Optimum - Senior Data Scientist

United States+ Equity4w ago

In Office Senior NA Cryptocurrency Artificial Intelligence Senior Data Scientist Market Research Ethereum SQL Snowflake Python

Requirements

• You will work at the intersection of networking infrastructure, decentralized systems, and empirical blockchain research, where millisecond-level differences can have meaningful economic consequences. • This is a high-ownership, high-visibility role at an early-stage company. You will shape research methodology, influence product direction, and communicate findings across Product, Research, Economics, and Engineering. • 5+ years of experience in quantitative research, empirical blockchain research, data science, or a similarly analytical role, ideally in crypto, market structure, distributed systems, or latency-sensitive environments. • Strong statistical background and experimental rigor: You are comfortable designing and interpreting experiments (A/B testing, causal inference, quasi-experiments, diff-in-diff, instrumental variables, etc.) and can judge the strength of the evidence • Strong blockchain research expertise: You have experience with Ethereum or another major L1/L2 ecosystem, with hands-on experience conducting empirical on-chain research. You have direct familiarity with topics such as MEV, block building, orderflow, validator/proposer dynamics, transaction propagation, and blockchain market structure. • Experience building predictive and analytical models: This includes regression, classification, time-series analysis, and modern machine learning techniques where appropriate. • Fluency in Python and SQL: Experience working in modern analytical data platforms such as BigQuery, Snowflake, or equivalent. • A product mindset: You can frame ambiguous questions, select rigorous methodologies, and translate research into actionable product and strategic insights. • High autonomy and ownership: You're comfortable defining your own research agenda, communicating complex findings clearly, and operating effectively in a fast-moving, high-ambiguity environment. • Prior work in a research organization, protocol team, crypto trading firm, MEV/searcher team, or infrastructure company. • Familiarity with networking concepts, latency measurement, distributed/decentralized systems, or systems where millisecond differences carry economic weight. • Experience working in an early-stage company where you had to define the problem before solving it. • We are pragmatic about tooling. The following reflects what we currently use or expect, but we care more about fundamentals than any specific tool. • Python (primary), R • ⁠ ⁠scikit-learn, statsmodels, XGBoost / LightGBM, PyMC or equivalent Bayesian tooling, and/of similar packages • ⁠Data Infrastructure • dbt, Spark or equivalent; experience with streaming data a plus • ⁠ ⁠Experimentation • Internal or third-party A/B testing frameworks; familiarity with variance reduction techniques (CUPED, etc.) • ⁠ ⁠Visualization & Reporting • Grafana, Looker, Metabase, or equivalent BI tooling; comfort with ad-hoc Python plotting (Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly) • ⁠ ⁠Version Control & Collaboration • Git, Jupyter / Marimo notebooks, Notion or Confluence for documentation

Responsibilities

• Blockchain Research & Market Structure • Own empirical research into MEV, block building, orderflow, validator/proposer behavior, latency-sensitive execution, and related market-structure dynamics. • Work with on-chain, mempool, relay, validator, and network-level datasets, including sources such as Xatu, to identify actionable patterns and quantify opportunity areas. • Translate open-ended research questions into rigorous analysis, clear conclusions, and product-relevant recommendations. • Methodology & Modeling • Work in an atomic, hypothesis-driven style: formulate clear hypotheses, define falsifiable tests, evaluate evidence rigorously, and translate findings into actionable decisions. • Design and evaluate experiments, measurements, and causal analyses for latency-sensitive blockchain systems. • Build analytical frameworks that distinguish signal from noise in complex, high-variance environments. • Develop predictive, statistical, and simulation-based models that answer concrete product, research, and strategy questions. • Document assumptions, limitations, methodology, and results to a high standard. • Product & Cross-Functional Collaboration • Partner closely with Product, Economics, Research, and Engineering to turn blockchain research into product direction and strategic insight. • Help define which signals matter, how they should be measured, and how they could become customer-facing product primitives. • Work with Engineering on data pipelines, evaluation tooling, and production-ready research infrastructure. • Communicate complex methodology and market-structure insights clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Benefits

• Work on hard problems at the edge of networking, blockchain market structure, and decentralized systems. • Ownership from day one - you will define methodology, not just apply it. • Close collaboration with a small, senior, cross-functional team. • Competitive compensation, equity, and flexibility. • Flexible time off. • Fully remote - work from wherever you do your best thinking. Most of the team operates on ET or CET, so we look for meaningful overlap with those windows. • Don’t Meet Every Requirement? • We still encourage you to apply. We value intellectual curiosity and the ability to learn in context.