As a Principal Protocol Engineer, you'll serve as the primary technical author of the Nasdaq Token Design Standard — Nasdaq's canonical specification for representing public equity on-chain. This is a high-impact, high-ownership role at the intersection of smart contract engineering, capital markets expertise, and proprietary standards governance. Your work will define the foundation on which Nasdaq's tokenization ecosystem is built and licensed.
You'll thrive here if you bring deep expertise in regulated asset infrastructure, think rigorously about the downstream implications of every design decision, and are energized by the opportunity to shape an emerging institutional standard at global scale.
- Own the design and evolution of the Nasdaq Token Design Standard, including token issuance, transfer restriction logic, compliance hooks, corporate action processing, and record date mechanics.
- Author andmaintainthe full reference implementation library — the proprietary IP that licensees build on — ensuring backward compatibility, clear versioning, and rigorous documentation across protocol upgrades.
- Define governance mechanisms for the standard, balancing Nasdaq's stewardship role with the accessibility requirements of a commerciallyviableecosystem.
- Lead chain selection strategy and integration architecture, evaluatingpermissionedand public infrastructure against settlement finality, throughput, and regulatory defensibility criteria.
- Represent Nasdaq externally as a technical authority — engaging with ecosystem partners, contributing to industry standards bodies, and authoring white papers and public technical documentation.
- Serve astechnicallead on integrations with external platforms, custodians, and cross-chain interoperability frameworks.
- 8+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 4 years in smart contract or protocol-level development.
- Expert-level proficiency in Solidity; working knowledge of Rust (Solana/Substrate) is a strong plus.
- Demonstrated production deployment of security token or regulated asset contracts on a public or permissioned chain.
- Deep understanding of token standards design rationale and U.S. equity market lifecycle mechanics, including corporate actions, record dates, and settlement infrastructure.
- Proven ability to operate as a technical authority — writing specifications, presenting to non-technical audiences, and defending design decisions to partners and regulators.
- Prior authorship or editorial contribution to a token standard (e.g., ERC or equivalent).
- Familiarity with institutional blockchain infrastructure projects involving DTCC, SWIFT, or comparable settlement networks.
- Experience with proxy voting mechanics and their translation to on-chain governance events.
This position willbe located inNew York and offers the opportunity for a hybrid work environment at least 3 days a week in-office, subject to change, providing flexibility and accessibility for qualified candidates.
