A Note from Shane Mac, our Co-founder.

The greatest mistake I ever made in my career was trying to convince people to join a startup. I’m not here to convince you.

In my early days, I oversold. I tried to make the journey look easier than it was. I tried to convince people that going smaller could feel as stable as Microsoft. I tried to make ownership sound exciting without fully preparing people for the weight of it. The kind of ownership that changes how you show up every single day.

On one hand, it’s the most empowering thing you will ever feel. On the other hand, it’s hard. Really hard.

As I sit here almost five years in, thinking about the next twenty, I’m more excited than I have ever been about what we’re building and why. And the only thing that matters to me now is finding people who deeply and genuinely believe in this mission too.

I don’t want you to work here because you want to work with me.
I don’t want you to work here because you want to try a startup.
I don’t want you to work here because small sounds refreshing after years at a big company.

You should only want to work here if you truly believe in our mission.
Securing the world’s freedom to communicate.

That is the work.

We need a new foundation.
We need new rules.
We need open source and decentralized systems to bring trust back to the single most important thing in the digital world. Communication.

If that belief isn’t already in your bones, nothing I write here should convince you. And that’s okay.

But if it is, and if you’re the best in the world at what you do, and if you are obsessed with becoming more effective, more leveraged, and more impactful, then maybe it’s worth applying. Because there is one word that drives everything we do here. Leverage. Leverage is our operating system. It shapes every cultural norm, every system, every tool, every decision.

Our goal is simple. Help every person here become one of the most highly leveraged individuals on earth. Better tools. Better systems. Better teammates. Clearer priorities. Less noise. More output.

We measure ourselves with one ratio. Total messages sent on XMTP divided by total employees.

It forces us to build things that scale beyond headcount.

It forces focus.

It forces great systems.

It forces us to hire only when hiring increases the total leverage of the organization.

That is why we hire slowly and rarely.
That is why getting a job here is hard.
And it is intentional.

Here is something I did not understand early in my career. Something I wish someone had told me. For the few people who do get to work here, it is a chance to own and lead and grow in your career like never before.

We don’t hide how the company works.

We don’t shield people from hard decisions.

We want everyone here to learn everything there is to know about running and building a company.

Because the best thing about going small isn’t the speed. It isn’t the lack of red tape.

It is the learning. Seeing how it really works from the inside out.

Whatever you want to do after XMTP.

Start something. Lead something. Build something.

You will be better because of your time here.

You will leave with a level of judgment, ownership, and leverage you can’t get anywhere else.

If this resonates, take a look at the roles below.

If it doesn’t, that’s fine too. Please send this to someone you know who would thrive here.

— Shane

Careers at XMTP Labs

We’re building XMTP — the open, secure messaging protocol designed to last as long as the internet itself.

Our mission: secure the world’s freedom to communicate.

That means solving problems most people would never attempt. Problems at the edge of what’s possible.

The Challenges We’re Tackling

• The most secure messaging standards in the world. From MLS (Messaging Layer Security) to quantum-resistant cryptography, we’re building for a future where communication stays safe for decades.

• A messaging economy. Incentives that reward reliability, punish censorship, and sustain a global network without gatekeepers.

• Ecosystem coordination at scale. Thousands of apps, wallets, agents, and developers building on the same rails—and all of it has to interoperate seamlessly.

• Open source, by default. Every line of code, every roadmap, every mistake—published for the world to see. Because trust must be earned, not claimed.

• Designing for permanence. Building a protocol intended to last as long as the internet itself—resilient, permissionless, unstoppable.

These aren’t just technical puzzles. They’re civilization-scale problems. And if we get them right, the payoff is immense: communication that no one can take away, owned by everyone, sustained forever.

Who We’re Looking For

Missionaries, not mercenaries. Builders who want to devote themselves to work that actually matters. Engineers who want to solve the hardest problems in security, cryptography, distributed systems, and incentives—and see their solutions run in the wild. Designers who want to define new interaction patterns that feel inevitable ten years from now. Operators who thrive in the unknown and make order from chaos.

To learn more about what it's like to work at XMTP Labs, read our values & rituals doc here.

We’re a small, focused team. Fully remote. Headquartered on the internet. Competitive salaries, meaningful ownership, and benefits designed to give you autonomy.

This is not the place for dabblers. It’s for those who want to do the best work of their lives, alongside others doing the same.

Open Roles