<aside> 🌱

**Tonk is hiring. If the following resonates, you could be a great fit:**

• You want to solve historic problems at the frontier of AI, distributed systems and cryptography.
• You want to join an engineering team that traverses from research to reality on a daily basis.
• You’re thoughtful about technology & our responsibility to leave the world in a better & more beautiful state than we found it.
• You crave that feeling when you’re growing uncomfortably fast, alongside a team that challenges & supports you.
• You’re hungry for creative ownership, without the burdens of bureaucratic overhead. </aside>

About Tonk

Tonk is a venture-backed, London-based startup.

This is a chance to join us at an inflection point as we race towards product-market fit.

The product: a next-generation backend for vibe coders. Think Firebase + OAuth for the new era of local, small-scale software.

The progress: strong early traction with developers & partners; we have the capital, talent and relationships to propel us at speed. Our CTO is a world-class applied cryptographer & distributed systems engineer who’s uniquely able to deliver on our vision. Our advisors include senior figures at, or who were responsible for building, Anthropic, Google, Facebook and more.

The vision: Tonk's mission is to create a world in which people are free to build their own software and collaborate over their own networks. AI is fuelling a surge of creative technologists crafting personal tools bespoke to local contexts - where working with data feels as intuitive as molding putty. But for symbiotic software to evolve at the speed of thought, we need a better backend that's lightweight, flexible and interoperable. As the web fragments into unique digital worlds, we envisage a cryptographic data-sharing network that connects us without losing our organic diversity. That's the new internet we're building.

The team: multidisciplinary - we’ve started & exited successful startups, worked at the highest levels in the heart of Silicon Valley, graduated from world-class universities - but we’re creative, with a deep background in art, dance and theatre. We’re backed by world-class investors. Our deep backgrounds in cryptography & distributed systems, coupled with the wider AI revolution, positions Tonk exceptionally well in pursuit of its mission.

Read more on our website.

The role

You’ll design and build Tonk’s core distributed architecture — shaping how our system scales, performs, and adapts to real-world complexity.

• Architecting and implementing new distributed systems.
• Optimising for scale, latency, and fault tolerance in real-world, unpredictable conditions.
• Designing robust cryptographic features where needed (e.g. ZK proofs, encryption).
• Writing clean, maintainable, high-performance code primarily in Rust and Typescript.
• Operating in a fast-moving, high-trust environment where autonomy is expected and supported.
• Collaborating directly with founders, users, and early partners to shape technical strategy.

Your ideas will play a major influence in Tonk’s wider evolution and market trajectory.

How we will support you

We take personal and professional growth seriously at Tonk — not just as a perk, but as a core part of how we operate. Here’s what that looks like:

• A culture of learning, not fear — We treat short-term setbacks as fuel for growth, not as failure. Reflection, honesty, and iteration are core to how we improve.
• A 500-day growth plan — We’ll collaborate with you to map a bold, personal 500-day career plan that reflects your goals, strengths, and ambitions — both inside and outside Tonk.
• External mentorship — You’ll get access to mentors and domain experts outside the company to widen your perspective and sharpen your thinking.
• Mutual stretch — We will push you to grow beyond your comfort zone — and expect you to challenge us to do the same.

What we’re looking for