Infrastructure Lead
About Alpen Labs Alpen Labs is a New York-based startup founded in 2022 by four MIT alumni. Our mission is to build universal rails for money by creating a scalable, private and programmable Bitcoin ecosystem. We're achieving this through cutting-edge innovations in zero-knowledge cryptography and offchain solutions, without compromising Bitcoin's fundamental principles. This endeavor is not just about technological advancement but a step towards a more resilient, free, and prosperous global society. Our current team consists of engineers and researchers from companies like Blockstream Research, Palantir, and Nethermind. We invite passionate individuals to join us in navigating this complex, yet rewarding journey towards redefining financial sovereignty. Role Overview We are seeking an infrastructure and DevOps engineer to lead our infrastructure team with focus on the system’s security and reliability. The role involves overseeing all of our infrastructure aspects, including maintaining our production and testing environments, development operations and establishing monitoring protocols to ensure the system reliability and resiliency. In particular, you will work closely with our security team to execute the security protocols set to ensure we stand to the highest security levels. Key Responsibilities Reliability: Infrastructure Management: Oversee and maintain infrastructure components, including: Working environments for testing, staging and production Maintain a robust infrastructure to ensure Layer 2 nodes are always live Maintain a robust infrastructure to ensure access to Bitcoin to ensure internally hosted full nodes, sequencers, provers, and the backend services are always live and accessible. Architect a dynamic system for the zk-prover, for routine and high-demand scenarios Load balancing for RPC requests and block explorers Monitoring and Metrics: Develop and implement monitoring solutions, set performance metrics, and establish alerts for all managed systems. Dashboard Creation: Design and maintain dashboards highlighting critical system metrics and points of interest. Upgrade Oversight: Ensure the correctness and security of system upgrade protocols. Security: Monitoring Execution: Implement monitoring tools and processes as specified by the security team. Alert System Implementation: Develop and manage an alert system based on security team specifications, ensuring timely communication of issues to relevant stakeholders. Incident Response Coordination: Ensure that alerts are effectively communicated to the security team and other key personnel, facilitating prompt and appropriate responses. Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field. Proven experience in managing blockchain infrastructure and distributed systems. Strong understanding of blockchain Infrastructure, particularly Bitcoin and Layer 2 solutions. Proficiency in monitoring tools and load balancing techniques. Experience with security monitoring and incident response processes. Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail. Ability to work collaboratively in a remote team environment. What we offer What we extend to our new hires is an invitation to actively contribute to the evolution of cutting-edge technologies within the blockchain space. This presents a unique opportunity to innovate and devise creative solutions for complex engineering challenges. To support your journey, we commit to providing all the resources necessary for your learning, growth, and productivity. Moreover, our compensation package is designed to mirror the passion, dedication, and hard work you invest in your role. We recognize and appreciate your contributions by aligning your exceptional commitment with generous compensation.