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How to Actually Get Hired
Who reads applications, which channel gets a reply, and what they screen for.
Don't make these mistakes
Approaching Kairos without having read the whitepaper. Both founders have deep technical and financial backgrounds and have spent years building in credit infrastructure. Generic DeFi enthusiasm will get ignored immediately. The protocol is technically novel and the founders know it. Engage the mechanics: the settlement design, the oracle architecture, the liquidity provider incentive model, the fixed/floating separation. Show you've understood what they built before you've asked for anything.
What gets their attention
The Solidity Developer role on the careers page is live and remote, with compensation of $175K-$225K plus 0.5-1.5% equity and a token grant. That compensation structure is unusually transparent and unusually high for a seed-stage DeFi startup, which signals the founders know what Solidity talent costs and are paying for it. Beyond that one role, the mainnet launch on Ethereum and Base is weeks away. A protocol with $300M in beta notional volume going live on mainnet will need: smart contract security oversight, protocol parameter management, integration with existing DeFi protocols like Aave and Morpho, and eventually business development with institutional counterparties (DAOs, large stakers, RWA platforms) who are the target customer for fixed-rate products. Thomas has explicitly named DAOs and institutional stakers managing "eight and nine-figure treasuries" as the target user, which means a growth/BD role oriented toward institutional DeFi is likely coming.
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
At this size (<50 people), KAIROS has no recruiting function. Founders handle hiring alongside everything else. Reach them directly or get lost in the inbox.
Who to contact at KAIROS
Founding team
Thomas is a third-time founder in crypto credit infrastructure, and his track record is unusually clean for someone at seed stage. His first company, Whatsgoodly, was an anonymous polling app. His second, Blockrize, was a crypto rewards credit card launched in 2017, specifically designed to bring people into the crypto ecosystem through a product they already understood. The concept was acquired by Gemini in 2020 at the Winklevoss brothers' exchange, and Thomas then led the development and launch of the Gemini Credit Card, which he scaled from zero to hundreds of millions of dollars in loan volume. That is a remarkably specific credential for someone building DeFi credit infrastructure: he has actually run a credit programme at scale inside a regulated crypto exchange. His third company before Kairos was Rocko, a platform for crypto-backed loans, which deepened his understanding of the gap between what DeFi lending can offer and what borrowers actually need. He studied Finance at Santa Clara University.
Vince brings an unusually rare combination of TradFi and crypto technical depth. He led engineering teams at Goldman Sachs, where the infrastructure standards for financial products are exacting, and then at Gemini, where he and Thomas overlapped and built the operational experience that became Kairos's founding thesis. His quote on the ETH staking yield problem is precisely calibrated: 'Large DAOs and institutional stakers managing eight and nine-figure treasuries demand rate certainty. Kairos gives them the ability to lock in a fixed staking yield for a defined period, which is par for the course in traditional fixed income, but has never been possible onchain.' That framing, rate certainty as table stakes for institutional DeFi, comes from someone who has operated at both Goldman and Gemini and understands what institutions expect from financial infrastructure.
What to show them
The core protocol is live on Base and headed to Ethereum mainnet. The Solidity Developer will own smart contract development for swap market mechanics, collateral systems, oracle integrations, and the vault adapter layer that connects to Morpho, ERC-4626, and future integrations. This is deeply technical protocol work with immediate production exposure. Core skills: Solidity, EVM architecture, AMM and derivative protocol design, oracle integration, Foundry or Hardhat, formal verification or auditing familiarity, interest rate mathematics a strong plus. Proof of work: Read the Kairos whitepaper at docs.kairosswap.com. Write a 300-word technical note identifying one potential edge case or attack vector in the described settlement mechanics, and propose a mitigation. Send it with your application. Shows protocol-level thinking before the first interview.
A cold email that works at KAIROS
What KAIROS screens for
Their focus: The Solidity Developer role on the careers page is live and remote, with compensation of $175K-$225K plus 0.5-1.5% equity and a token grant. That compensation structure is unusually transparent and unusually high for a seed-stage DeFi startup, which signals the founders know what Solidity talent costs and are paying for it. Beyond that one role, the mainnet launch on Ethereum and Base is weeks away. A protocol with $300M in beta notional volume going live on mainnet will need: smart contract security oversight, protocol parameter management, integration with existing DeFi protocols like Aave and Morpho, and eventually business development with institutional counterparties (DAOs, large stakers, RWA platforms) who are the target customer for fixed-rate products. Thomas has explicitly named DAOs and institutional stakers managing "eight and nine-figure treasuries" as the target user, which means a growth/BD role oriented toward institutional DeFi is likely coming.
Tailor your CV to the specific KAIROS role rather than sending a general one. Applications that mirror the language of the job description clear automated filters at a materially higher rate.
Mistakes that kill applications
Don't send the same CV you sent everywhere else. At <50 people it's obvious, and it's the fastest rejection there is.
Lead with their problem, not your ambition. KAIROS is focused on DeFi's lending infrastructure is stuck in a structural limitation that has constrained its applicability to institutions and long-duration borrowers since the beginning — show you understand that.
Most B2B, Infrastructure applications get ghosted. A day-five follow-up can double your response rate.
Frequently asked questions
How do I apply to KAIROS?
Through the roles on our KAIROS jobs page, or directly to a founder or department head if you can reach them. At <50 people, direct outreach outperforms the form.
Does KAIROS respond to cold emails?
We haven't verified response rates at KAIROS yet.
Who is the hiring manager at KAIROS?
At this size, hiring is usually run by a founder or department head.
What ATS does KAIROS use?
KAIROS uses Greenhouse.
How competitive is it to get hired at KAIROS?
Roles at <50-person B2B, Infrastructure companies typically draw 50-100 applicants in the first two weeks. Applying inside 72 hours of a posting going live is the single biggest lever you control.
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