customer re-engagement rate; 71 NPS score; 200+ active customers; 140+ global team members; operates in 33+ countries; 64% of all active wallets have interacted with OpenZeppelin Contracts. ## Competitive Advantages - **Market Dominance & Trust**: OpenZeppelin Contracts are the de facto standard for secure smart contract development, used by the vast majority of top DeFi protocols and tokenized funds. - **Pioneering Expertise**: As the company that pioneered the smart contract security audit practice, they have a decade of experience and unmatched depth in blockchain security research. - **Full Lifecycle Coverage**: The only company that offers an integrated stack from open-source development libraries (Contracts) to operational security (Defender) to expert auditing, covering the entire development lifecycle. - **Neutral & Research-Driven**: A neutral, strategic partner committed to customer success, with a strong research culture that contributes directly back to the ecosystem (EIPs, ERCs, educational tools like Ethernaut). - **AI-First Security**: Recently introduced AI-powered security audits alongside the release of Contracts 5.0, positioning them at the cutting edge of automated vulnerability detection. ## Strategic Focus - **AI-Native Security**: Integrating AI into security audits and the Defender platform to provide continuous, automated security across the full lifecycle, enabling capital markets to deploy and operate at scale in regulatory alignment. - **Expanding into Privacy & Confidentiality**: Entering the privacy and confidentiality space (Zero-Knowledge Proof audits and infrastructure). - **Institutional Onboarding**: Deepening partnerships with traditional financial institutions undergoing onchain transformation, helping them meet regulatory and security requirements. - **Community & Education**: Continuing to grow the Ethernaut CTF and contribute to open standards to foster a more secure ecosystem. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-Driven**: Join a team dedicated to "accelerating the world's transition to an open financial system" — a high-impact, transformative goal. - **Remote-First & Global**: Fully remote company with team members in 40+ countries. They foster connection through regular in-person gatherings in different locations worldwide. - **World-Class Team**: Work alongside globally distributed engineers, researchers, and security experts who are defining the foundations for the next generation of financial services. Alumni have gone on to top roles at companies like Chainalysis, Coinbase, Matter Labs, and Trail of Bits. - **Strong Values**: The culture is built on Intellectual Curiosity, Commitment to Excellence, Ability to Ship, Customer Centricity, Team Spirit, and a Strong Sense of Purpose. - **Benefits**: Fully remote work, flexible time off, paid parental leave for primary or secondary caregiver, one-time home office stipend of up to $500 USD, medical coverage, annual Learning & Development budget, and referral incentives. - **Hiring Process**: A transparent, 6-step process designed to be fair and thorough, including a paid work trial that emulates real work. Typically completed in up to 6 weeks. - **Growth & Impact**: With 200+ active customers and $250B+ in TVL secured, your work directly protects billions of dollars in digital assets. ## Sources 1. [openzeppelin.com](https://www.openzeppelin.com/) 2. [openzeppelin.com/about-us](https://www.openzeppelin.com/about-us) 3. [openzeppelin.com/careers](https://www.openzeppelin.com/careers) 4. 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