UX Lead

Design Ethereum’s future—at the protocol level.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is a non-profit that exists to support Ethereum and its ecosystem. Our mission: do what’s best for Ethereum in the long term. Through grants, research, and active collaboration, we empower teams building a decentralized future.

The Protocol team—our core R&D group—pushes Ethereum forward. We work on the most foundational challenges: scaling, security, decentralization, and user experience. Now, we're looking for a UX Lead to ensure the user is considered in the deepest layers of Ethereum’s evolution.

What makes this role unique

This is not a typical product design job. You won’t be sketching interfaces or refining UI elements. Instead, you’ll bring user-centered thinking to protocol-layer decisions—before they reach apps and wallets. You’ll influence the experience of millions of Ethereum users by embedding UX into technical and strategic conversations.

You’ll shape the Ethereum protocol with one simple question in mind:

“How will this affect real users?”

What You’ll Do

• Lead the integration of UX thinking into Protocol's technical design processes
• Conduct user research to uncover pain points, patterns, and insights across the Ethereum ecosystem
• Influence protocol decisions by communicating UX trade-offs to highly technical stakeholders
• Work with researchers, engineers, and other ecosystem contributors to embed human-centric thinking into Ethereum’s future
• Advocate for usability, accessibility, and clarity across wallet interactions, privacy, trust models, and more

You Might Be a Fit If You Have:

• 5+ years of UX design experience, especially in technical or crypto-adjacent domains (wallets, apps, infra, protocols)
• A strong track record of user research and the ability to translate insights into strategic guidance
• Experience influencing deeply technical teams and building bridges between UX and engineering
• Passion for Ethereum and the future of decentralized systems

Bonus Points For:

• Experience working on L1 or protocol-level projects
• Background in data-heavy, privacy-sensitive, or cross-chain design challenges
• Ability to navigate public, open-source, consensus-driven ecosystems

Open Challenges You’ll Explore

• How do we expose privacy as a first-class UX element in onchain interactions?
• Can “Trust Experience” become a framework for thinking about Ethereum’s complexity?
• How do we support the transition from browser-extension wallets to embedded wallet UX?
• What are the most urgent user pain points across Ethereum—and where are the best leverage points to solve them?

How We Work

• Mission-First: We only optimize for Ethereum’s long-term success.
• Public by Default: Most work happens in the open, across many teams and stakeholders.
• High Autonomy, High Accountability: You’ll have the freedom to set direction and own your outcomes.
• Global Collaboration: While fully remote, we sync frequently around 14:00 UTC ("Eth o’clock").

Details

• 🕒 Full-time, remote
• 🌍 Flexible hours with availability around 14:00 UTC
• ✈️ Occasional travel to Ethereum events like Devcon or Interop
• 🧑‍💻 Anonymous/pseudonymous applicants welcome (KYC required if hired)

Why Join Us

At EF, you’ll work on some of the most critical and complex challenges in Web3—with the freedom to explore bold solutions and a team that values thoughtful, principled work. If you're driven by impact, independence, and a belief in Ethereum’s potential, this is your stage.

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