Protocol Director

About the role

You will own the end to end strategy and execution of protocol infrastructure for Galaxy Digital across multiple production environments. You will lead the protocol teams that touch consensus, data availability, and oracle layers, managing the leads of the validators, Solana, and Chainlink teams. You will develop these individuals into technical leaders and hold the bar high for the engineers beneath them. You will provide protocol-level technical guidance that goes beyond simple escalation management, delivering genuine depth that helps teams work through hard problems faster. You will set a consistent operating rhythm across the three teams, covering planning, reviews, incident response, and continuous improvement. You will own headcount health, retention, and performance within your scope, raising issues early so that team problems do not compound. You will also own protocol strategy, developing a forward-looking view across the protocols the business participates in and understanding where each protocol is heading technically. You will be the connective tissue between protocol evolution, such as upgrades, forks, and new mechanisms, and the engineering teams that must respond. You will advise the Head of Blockchain Engineering and broader leadership on protocol-level risk, opportunity, and emerging areas worth pursuing. You will identify where emerging protocol developments represent material opportunities or threats for the business, including new L1s, staking mechanisms, oracle integrations, and cross-chain primitives. You will operate the function by holding the operational picture across the three teams, including who is on what, what is at risk, what is blocked, and what is shipping. You will make staffing and sequencing calls within your scope, working with the Head of Blockchain Engineering and hiring to plan ahead. You will run the cadences and rituals that keep the function coherent without adding bureaucratic overhead. You will coordinate across DIS, client-facing teams, and engagement leads to ensure the protocol function is pointed at the highest-leverage work. You will step into client conversations where protocol expertise at the leadership level is needed, supplying technical depth and not just seniority. You will represent the protocol function in commercial discussions, scoping conversations, and delivery reviews when protocol capability is at the core of what is being sold or delivered. You will translate protocol complexity into clarity for non-technical stakeholders both internally and externally.

Key facts

What you'll do

Lead the protocol teams and manage the leads of the validators, Solana, and Chainlink teams while developing them as technical leaders and holding the bar for the engineers beneath them.

Provide protocol-level technical guidance to the teams, delivering genuine depth that helps them work through hard problems faster rather than only managing escalations.

Set a consistent operating rhythm across the three teams, covering planning, reviews, incident response, and continuous improvement.

Own headcount health, retention, and performance within your scope, raising issues early and preventing team problems from compounding.

Develop and maintain a forward-looking view across the protocols the business participates in, understanding where each protocol is heading technically and what that means for our infrastructure and services.

Map protocol direction to business opportunity, translating technical roadmaps into commercial and strategic insight for the business.

Be the connective tissue between protocol evolution, including upgrades, forks, and new mechanisms, and the engineering teams that must respond quickly and correctly.

Advise the Head of Blockchain Engineering and broader leadership on protocol-level risk, opportunity, and emerging areas worth pursuing.

Identify where emerging protocol developments represent material opportunities or threats, such as new L1s, staking mechanisms, oracle integrations, and cross-chain primitives.

Hold the operational picture across the three teams, tracking who is on what, what is at risk, what is blocked, and what is shipping at any given time.

Make staffing and sequencing calls within your scope, collaborating with the Head of Blockchain Engineering and hiring to plan ahead effectively.

Run the cadences and rituals that keep the function coherent without adding bureaucratic overhead, ensuring clarity and alignment across protocol teams.

Coordinate across DIS, client-facing teams, and engagement leads to ensure the protocol function is pointed at the highest-leverage work.

Step into client conversations where protocol expertise at leadership level is required, supplying technical depth and not merely seniority.

Represent the protocol function in commercial discussions, scoping conversations, and delivery reviews when protocol capability is at the core of the solution being sold or delivered.

Translate protocol complexity into clarity for non-technical stakeholders both internally and externally, enabling informed decision-making across the organization.

Requirements

You must have a strong background in blockchain protocols and distributed systems, with hands-on experience designing, operating, and evolving production protocol infrastructure.

You must have demonstrated ability leading and developing technical teams, managing both individual performance and team health at scale.

You must have deep experience with at least one major layer one protocol and one layer two or scaling solution, including consensus mechanisms and data availability considerations.

You must have experience with oracle systems and real world data integration, including reliability, latency, and security tradeoffs.

You must have a track record of making sound technical decisions under uncertainty and communicating tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical audiences.

You must be comfortable operating in a fast moving, ambiguous environment where priorities shift and problems are complex.

You must be highly aligned with Galaxy's culture of builders, overachievers, and high performance, embracing transparent feedback and a mission-first approach.

You must be authorized to work in the United States and not require sponsorship for this role at the time of application.

Nice to have

Experience contributing to open source protocol projects or publishing technical designs and post mortems.

Background in AI infrastructure, high performance compute, or data center operations relevant to blockchain workloads.

Practical notes

This is a remote role based in the United States.

Only US-based candidates who do not require work authorization sponsorship should apply.

Galaxy Digital is an equal opportunity employer.

All employment is at will.

This description is intended to outline the general nature and level of work performed within this role and does not enumerate all duties, responsibilities, or skills required, nor does it create any contract of employment, express or implied.

Galaxy reserves the right to modify this job description at any time.

ENGAGEMENT: Full-time

LOCATION: Remote (US)