QuickNode is a cloud-based infrastructure company that powers the blockchain ecosystem.
Our mission is to be the indispensable utility that empowers companies and innovators globally to build next-generation, Web3 enabled businesses & applications using blockchain technology. QuickNode is backed by some of the world's best investors including Tiger Global, Y Combinator, SoftBank, and the Seven Seven Six Fund. The QuickNode team has over 120 people maintaining high performance global data infrastructure for amazing customers serving billions of requests daily.
We are a global remote company with an HQ in Miami, Florida.
LocationRemote (with regional coverage for 24hr operations). Limited travel may be required for conferences or offsites, generally less than 10 days per year.
The RoleKeep Solana fast—and boring in production. We operate validators, RPC, and indexing at scale. You’ll tune hardware, fine‑tune Agave/Jito, write sharp tools (Go/Python), and lead incidents—treating keys, latency, and SLOs like life support. If you can occasionally patch a client or upstream a small fix, even better.
What We Actually NeedLinux systems + kernel tuning: NUMA, IRQ affinity, hugepages, cpusets, I/O schedulers, sysctl; filesystem/NVMe layout; BIOS/firmware setup (C‑states, power governors); NIC queues/offloads (RSS/RPS/XPS, GRO/LRO/TSO).
Hardware performance engineering: choose and tune CPU/RAM/NVMe/NIC; measure replay throughput, p95/p99 RPC latency, IOPS/egress—and push them lower/faster.
Agave/Jito operations: build from source; manage feature gates and config flags; snapshots (create/consume), ledger compaction/repair/replay health; accounts‑DB tuning; version management.
Read protocols & surfaces: operate and tune JSON‑RPC (HTTP/WS), gRPC, and PubSub; design connection pools, concurrency limits, caching, timeouts, and backpressure that hold under peak.
Transaction sending logic: understand direct‑to‑TPU (QUIC) vs RPC sendTransaction; preflight/simulation trade‑offs; priority fees and compute budget tuning; leader‑schedule awareness.
Go or Python (plus Bash): build small, sharp tools/CLIs (snapshot/restore pipelines, state‑sync verification, health checks, replay/load harnesses).
Observability that matters: SLOs/error budgets; Prometheus/Grafana/; alerts that page only when users hurt (RPC latency, PubSub backlog, missed leader slots, replay stalls).
Key management & safety: KMS/HSM/Vault; authority rotations; secure backups; tested DR paths; controlled, auditable change windows.
Run validators: deploy/upgrade/tune Agave/Jito; cut missed slots; keep voting healthy and leader performance high.
Operate high‑throughput RPC: set smart connection/queue limits, optimize PubSub fan‑out/backpressure, and keep indexers fed without starving nodes.
Extract performance from hardware: pick the right servers, tune BIOS/kernel/NIC/NVMe, and prove gains with pprof/metrics.
Automate everything: reproducible images; Terraform/Ansible for fleet changes; snapshot pipelines; state‑sync + replay verification; build/release automation.
Lead incidents (SEV0–2): isolate fast, roll forward/back safely, publish crisp RCAs, and ship the change that prevents a replay.
Collaborate with the ecosystem: reproduce tricky bugs, share traces, and land targeted patches upstream when ROI is real.
Code where it counts: write/extend tools (snapshots, replay/load, state sync checks); occasionally patch client bugs that bite production and upstream when it’s worth it.
Impact: your work lights up production; chain launches, reliability wins, performance gains.
Pace > Ceremony: tight reviews, practical standards, minimal meetings, async‑first.
Growth: own big surfaces; learn protocol internals while leveling up distributed systems chops.
Remote‑first: follow‑the‑sun coverage; humane on‑call.
Compensation & benefits: region‑aligned, bonus-eligible and shared early; no bait‑and‑switch.
Production Solana ownership: validators + RPC you operated (Agave/Jito), snapshot/restore practice, upgrade playbooks that worked, optimized landing rates.
Bare‑metal wins: concrete BIOS/kernel/NIC/NVMe tweaks that moved a metric (replay throughput ↑, missed slots ↓, p99 RPC ↓).
Protocol/path fluency: clear explanation of TPU/QUIC vs RPC sendTransaction, preflight/simulation trade‑offs, and when to favor WS vs HTTP vs gRPC for reads.
Tooling & code impact: Go/Python utilities (snapshot/restore, state‑sync verification, health checks), plus IaC (Terraform/Ansible) you’d reuse; ability to read Rust and land a small patch when necessary.
Observability results: before/after charts for RPC latency, PubSub backlog, replay stalls, MTTR; alerts that page only when users hurt.
Change safety: evidence of safe rollouts/rollbacks, audited change windows, and DR/backup restores that were actually tested.
Steps may vary slightly by region/seniority; we keep it lean.
30‑min intro + context with Talent Acquisition
60‑min technical deep dive with the Hiring Manager (incidents you led, K8s/IaC trade‑offs, tooling you built)
60‑min hands‑on with Team Members (pair on a small plan/code review or targeted tool fix)
30-min meet a Founder
Week 1–2: ship a small IaC change + a dashboard someone actually uses.
Week 3–6: own 2–3 subsystems, kill a flaky alert, close a recurring papercut with code/automation; publish a short performance note with numbers.
Week 7–12: lead one upgrade/cutover with clean rollback; publish an RCA and the code/infrastructure change that prevents recurrence.
International ranges, in local currency, will be discussed during the hiring process with applicable candidates. This role is eligible for a quarterly bonus tied to company and individual goal achievement. We consider years of experience, level of proficiency in job function, the technical competencies required and location when determining base salary ranges for positions and levels.
The QuickNode compensation philosophy includes pillars to ensure fair and unbiased compensation for all employees. To design and deliver total reward offerings that are employee-centric. To offer a competitive benefit package in all locations where we operate. To prioritize attracting and retaining the best talent globally. To maintain a high-performing and flexible way of working.
During the hiring process, we are committed to discussing compensation openly and honestly. We encourage candidates to share their salary expectations and requirements early, allowing for an individualized discussion. We know that our total rewards practices impact the lives and wellbeing of our employees. Therefore, we will never stop learning about the market, our business, your needs, and how best to achieve our goals through thoughtful and data-driven practices. If you have any questions or require further information about the compensation for this position, please don't hesitate to reach out to your Recruiter.
We at QuickNode are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
