Software Engineer, Special Projects

Merkl is the leading financial infrastructure for onchain money streaming. Finance is moving onchain: stablecoins, tokenized stocks and funds, onchain payments. Each of them comes with money that has to stream to someone: dividends to shareholders, interest to stablecoin holders, salaries to employees. Merkl is how that money gets there. Stablecoin issuers, fintechs, neobanks, tokenized funds, and DeFi protocols use us to calculate and send yield, dividends, rewards, and payouts.

Since July 2023, we have distributed $1.8B+ to 5M+ wallets across 60+ chains, for 1000+ companies including Coinbase, PayPal, Robinhood, Kraken, MetaMask, and Uniswap. We are independent, and the global leader in our category.

We're looking for a Software Engineer for our Special Projects team to help build the next phase of Merkl.

Merkl is a small team of 20 people. If you join the team, you will not only learn with and from us but also be deeply involved in product design and the research we are conducting.

Special Projects (also referred to internally as the R&D team) is a small team led by one of our co-founders. It takes on the projects that are too large or too new for the day-to-day of our Engine and Product teams. You explore the problem, design the solution, ship it to production, and once it becomes standard, hand its ownership over to Engine or Product.

A typical project: computing each user's performance from the positions our engine indexes. It takes a data model that scales, indexing that keeps up with every chain, sound math abstractions, and a product surface that makes the result clear to users. You own all of it, end to end.

Your responsibilities will include:

• •Leading cross-team projects from the first exploration to production.
• •Designing data models and database structures that ingest and serve large volumes of onchain data.
• •Building the logic and abstractions behind new products, on top of Merkl's indexing and distribution engine.
• •Shipping the product surface in our app, from API routes to the interface.
• •Handing over what becomes standard to the Engine and Product teams, with the documentation they need to own it.
• •Engaging with partners and early users to gather feedback and iterate quickly.

By joining the Merkl team, you will be part of one of the most innovative and fast-growing teams in onchain finance. We offer the opportunity to work with an ambitious team, shipping quickly and making an impact in the industry. For full-time positions, we provide:

• •A highly stimulating intellectual environment: You'll collaborate with some of the best researchers and engineers in onchain finance, on systems that move real money for Coinbase, Robinhood, and PayPal. Our stack is solid web2 engineering (TypeScript, Go, Postgres, Kubernetes) applied to financial infrastructure.
• •An AI-native way of working: AI coding agents, whichever one you prefer, and our own MCP servers are part of everyone's daily workflow. You get the best tools, and the time they save goes into understanding more of the system, not only shipping more code.
• •Growth and future opportunities: Be part of an independent, rapidly scaling company, working on the infrastructure that shapes the future of finance.
• •Competitive salary: We offer a competitive compensation package with flexible working hours, ensuring a healthy work-life balance.
• •Equipment stipend: We provide you with the tools and devices you need to optimize your work environment and fit your working style.
• •Team retreats: Every year, you'll have the chance to join the team on retreats to reflect on our journey, plan for the future, and bond while having fun in exciting locations.

You sit at the crossing of backend and product: strong at logic, and keen to see your work in users' hands. We're looking for someone who is:

• •Strong at logic and abstraction: You enjoy designing a system that ingests messy data and turns it into something correct and simple.
• •Product-minded: You care about how the result reaches users, not only about how it is computed.
• •Comfortable with the unknown: You like starting from a blank page, and you know when a prototype is ready to become a product.
• •Ownership-focused: You take responsibility for your projects and see them through to production and handover.
• •Collaborative: You work well across teams, in a small, agile company where everyone's contributions are valued.
• •Excited about the future of finance: You want to explore what becomes possible once money moves onchain. No crypto background needed: you'll learn that side with us.

• •Strong foundations in algorithms, logic and data modeling. Early-career profiles (0 to 5 years) are welcome.
• •Solid programming experience, ideally in TypeScript, and the ability to ship a feature end to end: database, API, interface.
• •Comfort with rapid iteration and validation using live or historical data.
• •AI-powered efficiency: You use AI coding tools every day, and you understand every line you ship.

Bonus:

• •Experience with indexing, data pipelines, or analytics platforms.
• •Prior experience in asset management or fintech.
• •A proven track record of solving complex mathematical problems.
• •Familiarity with DeFi protocols and the broader blockchain ecosystem.

Our hiring process is structured around 5 steps:

• →Screening [30 mins]: interview with a team member, deep dive into your background
• →Take-home technical case [max 2 hrs]: screening technical assessment for the position
• →Technical interview [1 hr]: discussion on the case, brainteasers, interview on job-specific skills
• →Cultural-fit interview [1 hr]: interview with potential future team members
• →Final interview [45 mins]: conversation with co-founders

If you have a question about the position, contact us directly at [email protected].