DeFi Risk & Strategy Lead

About Us

We are a DeFi protocol operating at the intersection of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and on-chain lending. We design and manage leveraged yield strategies across DeFi lending protocols and tokenized credit instruments. We're looking for our first dedicated risk and strategy hire — someone who will own this function entirely and grow with us.

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The Role

You will be the single owner of our risk and strategy function. From researching new yield opportunities to designing leveraged positions, building risk frameworks, conducting due diligence on protocols, and monitoring everything in real-time.

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What You'll Do

Strategy Design & Execution

• Research, design, and execute leveraged yield strategies using tokenized RWAs as collateral across DeFi lending protocols
• Model yield scenarios including entry/exit costs, liquidation thresholds, health factors, and break-even analysis
• Identify new yield sources across lending markets, liquid staking, yield tokenization (Pendle), and restaking protocols
• Design strategy flows end-to-end: from collateral selection through leverage loops to unwind plans
• Calculate and optimize leverage ratios, LTV targets, and safety margins

Risk Framework & Management

• Build and maintain our risk framework from scratch — position limits, exposure caps, concentration rules, correlation monitoring
• Define risk parameters for every strategy/collateral: max leverage, liquidation buffers, drawdown limits, and stop-loss triggers
• Conduct stress testing and scenario analysis: depegs, oracle failures, liquidity crises, cascading liquidations, smart contract exploits
• Monitor and manage counterparty risk across protocols, oracles, bridges, and custodians
• Assess and categorize smart contract risk using audit reports, code review, bug bounty history, and track record

Dashboards & Monitoring

• Build and maintain real-time risk dashboards tracking: health factors, utilization rates, oracle deviations, TVL changes, liquidation proximity, yield performance
• Set up automated alerts for critical risk events: health factor drops, unusual TVL outflows, oracle price deviations, governance attacks
• Create daily/weekly risk reports with portfolio performance, risk metrics, and strategy recommendations
• Tools: Dune Analytics, Python (web3.py, pandas), Streamlit/Grafana, Subgraph queries, DeFi Llama API, Nansen/Arkham

Research & Intelligence

• Stay on top of every new DeFi primitive, protocol launch, and yield opportunity
• Write internal research memos on new strategies, protocol assessments, and risk events
• Analyze exploits and incidents across DeFi to extract lessons and update our risk framework
• Monitor DeFi governance forums (Aave, Maker/Sky, Compound, Morpho) for risk-relevant proposals

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Required — Non-Negotiable

• 2-5 years of deep, hands-on DeFi experience
• Can design leveraged yield strategies and explain the full mechanics: collateral → borrow → deploy → monitor → unwind (no need to code)
• Deep understanding of DeFi lending protocols (Aave, Compound, Morpho, Euler — at the parameter level)
• Can read smart contracts (Solidity) well enough to assess risk — not necessarily a developer, but can navigate code
• Strong on-chain analytics skills (Dune SQL, Python/web3.py, block explorer fluency)
• Understands liquidation mechanics cold — health factors, oracle dependencies, cascading liquidation scenarios
• Has built dashboards or analytics tools (Dune, Streamlit, Grafana, custom)
• Understands RWAs in DeFi — tokenized treasuries, on-chain credit, and the protocols building them (Ondo, Centrifuge, Maple, Backed, Mountain, etc.)
• Can assess smart contract risk — reads audit reports, understands common vulnerability patterns, checks admin controls and upgrade mechanisms
• Self-directed and autonomous — you won't have a manager reviewing your work daily. You own it.

Strongly Preferred

• Previous role at Gauntlet, Chaos Labs, Risk DAO, Llama Risk, Steakhouse, or similar DeFi risk firm
• Contributed to DAO risk committees (Aave, Maker, Compound, Euler, Morpho governance)
• Published DeFi research — threads, articles, Dune dashboards, governance proposals, exploit analyses
• Background in CS, Mathematics, Physics, or Quantitative Finance
• Experience with yield tokenization (Pendle), liquid staking, restaking, RWAs or structured DeFi products
• Has managed or advised on portfolios on-chain
• Python proficiency for data analysis, modeling, and automation
• Understands MEV, sandwich attacks, and transaction ordering risk