Principal Engineer

Octet is replacing the global economy's reliance on GPS with cryptographically verifiable Proof of Location. Our mission is to turn location into a new form of proof, creating the new primitive for verifying physical reality. As our Principal Engineer and senior-most individual contributor (IC), you will be the technical authority and primary architect of this new verification primitive. You will design, build, and own the core engine: the high-performance system that transforms raw sensor data into location proof.

This is a foundational role. You will build alongside the founders at the nexus of sensor fusion, on-device ML, and programmable cryptography. Your code will define the architecture and performance of the Octet SDK, the mobile app, and the proof pipeline, directly translating the company's strategy into production-ready systems.

Success requires high agency and unwavering commitment to building global, unbreakable infrastructure from the ground up. Competitive compensation. Work from the office in London with the CEO.

About Octet

Today, phones ping for location two-trillion times a day. $23 trillion in global transactions (payments, logistics, insurance, stablecoins) relies on that signal - but the underlying protocol (GPS/location services) cannot be trusted because it is easily spoofed, jammed, and often unreliable. Octet replaces these location assumptions with location proof: the verification primitive for people and transactions. Our core technology, deployed by elite military units, uses a closed-loop ML architecture, running on-device, to generate continuous location that cannot be broken.

We are venture-backed (variant, ex/ante), based in London and led by a team of proven founders, including one of the most influential computer scientists in the world (Professor at MIT and TUM). In our previous startup, we built and introduced breakthrough technology to the world over the course of the last decade; we’ve done this before. Our backgrounds are in edge technologies and logistics and AI for financial markets and mission critical supply chains

Key Responsibilities

Core Engineering & Architecture (primary emphasis):

• Architectural Leadership: Be the driving force behind the design and build of the high-integrity, low-latency architecture for both the Octet SDK (with a focus on Android) and the associated proof pipeline.

• On-Device ML: Advance and implement on-device ML models that convert multimodal sensor data - and signals of opportunity - into verified, real-time location.

• Cryptography Primitive: Drive the strategy and implementation of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to achieve privacy-preserving verification without compromising performance or battery life.

• Scalability: Architect developer APIs, telemetry pipelines, and usage-based proof metering.

• Privacy Mandate: Ensure all computation adheres to Octet’s core privacy-by-design mandate

Product & Release Delivery:

• Ship Fast and Often: Be the key technical driver for the first major SDK releases, directly enabling our go-to-market in payments.

• Roadmapping: Translate market insight and research breakthroughs into concrete, aligned engineering roadmaps for rapid iteration and deployment.

Technical Leadership & Collaboration:

• Authority: Act as the senior-most IC, setting the gold standard for low-level systems programming, code quality, security, and on-device performance.

• Research-to-Product: Partner with our scientific advisors (MIT, TU Munich) to rapidly transition cutting-edge research into practical, production-ready systems.

• Team Building: Mentor and provide technical guidance to early hires, shaping the culture of a high-performing engineering team.

Systems Reliability & Integrity:

• Hardened Baselines: Establish robust, repeatable baselines and validation pipelines using real-world motion data and adversarial conditions (jamming, spoofing attempts).

• Global Performance: Ensure the Octet SDK performs reliably and consistently across diverse hardware, sensor quality, and global geographies.

• Continuous Improvement: Architect integrity scoring and motion-validation mechanisms that continuously improve the model with every verified event.

Key Qualifications

Technical Expertise:

• 5+ years of experience in two or more of the following areas:

  • Spatio-Temporal Systems: Experience with inertial sensors, sensor fusion, and real-time data from autonomous systems or robotics.

  • On-Device ML / Edge Compute: Expertise in deploying high-performance, resource-constrained ML models on mobile or embedded systems.

  • Low-Latency SDK Development: Proven track record building and shipping high-reliability, low-latency mobile SDKs (Android primary).

  • Android Systems Mastery: Fluency in Android development, including low-level systems programming, efficient battery use, and systems-level optimization.

  • Signal Processing: Deep understanding of noise modeling, physics-informed inference, and error-correction techniques.

  • Bonus: Experience with privacy-preserving architectures (e.g., Homomorphic Encryption, Secure Enclaves) or programmable cryptography (ZKPs).

Leadership & Execution:

• 0→1 track record: Proven ability to execute complex, undefined engineering programs in a fast-paced, high-agency startup environment.

• From arXiv to the outside world: Demonstrated success in taking cutting-edge research and hardening it into resilient, production-grade systems.

• Founder Mindset: Rapid iteration, hands-on problem solving, and a profound sense of ownership over the entire technical stack

Location is the only physical signal that’s universally available at the moment a transaction occurs. Prove location and you anchor action to something AI cannot fabricate. Join us in building a new form of proof.