Validator Engineer

About Ritual Ritual is building a sovereign, execution layer for AI, with our private testnet already live and running. The Ritual chain is the first blockchain custom-built to support AI-native operations, designed from the ground up to enable a new class of applications at the intersection of crypto and AI. Our first product, Infernet, is pioneering new ground as the first solution to enable developers to access AI models both on-chain via smart contracts and off-chain, demonstrating our commitment to bridging these transformative technologies.About the roleAs a Validator Engineer, you will own the uptime, performance, and reliability of Ritual’s validators. You’ll be responsible for managing upgrades, snapshots, and sync performance, while also serving as the primary technical point of contact for validator operators — owning deployment tooling, documentation, and support to ensure seamless participation across testnet and mainnet.Build and automate bare-metal & cloud deployments for our validators using our existing full-fledged simulation frameworkOrchestrate client upgrades, parameter changes, and hard-forks with zero downtime across staging and mainnetProfile and patch critical paths for optimal performance of the execution and consensus clientsProduce run-books, maintain clear documentation, and actively support validator operators via Discord to keep staking participation healthyAbout you4+ years operating high-availability distributed systems, including direct experience running PoS validators on EVM-based chainsProficient in Go and Rust, with the ability to read, debug, and extend both Execution Layer (EL) and Consensus Layer (CL) client codeStrong grasp of protocol-level concepts such as fork-choice, evidence handling, slashing conditions, and state syncExpertise in Kubernetes/Helm, Terraform, and CI/CD workflows — automating everything from container builds to canary deploymentsAdvanced Linux user with deep networking knowledge and a strong focus on system hardening and securityPassionate about observability — logs, metrics, and traces are at the core of every operational decisionNice to haveDirect experience supporting external validator operators — including writing documentation, maintaining snapshots, and answering integration questions during testnet or mainnet launchesUpstream contributions to both execution and consensus clientsExperience orchestrating GPU workloads or other compute-intensive pipelinesFamiliarity with deploying, maintaining, and tuning open-source AI modelsExperience interfacing with infrastructure partners, custodians, and auditors in high-uptime environmentWhy join us Join a passionate group of engineers, researchers, and operators on a mission to build the next generation of AI infrastructure Highly competitive compensation package, including annual discretionary bonus & optimized tax structure compared to the vast majority of web3 startupsTop 1% of benefits across the web3 startup space100% of premiums covered on highest quality healthcare Aggressive company 401k matchFully remote and/or hybrid, up to you!Participate in virtual and in-person eventsMuch much more!Originally posted on Himalayas