What are the responsibilities and job description for the Engineering Manager position at Char Network Labs?
Position: Engineering Manager
Char Network is a proof-of-stake application coordination protocol built on Bitcoin. By anchoring data into Bitcoin through cryptographic proofs and economic guarantees, Char powers the next generation of Bitcoin layer twos.
We’re a small, sharp, and adventurous team led by Bitcoin developer Jeremy Rubin, pushing the limits of what Bitcoin can be. Our work blends deep protocol expertise with a hacker’s creativity to unlock new capabilities for Bitcoin at scale.
We keep things collaborative, fast-moving, and fun—where every contribution counts and every voice matters. Joining Char means working at the frontier of Bitcoin R&D and infrastructure.
About the Role
As the Char Network engineering team grows, we’ll need a player-coach who can manage people and process while staying close to the code. This role will lead the engineering team across the core protocol, research, and integrations functions while staying hands-on with development. This is a dual-responsibility role where both contributions matter equally.
You'll own team capacity, project coordination, and code quality while contributing to whatever the team needs most whether that's protocol implementation, cryptographic research support, developer tooling, or unblocking other engineers. The split between hands-on work and management will evolve with the team's growth: you might start 70% IC / 30% management and shift over time as the team scales.
Your strategic focus will be scaling the engineering organization from a small, scrappy team to a high velocity, high quality operation without sacrificing speed or culture. You’ll remove blockers, maintain technical standards, ensure clear communication across engineering functions to make sure the team ships.
What You’ll Do
Team Leadership and Management
Must-Haves
- Location: Miami, FL strongly preferred
- Project: Char Network
Char Network is a proof-of-stake application coordination protocol built on Bitcoin. By anchoring data into Bitcoin through cryptographic proofs and economic guarantees, Char powers the next generation of Bitcoin layer twos.
We’re a small, sharp, and adventurous team led by Bitcoin developer Jeremy Rubin, pushing the limits of what Bitcoin can be. Our work blends deep protocol expertise with a hacker’s creativity to unlock new capabilities for Bitcoin at scale.
We keep things collaborative, fast-moving, and fun—where every contribution counts and every voice matters. Joining Char means working at the frontier of Bitcoin R&D and infrastructure.
About the Role
As the Char Network engineering team grows, we’ll need a player-coach who can manage people and process while staying close to the code. This role will lead the engineering team across the core protocol, research, and integrations functions while staying hands-on with development. This is a dual-responsibility role where both contributions matter equally.
You'll own team capacity, project coordination, and code quality while contributing to whatever the team needs most whether that's protocol implementation, cryptographic research support, developer tooling, or unblocking other engineers. The split between hands-on work and management will evolve with the team's growth: you might start 70% IC / 30% management and shift over time as the team scales.
Your strategic focus will be scaling the engineering organization from a small, scrappy team to a high velocity, high quality operation without sacrificing speed or culture. You’ll remove blockers, maintain technical standards, ensure clear communication across engineering functions to make sure the team ships.
What You’ll Do
Team Leadership and Management
- Hire, onboard, and develop a small high-performing engineering team (protocol, research, integrations)
- Set clear technical standards, run code review processes, and maintain high standards for contribution quality
- Conduct regular 1-on-1s, facilitate team communication, and create space for individual growth and career development
- Manage engineering workflow: prioritize work, unblock engineers, coordinate across protocol/research/integrations, run development cycles
- Contribute directly to whatever moves the team forward: core protocol development, cryptographic implementation, developer tooling, infrastructure, or research support.
- Conduct rigorous code reviews and provide technical mentorship
- Troubleshoot complex system level issues and help the team navigate technical decisions
- Contribute to architecture, design, and technical decisions
Must-Haves
- Strong software engineering background with experience in systems level programming (C , Rust, or equivalent)
- Proven ability to manage and mentor technical teams; comfortable with hiring, performance feedback, and career development
- Experience with code review practices, technical standards, and maintaining code quality at scale
- Exceptional communication skills: you can explain technical decisions clearly to engineers and articulate engineering needs to non-technical peers
- Track record of shipping complex technical projects; comfortable with fast-moving, ambiguous environments
- Collaborative leadership style
- Experience with bitcoin, blockchain, or consensus protocols
- Prior experience leading small engineering teams (5-15 people)
- Background in distributed systems, cryptography, or protocol design
- Experience scaling engineering organizations from early to mid-stage growth
- Contributions to open source projects or protocol development
- Comfort with formal verification, testing, frameworks, or security engineering.
- Char Network — MIT Bitcoin Expo Presentation (2025)
- BitVM Whitepaper BitVM2 Whitepaper
- BitVM High-Level Explainer