[Hiring] Crypto Economics Researcher @Avalanche Foundation

Role Description

We are looking for an Crypto Economics Researcher to join the Economic Research and Ecosystem team to help shape the long-term economic strategy of the Avalanche ecosystem. This role sits at the intersection of economics, crypto, data science, and strategy. You will work on high-impact questions around ecosystem growth, protocol economics, incentives, capital allocation, and network sustainability. Your research will help the Foundation make better decisions and build a stronger economic foundation for Avalanche.

We are looking for someone who is rigorous, independent, and practical: a researcher who can move from abstract economic questions to actionable recommendations, from ambiguous ideas to clear insights, and from analysis to real strategic impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct rigorous theoretical and empirical research on blockchain ecosystems, market dynamics, incentives, and network sustainability.
• Contribute to protocol design, evaluation, policy, and improvements based on research.
• Build models, datasets, and analytical frameworks that help evaluate strategic and economic tradeoffs.
• Analyze on-chain, market, and ecosystem data to generate decision-ready insights.
• Translate complex research into clear recommendations, actions, and knowledge resources.
• Stay at the forefront of cryptoasset research.

Qualifications

• A quantitative background in economics, finance, mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science, or another related field.
• Strong empirical research and modeling skills, including but not limited to a mix of; structural estimation, causal inference, time-series analysis, machine learning, asset pricing models, simulation methods, mechanism design, market microstructure, and game theory.
• 3+ years of experience in an applied economics, quantitative research, data science, or related analytical role.
• Experience building data-driven research products, analytical frameworks, models, and tools that inform strategy, investment, product, or policy decisions.
• Proficiency and demonstrative experience with Python and SQL.
• Familiarity with crypto, blockchain ecosystems, DeFi, tokenomics, staking, or digital asset markets is preferred.
• Excellent written communication skills and analytical judgment.
• Comfort owning and addressing ambiguous, open-ended problems from end to end.

How We Work

We’re a fully autonomous team. No micromanagement, no hand-holding, and no tolerance for passivity. This freedom comes with real responsibility. Four behaviors define how we operate and how we evaluate every candidate:

• Ownership: You take responsibility for outcomes, not tasks. You own features from design to production and don’t hand off problems when things break.
• Sense of Urgency: Blockchain moves fast. You prototype, benchmark, and iterate at market speed rather than waiting for the perfect plan.
• Collaboration: Need help? Ask. See someone stuck? Jump in. We pair, refactor together, and build shared patterns that make the whole team faster.
• Communication: Clear, proactive async communication keeps a distributed team aligned. You write updates, flag blockers, and set expectations without being chased.

Benefits

• Work at the cutting edge of DeFi infrastructure on one of the fastest-growing L1 ecosystems.
• Full autonomy—real ownership of your work, not just a ticket queue.
• Small team, high impact. What you build directly shapes ecosystem strategy.
• Remote-first, async-friendly culture.
• AI-forward engineering culture—we actively use and invest in AI tooling to ship faster.

Salary Range

$170,000 to $185,000 (This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, a final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location.)