Research Intern, Summer 2027

About the role

Category Labs (formerly known as Monad Labs) is a team of systems engineers and researchers on a mission to design and build at the frontier of decentralized technology. We strive to deliver significant improvements over existing blockchain solutions. After raising $225M in Series A funding, led by Paradigm, we are growing our team.

We’re the team behind Monad, a high-performance, EVM-compatible Layer 1. We write the core software that runs it: a parallel-execution EVM https://github.com/category-labs/monad, a custom state database, and a BFT consensus client https://github.com/category-labs/monad-bft, all developed in the open.

THE ROLE

- We’re hiring Summer Research Interns to pursue advanced research in mechanism design, cryptoeconomics, distributed systems, programming languages, cryptography, and governance. This list isn’t exhaustive; if you bring a valuable and relevant perspective, we encourage you to apply.

- This internship offers a rare chance to work at the frontier of decentralized systems: advancing the underlying science and technology while delivering real impact at scale.

- Research projects will draw on the challenges of building a first-of-its-kind blockchain, as well as new directions that decentralized systems make possible. You’re also welcome to propose your own projects.

- You’ll learn from Category Labs’ researchers, engineers, and fellow interns, while contributing as an independent and equal peer.

- Depending on your availability and the needs of the project, the internship can be extended into part-time employment and may lead to future collaborations.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Conduct novel, rigorous research on the topics above.

- Contribute to technical publications, including peer-reviewed papers, blog posts, and white papers.

- Partner with the engineering team to build prototypes, run simulations, and design experiments that test your models and assumptions.

- Engage with team members and visiting researchers to refine ideas and share insights from your own work.

Past interns have shipped real work (small sample):

- A Private RPC for Public Blockchains https://www.category.xyz/blogs/a-private-rpc-for-public-blockchains: Introduced write-public ORAM, a new primitive for reading blockchain state without revealing what you read, and built an open-source private RPC that keeps up with Monad’s throughput.

- Timing Games in Responsive Consensus Protocols https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.25144: Modeled why validators delay block proposals, and designed dynamic block rewards that make proposing promptly the winning strategy.

- On the Geographic Incentives of Multiple Concurrent Proposers https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.33958: Proved how proposers choose where to locate in multi-proposer systems, and when that leads to co-location versus geographic diversity.

WHO YOU ARE

- You’re currently enrolled in a PhD program in computer science, economics, mathematics, the social sciences, or a related field. Exceptional master’s and undergraduate students will also be considered.