About Nexus
Nexus is building the foundation for verifiable finance, an economic system where every transaction, order, and settlement can be proven on-chain with cryptographic assurance. To do this we’re developing a DEX Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for the AI economy, powered by idle compute from millions of people around the world, and verified with zero-knowledge proofs. This is finance rebuilt for the future: verifiable, scalable, and open to all.
Nexus has raised $25M in Series A funding https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexus-closes-25m-series-a-to-enable-verifiable-computation-via-zero-knowledge-cryptography-302168070.html?ref=blog.nexus.xyz from Lightspeed, Pantera, Dragonfly, SV Angel, and more.
Location: Remote (Brazil)
Type: Contract
Duration: 12 months with potential for extension
THE ROLE
We’re hiring Systems Engineers in Latin America to work at the core of Nexus’s execution stack — contributing to the runtime behind our Layer 1 protocol and the high-performance engine that powers decentralized trading.
This is not a typical backend role. You’ll design, implement, and optimize all layers of the Nexus protocol stack — including consensus, execution, and API/RPC servers — while helping define new financial and trading primitives on the Nexus L1.
You’ll work on performance-critical systems where microseconds matter, building execution paths that may evolve into core protocol primitives. Whether you’re a strong mid-level engineer ready to grow into system ownership or a senior/principal engineer eager to architect high-throughput distributed systems, this role offers the opportunity to build software that runs at the heart of a global execution layer.
You’ll collaborate closely with protocol, cryptography, and product teams in San Francisco while contributing remotely from Brazil.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
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Design, implement, and optimize high-performance components in Rust, C++, or Go for Nexus’s DEX engine and protocol runtime.
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Design, implement, and optimize all layers of the Nexus protocol stack, including consensus, execution, and API/RPC servers.
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Build low-latency pipelines for order execution, event propagation, and state updates.
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Design and implement financial and trading primitives on the Nexus L.
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Optimize concurrency, scheduling, memory layout, and I/O paths for determinism and throughput.
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Contribute to the evolution of execution abstractions that may be enshrined at the protocol layer.
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Work with protocol engineers to ensure safety, composability, and consensus compatibility.
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Investigate and resolve performance bottlenecks using profiling, tracing, and benchmarking techniques.
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Help define standards for reliability, correctness, and high-assurance distributed execution.
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For senior/principal candidates: drive system design decisions, shape execution architecture, and mentor others in performance engineering.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
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Very strong systems engineering ability: writing modular, maintainable code within a complex codebase where correctness and performance are critical.
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Experience with Rust (or C++/Go with strong performance focus).
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Understanding of high-performance or distributed systems (e.g., low-latency engines, runtimes, databases, OS-level concurrency).
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Ability to think in terms of execution flows, concurrency models, resource lifecycles, and system invariants.
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Interest in performance optimization and low-level profiling (CPU, memory, synchronization overhead).
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Strong first-principles thinker with excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and communication ability.
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Competitive programming experience (e.g., IOI, ICPC) or similar level of programming ability is a plus.
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Excellent communication skills in business English (spoken and written).
BONUS POINTS FOR
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Experience building matching engines, databases, compilers, blockchain runtimes, or HPC systems.
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Familiarity with lock-free concurrency, zero-copy data structures, or cache-aware design.
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Exposure to protocol engineering, consensus systems, or transaction ordering.
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Background in correctness-focused engineering (e.g., formal verification, static analysis).
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Open-source contributions to systems-level projects.
WHY JOIN US
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Build the execution backbone of a Layer 1 blockchain and next-generation DEX engine.
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Work on systems where your optimizations translate directly into global performance gains.
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Grow from mid-level contributor to system owner — or drive execution architecture as a senior/principal.
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Shape primitives designed to last — correct, performant, and potentially enshrined at the protocol level.
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Join a high-performance engineering culture where ambition and deep technical work are expected.