Forward Deployed Engineer - ZK Crypto Infra at Axiom in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This is a rare Forward Deployed Engineer role at an early-stage, technically elite crypto infrastructure startup — a hybrid of solutions engineering, customer success, and product engineering that is increasingly valued across the Web3 and developer-tools sectors.
Career development value: You'll gain deep expertise in zero-knowledge proofs (ZK), a field that is rapidly becoming critical infrastructure in crypto, fintech, and even traditional computing. ZK engineering skills are extremely scarce and highly compensated — this role offers exposure without requiring you to be a ZK researcher.
- Skills developed: zkVM integration, full-stack deployment (k8s, Terraform), technical sales, product strategy, customer relationship ownership.
- Market positioning: FDE roles at top crypto infra companies command $150K–$250K+ in total comp; equity at an early-stage, well-funded startup adds significant upside.
- Green flags: World-class founding team (MIT/Harvard/UChicago PhDs), top-tier crypto investors, small team with high individual impact, groundbreaking technology.
- Potential red flags: "Extremely strong work ethic" phrasing signals a demanding culture. No explicit mention of PTO, flexible hours, or work-life balance policies — typical of early-stage startups.
This role suits someone who wants to be a key player in the ZK ecosystem early, bridge technical and commercial functions, and accumulate equity in a category-defining company. It's an excellent springboard to senior engineering, product, or BD leadership roles in the broader ZK/crypto space.
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. 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, 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 Kubernetes (k8s) and Terraform.
You're a clear communicator and relationship-builder, comfortable discussing complex technical topics with customers at 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 and 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, Google, and Perplexity as well as math/CS PhDs and IMO/IPhO/Codeforces winners. We look forward to working with you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this role fully remote or is NYC office attendance required?
Do I need prior experience with zero-knowledge proofs or cryptography?
What does the compensation package look like?
What programming languages are required for this role?
How large is the Axiom team and what stage is the company at?
