---
title: 'Forward Deployed Engineer at Axiom'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-axiom-new-york-f7wg0qnfbawy'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# Forward Deployed Engineer at Axiom

- **Company:** Axiom
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2025-10-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/axiom/a9fa1f80-a695-47cf-be13-d7a07a6b83d7

## Job description

## About Us

Axiom is using zero-knowledge proofs to enable new types of verifiable and private software applications, starting with crypto and fintech. We are a small but incredibly strong team backed by the [best investors in crypto](https://blog.axiom.xyz/funding/). We’re looking for exceptional people who are excited to work on challenging and impactful problems in a fast-paced environment. Our office is in NYC and working in person in NY is our strong preference, but we're open to remote candidates as well. We recently released [OpenVM](https://blog.axiom.xyz/openvm), a performant and modular zkVM framework built for customization and extensibility. OpenVM allows developers to verify the correct execution of arbitrary computer programs in a flexible and performant way. We are building ZK-enabled products using OpenVM and supporting teams building on OpenVM.

## The Role

We are looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to help customers maximize the value they get out of OpenVM and the Axiom Proving API. You'll design compelling product demos, execute pilots, and work closely with teams across crypto and fintech to integrate ZK into their products with OpenVM. Beyond the sales process, you will own technical customer relationships by customizing OpenVM for user needs and ensuring successful product impact. You will also help shape our product roadmap by deeply understanding and communicating customer needs. We are looking for someone with strong technical skills, the ability to work across the stack, and a product- and customer-first mindset. We also value the ability to make pragmatic design choices to solve customer problems while maintaining sustainable engineering practices.

## Who you are

- You have a strong track record of shipping full-stack products across frontend and backend using Python, Typescript, or comparable stacks.
- You are familiar with deploying applications using k8s and Terraform.
- You’re a clear communicator and relationship-builder. You're comfortable discussing complex technical topics with customers in all roles and levels.
- You thrive in ambiguous environments and have a strong bias towards action.
- You have an extremely strong work ethic.

Bonuses

- You have experience selling a product or doing customer-facing work.
- You have experience with cryptography or blockchain engineering.
- You are proficient in Rust, C/C++, Go, or a similar backend language.

## Why join us

- You’ll be an early employee with ownership to make key technical/product decisions.
- You’ll be working on groundbreaking tech that has the potential to be a key piece of infrastructure for the crypto industry and beyond.
- You’ll receive a competitive salary with equity.
- You will work with and receive mentorship from an exceptional team.

## Our Team

Our founders Yi Sun and Jonathan Wang met while studying math at Harvard and have been working on ZK since 2021. Together, they wrote some of the most performant ZK circuits for elliptic curve cryptography and Ethereum data reads before starting Axiom. Before Axiom, Yi was a professor at UChicago Statistics and did a math PhD at MIT. He was previously an advisor for Gauntlet and worked at an HFT startup from inception to profitable trading. Jonathan published number theory research in top math journals and did a math PhD at UChicago. The rest of our small but incredibly strong team includes alums of Applied Intuition, Coinbase, Color, Neon, and Google, as well as math / CS PhDs and IMO / IPhO / Codeforces winners. We look forward to working with you!

## About Axiom

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Axiom builds production-ready zero-knowledge (ZK) proving infrastructure, including the OpenVM zkVM framework and the Axiom Proving API, to enable scalable, secure, and cost-effective ZK proofs for Ethereum rollups and other applications.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Jonathan Wang, Yi Sun

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Zero-knowledge proofs, blockchain infrastructure, cryptographic computing, software development.
- **Target customers**: Blockchain rollups (e.g., Scroll, OP Stack), decentralized exchanges, layer-1 and layer-2 teams, application developers needing ZK proof generation at scale.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Secure Ethereum with provable 100-bit security and under 300kB proofs” – making ZK practical for production use.

## Products & Services
- **[OpenVM](https://www.axiom.xyz/)**: An open-source, modular zkVM framework that prioritizes extensibility and performance. Supports custom VM extensions, formally verified RISC-V extension, and GPU-accelerated proving. Capable of proving every Ethereum block in real time with under $0.01 per block.
- **[Axiom Proving API](https://www.axiom.xyz/)**: A cloud-based API for generating ZK proofs on Axiom’s robust infrastructure. Integrates seamlessly with OpenVM, provides scalable GPU proving, and targets proof costs below $0.001 per transaction.
- **Custom rollup support**: Axiom helps implement OpenVM on custom app rollups, offering native EVM interoperability and support for standards like EIP-7702 and RIP-7212.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company).
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$20 million** (Series A, led by Paradigm and Standard Crypto, announced January 25, 2024).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: **Paradigm** (lead), **Standard Crypto** (lead), additional three investors (names not public). Partners include **Scroll** (finalizing mainnet since April 2025), **Nethermind Research** (formal verification grant from Ethereum Foundation), and **Ethereum Foundation**.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Headcount grew **23.5% year-over-year** (to 18 employees as of mid-2026).
  - OpenVM 2.0 launched in 2026, proving Ethereum mainnet blocks in real time with 100-bit security and sub-300kB proof size.
  - Secured a grant from the Ethereum Foundation for formal verification of OpenVM’s RISC-V extension.
  - Live in production on Scroll mainnet (Stage 1 zkEVM).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Modularity and extensibility**: OpenVM allows developers to tailor ZK to their specific application without building custom infrastructure from scratch.
- **Provable security**: 100-bit provable security with formally verified correctness in Lean (RISC-V extension verified by Nethermind Research).
- **Performance leadership**: Sub-300KB proofs and real-time block proving at lower cost than competitors (under $0.001/tx, under $0.01/block).
- **Production readiness**: Already deployed on Scroll mainnet and able to replace 7‑day withdrawal windows with 1‑hour finality.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling Ethereum adoption**: Reduce L1 costs by replacing consensus with ZK cryptography and shorten withdrawal times for rollups.
- **Open ecosystem**: Maintain OpenVM as an open‑source, community‑driven framework while offering a commercial proving API.
- **Accelerating custom rollups**: Enable any team to add EVM support and native interoperability via OpenVM extensions.
- **Expanding partnerships**: Target OP Stack and other major rollup frameworks (OP Stack “coming soon”).

## Why Work Here
- **Cutting-edge technology**: Work at the intersection of cryptography, distributed systems, and compilers – building the future of blockchain scaling.
- **Talent density**: Small, high‑impact team (18 people) with strong technical backgrounds (alumni from Amazon, Snowflake, Aptos Labs, Jane Street, etc.).
- **Flexible work options**: Positions are listed as “In-Office or Remote” with an office in New York, NY (HQ) and at least two other offices.
- **Culture of deep technical contribution**: Roles include building Rust-based rollup nodes, optimizing GPU proving, and formally verifying zero-knowledge systems.
- **Growth trajectory**: Rapidly scaling company with strong investor backing and real‑world adoption (Scroll mainnet, Ethereum Foundation grant).

## Sources
1. [axiom.xyz](https://www.axiom.xyz/) – Official site with product docs, announcements, and funding info.
2. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/axiom-xyz) – Company page with employee count, funding details, and growth data.
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/axiom-axiomxyz) – Company overview, perks, and job listings.
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/axiom) – Official careers page.

## Other roles at Axiom

- [Distributed Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/distributed-systems-engineer-axiom-new-york-r3083ve71csb) — New York, NY
- [ZK Proof Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/zk-proof-engineer-axiom-new-york-5t9zs5b76kaw) — New York, NY
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