Metagov

Note: if you are exceptionally interested in the work that Metagov does but none of the positions below reflect your skills or interests, just send an email with your CV to hello@metagov.org. We will keep it on file in case anything opens up.

Executive Director

The executive director of Metagov has final responsibility for executing the mission of the organization, hiring and recruiting personnel for that purpose, curating related projects, advising the board on strategic direction, and ensuring the financial sustainability of the organization.

Other responsibilities include:

Oversee Metagov’s vibrant community, research activities, and operations
Communicate the vision and purpose of Metagov
Initiate, design, conduct, and potentially lead projects as needed, whether software, research, advocacy, or events
Secure the sustainability and growth of the organization through fundraising, grant-writing, and other revenue development
Initiate and ideate new projects in collaboration with Metagov’s research directors and community
Work with operations lead to define accounting, ops support, fiscal sponsorship, and other avenues of support
Recruit, hire, and manage staff, or delegate such work
Sign the checks, or delegate such work
Report to the board

There is no particular mold or type of executive director that we are looking for. You can be an established nonprofit leader, entrepreneur, or researcher. Or you might be a promising graduate student or postdoc. You may come from computer science and tech, or from law, or from the social sciences. The most important thing is your vision for what Metagov can be and for what it can do.

Details

Compensation: $60 USD / hour, or per specific grants

Duration: expected 3+ years

The ED role is a demanding but high-reward role. The expectation is that on average 15-20 hours per week will be spent on “executive director” duties (see above), with remaining time leading or contributing to particular grant-funded activities. Additional compensation is tied to grant performance and availability. While the role can be and has been held simultaneously with other fellowships and research roles whose work substantially overlaps with Metagov’s mission, the ED role should be considered a full-time job in terms of responsibility. Note that the role requires substantial travel to conferences and meetings.

Application

To apply, please fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/HZ4bWvZMKCzgaTAj9.

We encourage applicants to first read the extended “About Metagov” document to get more context on Metagov’s history and current operations.

Timeline

The application is open until the position is filled. The board will begin evaluating applicants on September 6, 2023. Other applicants will be evaluated on a rolling basis. We expect the selection process to conclude by October 30, 2023, or by December 31, 2023 at the latest.

We encourage prospective applicants to reach out to one of the board members either via email to hello@metagov.org or on the Metagov Slack with any questions. The current board members are Nathan Schneider, B Cavello, Lawrence Lessig, Joshua Tan, Michael Zargham, and Primavera De Filippi.

Standards lead / senior engineer (DAOstar)

Location: Remote
Status: Part-time
Pay: $50 per hour or higher, depending on experience

We are looking for a technical standards lead / senior engineer to join our team. The ideal candidate will have experience in a number of core engineering tasks (backend, frontend, devops) as well as experience in blockchain technology and especially DAOs. They will be responsible for contributing to the development and implementation of EIP-4824, maintaining the factory contracts, implementing new features to the backend, as well as new standards projects related to DAOs.

The person will oversee and actively participate in the standards work that the organization is doing, including participating in, supporting, and sometimes leading working groups composed of other members of DAOstar and the DAO ecosystem. They will be responsible for developing new technical standards, streamlining processes to improve the adoption of existing standards like EIP-4824, and deciding the development focus of DAOstar.

You might be a fit for this role if you:

3-4 years experience in software engineering
experience shipping software or managing teams to do so
at least 1-2 years experience with DAOs and related decentralized social technologies
a demonstrated commitment to open-source and public good

If you are interested, contact josh@daostar.org and isaac@daostar.org for a CV and a brief message introducing yourself and explaining your interest.

Community lead, Asia (DAOstar)

Location: Asia (Preferably Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan)
Status: Part-time and remote

DAOstar is the global standards body for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Our mission is to build standards and infrastructure for DAOs and DAO tooling.

As we expand our global purview with the goal of connecting with DAO builders and operators across Asia, we are seeking a highly-skilled Community Lead with deep experience in the region to foster our community engagement, curate high-quality events, and represent our vision both globally and within the region.

Qualifications

We are looking for someone located in Asia, and willing to travel and be present in DAO gatherings and communities, as appropriate.
Fluent in English and at least one East Asian language, especially Mandarin, Japanese, or Korean.
Prior experience in community management, preferably within the DAO or blockchain industry or tech more broadly.
Proven track record in organizing events and preferably experience securing grants/sponsorships.
Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills.
Strong understanding and network within the DAO and public goods ecosystem in Asia. Additional understanding and network within India and Southeast Asia is welcome though not required.
Familiarity with market research methodologies and analysis.
Ability to coordinate amongst many stakeholders across time zones.

Traits

An ability to identify trends, opportunities, and potential issues within the Asian market – someone who has their pulse on what’s happening as they live and breathe the DAO space in Asia.
A passion for decentralized forms of coordination amongst / across communities.
Ability to work autonomously and demonstrate creativity and strategic thinking, while also enjoying working in a global team.
Strong problem-solving skills.
If you are driven by the potential of blockchain technology and DAOs and relish the challenge of growing the DAO ecosystem in Asia, we’d love to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

Community Engagement and Curation: Curate the general community vibe of DAOstar, coordinating with the other global community leads. Build, manage, and drive engagement strategies within the DAOstar community, specifically focused in Asia.
Event Planning: Organize and curate high-quality, small-scale events for DAOs and standards in Asia. This includes running workshops, selecting venues, coordinating with local partners, publicizing events, and ensuring an impactful, memorable event experience.
Grant and Sponsorship Applications: Apply for relevant grants and sponsorships in Asia, particularly in association with events. Manage all stages of the application process and provide progress reports on the use of obtained funds. Coordinate with and support the global DAOstar team on grant opportunities, as needed.
Roundtable Moderation: Assist in running and moderating the Asia monthly roundtable. Promote rich, meaningful discourse and engagement.
Standards Socialization: Advocate for DAOstar’s standards within the global and Asian DAO communities, as appropriate. Provide education and guidance on our initiatives, best practices, and value propositions.
Communication: Articulate the vision of DAOs, DAO infrastructure, and DAOstar to a global audience, with particular emphasis on the Asian community. This includes public speaking, content creation, and acting as the spokesperson for DAOstar.
Market Research: Occasionally lead research projects such as marketing surveys to gather insights on market trends, potential opportunities, and challenges within the Asian DAO space. As an example, see Open Problems in DAOs https://daoscience.org/.
Team Leadership: Depending on grant availability, lead and develop a small team in Asia to further DAOstar’s initiatives in the region.

Intern

Location: Remote
Status: Part-time

Imagine an Internet where democracy is at least as available as autocracy. The Metagovernance Project is building a governance layer for the Internet—an ecosystem of interoperable community-building tools that work across a range of digital platforms, from social networks to online games to blockchains.

The Metagovernance Project offers paid and unpaid internships on a rolling basis to qualified students and recent graduates. Internships are typically structured as research projects with a paper, blog post, and/or code repo as the final deliverable. Past internship projects have included constructing a library of computational legal contracts, creating a modular political system in Minecraft, modeling YC’s SAFE agreements as smart contracts, and creating a tradeable token based on Twitter likes.

You may be a fit for this role if you have…

A background in computer science and/or a social science such as economics or political science.
Demonstrated interest in online community, governance, political theory, economics, or law.
The ability to work independently and reach key milestones with minimal supervision.
A mission-driven focus on having a significant impact on the world through technological advancement, complemented by a stubborn optimism for the future.

How to apply for this position:

Submit a CV and a short message explaining your interest to hello@metagov.org. You may also provide a link to a web page, git repo, or other portfolio of past work.

Who we are

The Metagovernance Project is a non-profit research collective with some of the top researchers working in internet governance today, including some of the key people behind Creative Commons, platform cooperativism, and blockchain law. Together, we build standards and infrastructure for digital self-governance. Learn more about our people and our work at www.metagov.org.