Styx Protocol · Careers
1 open role
One developer built the protocol.It now needs someone to sell it.
Styx Protocol is a privacy layer for Solana: stealth addresses, shielded notes, hash-based STARK proofs with no trusted setup, and a merchant payment SDK. Built solo since January 2026, running on devnet and not externally audited. The engineering has run ahead of the distribution, and that gap is the job.
Devnet onlyTest SOL, no real funds. Not externally audited, and v1 will not go to mainnet.
01Where we stand
The honest version
Solo founder, no funding, no team. Four Solana programs live on devnet, the web app that uses them, and a merchant SDK. The mobile app and the browser extension are built and paused: the current verifier rejects their proofs.
The code is source-available (PolyForm Strict 1.0.0; everything published before 2026-09-22 stays MIT). The commercial surface is the payment SDK: recurring on-chain payments a business can try today on devnet, not externally audited. A merchant registers a service and claims its periods with merchant-sdk, and subscribers pay from /app; the p01-js buttons still need the paused extension. The limits are part of the pitch: from the web app a withdrawal on the spend circuit carries no deposit commitment (measured on devnet 2026-09-12, docs/BENCHMARK-2026-09-13.md §6c); from the paused phone app, and for notes deposited before the blinding was randomised, it still republishes it; the payment to this deployment is still public and signed by your wallet, one hop before the pool; and in the older-note exchange this deployment derives the note it hands you, so it knows which one is yours and can spend it until you do.
What is missing is not more code. It is merchants, integration partners, and serious conversations with investors.
02Open roles
Co-founder: Business Development
You own everything that is not the code: merchants, partners, narrative, fundraising. Second person in the company and its commercial lead, with your name on the outcome.
What you would own
- 01
Land paying merchants on the payment SDK, from cold outreach to signed integration.
- 02
Build the partner pipeline inside the Solana ecosystem: wallets, payment providers, infrastructure, DAOs.
- 03
Turn the cryptography into a commercial story a non-engineer can repeat without breaking it.
- 04
Run the funding track: grants, then investors. Deck, pipeline, follow-up, close.
- 05
Own the public surface: X, Discord, conferences, developer communities.
- 06
Push pricing and go-to-market back into the roadmap, so what gets built is what someone pays for.
03What we look for
- You have sold something hard before, B2B software, infrastructure or crypto. Deals closed, not pipeline described.
- You know the Solana ecosystem, or you can know it within a month and prove it in the opening call.
- You can hold a technical conversation about privacy without pretending to be a cryptographer.
- You work unmanaged. Nobody here will hand you a task list.
- English is required. French is a plus, never a condition.
- You are comfortable selling a product that is on devnet and not externally audited, and saying so out loud.
04What you get
- Meaningful co-founder equity with standard vesting. The number is settled in a serious conversation, not published on a web page.
- A product that already exists and already runs, instead of a pitch deck and a promise.
- Full ownership of the commercial side, and a direct vote on the roadmap.
- Source-available code, so your work is public and verifiable.
What this is not
- Not a salaried position. There is no funding yet, so there is no salary yet.
- Not an advisor seat. This is weekly operational work with measurable outcomes.
- Not a role for someone who needs a finished product. Parts of it are still moving.
05Apply
How to apply
Tell us who you are, what you have actually closed, and what you would do in your opening 30 days. Two honest paragraphs beat a CV.
Read by the founder, no filter in between. Answer within a week, including a no.
Nothing here fits you?
Engineering roles are deliberately closed for now, the protocol stays solo-built. If you are a cryptographer or a Solana engineer who thinks that is a mistake, the same address works.