The Role & Tasks

We are looking for smart, curious, and ambitious students to support Q Development AG’s research and development activities. You will get the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research topics related to one of the most exciting decentralized protocols that exist today. The focus of the research which you will contribute will be tailored to your specific skills and academic background and can include some of the following:

• Conduct an analysis of Q’s consensus mechanisms, including a comparison to other consensus mechanisms and an assessment of the respective security characteristics and game-theoretic properties.
• Research existing methods applied in decentralized governance – e.g. on other Layer 1 blockchains, decentralized applications, DAOs, and DAO tools.
• Support the development of decentralized applications that build on Q and use Q’s governance framework – e.g. in the decentralized finance space.
• Write articles, summaries, and documentation related to specific functionalities or properties of Q.

Requirements

The following (personal) requirements constitute the basis of a successful inclusion into Q and are therefore of the highest priority:

• You are currently enrolled in or have recently graduated from a program at a leading university; this can be at the Bachelor, Master, or Ph.D. level.
• While we do not have a specific requirement with regards to academic subjects studied, we expect that applicants will typically be from computer science, economics, finance, or law backgrounds.
• Prior experience (either academic or practical) in blockchain, distributed systems, decentralized finance, digital governance, or similar areas is not required but is a strong plus.
• A curious mind and a desire to actively drive research and development for a cutting-edge protocol is a must.
• You have a strong command of written and spoken English.

About Q Development AG

Q Development is a subsidiary of Q International Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation based in Liechtenstein and the initiator of the Q protocol. As such, Q Development is tasked with developing and promoting the Q protocol. The Q protocol is an open, permissionless blockchain with a focus on universal governance and sustainable economics. Q combines the benefits of a public, open and decentralized ledger with the transparency and reliability of enforceable private contracts. Its governance framework provides predictability on how the system works and evolves and enables sophisticated decentralized decision-making beyond the limitations of a “code-is-law” logic. Q further introduces the concept of integrated applications, which improve the economics and the security of both the base layer and the applications built on top of it, enabling rapid scaling of new use cases. Q’s vision is to drive the adoption of decentralized systems by providing a full-scope governance infrastructure on which the most demanding use cases can be built.