Programming Language Developer

Blockstream is the leading Bitcoin company, providing cutting-edge infrastructure solutions for enterprises, institutions, and individual Bitcoin users. We develop industry-leading Bitcoin self-custody solutions, Bitcoin-based financial products, second-layer scaling technologies, and enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure.

Simplicity is our next-generation, functional, low-level programming language for blockchain applications, designed for provable security and formal verification. SimplicityHL is the high-level layer built on top of it, intended to make Simplicity more accessible for real-world application developers.

We’re looking for a Programming Language Developer to focus on non-core language design areas for SimplicityHL — building the developer experience, tooling, and infrastructure that make the language productive and maintainable at scale.

You’ll work alongside the Simplicity language researchers developing the developer-focused aspects of the language that turn SimplicityHL into a complete, usable platform. This means designing and implementing unit testing frameworks, module/package systems, versioning and upgrade paths, documentation tooling, build pipelines, and other ecosystem infrastructure.

Your work will directly impact every developer building with SimplicityHL, making it easier to test, organize, share, and evolve their smart contracts.

What You’ll Be Doing (Responsibilities):

• Testing Infrastructure: Design and implement a robust unit testing and integration testing framework for SimplicityHL programs.

• Module & Package Systems: Develop tooling for modular code organization, dependency management, and distribution of SimplicityHL libraries.

• Versioning & Upgrade Path: Define and implement versioning schemes for SimplicityHL code, with clear migration and compatibility strategies.
  Developer Tooling: Build command-line tools, editors/IDE integrations, and build scripts to improve the developer experience.

• Documentation Systems: Create automated documentation generators and guidelines for language/library docs.

• Release Management: Work with the research team to plan and manage releases of the SimplicityHL toolchain and associated libraries.

What We Look For In You (Required Qualifications):

• Proficiency in Rust, Haskell, or other statically-typed systems programming languages.

• Strong understanding of software architecture for modular systems (package managers, dependency graphs, build pipelines).

• Experience designing unit testing frameworks or automated testing tools.

• Solid understanding of versioning strategies (e.g., semver, language evolution policies).

• Strong communication skills and ability to work in a distributed team.

Nice To Haves (Preferred Qualifications):

• Familiarity with functional programming languages and blockchain/cryptographic concepts.

• Prior experience building developer tooling or compiler infrastructure.

• Prior experience with smart contract platforms or domain-specific language tooling.

• Contributions to programming language ecosystems, open-source developer tools, or CI/CD systems.

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