Head of Cryptography

Head of Cryptography• Location: Boca Raton, FL, or remote from the DC–Maryland area with regular time in Boca• Type: Full-time · Start: Q4 2026• Reports to: Co-founders• Compensation: $250k + base and equityAbout usZoozah is building digital security technologies at the frontier.The roleYou set our cryptographic strategy and policy, own certification, and are the person federal buyers and partners trust when they ask whether the seal holds. You personally design and build the seal: theproduction code, the key management, and the module the FIPS 140-3 lab will test.Responsibilities• Set our algorithm suite against CNSA 2.0 and CNSSP 15, write it up as our cryptographic policy,and keep it current as standards move• Make the final call on every cryptographic decision, starting with a review of the current designto remove anything non-standard• Select the evaluation labs and run FIPS 140-3 and Common Criteria evaluation through tovalidation, and on toward CSfC listing• Lead our engagement with the NSA's Acquisition Resource Center and CybersecurityCollaboration Center• Open conversations with program offices facing real post-quantum signing problems• Hire, lead and develop a Senior Cryptographic Engineer• Co-author our technical papers and represent our cryptography with partners and atconferences• Implement ML-DSA, ML-KEM and the hash-based signatures CNSA 2.0 calls for, using vettedlibraries and formally verified code wherever they exist• Build and ship the seal's signing and verification service with constant-time code and side-channel review• Build key management on FIPS-validated hardware security modules• Define the cryptographic module boundary the FIPS 140-3 lab will test• Write the lab evidence packages and fix what the labs find• Commission an external implementation audit and close its findings• Run the codebase: a dedicated repository with tightly controlled access, where every changegoes through a reviewed pull requestWhat you bring• PhD in mathematics or computer science focused on cryptography, or an equivalent record ofpublished work• 3+ years as a cryptographer at a leading federal agency or research lab, in research orcybersecurity, with a public record under your own name• Production cryptographic code you've written yourself in Rust, C or Go. You've shippedcryptography, not only specified it.• Working command of FIPS 203, 204 and 205, CNSA 2.0, and implementation security (sidechannels, constant-time code)• First-hand experience taking a product, or reviewing one, through FIPS 140 validation or NIAP /Common Criteria evaluation• Fluency with hardware security modules, PKI , and QKD• The ability to explain a lattice-based signature to a non-cryptographer, on stage or across a table• US citizenship and an active or re-instatable security clearance• Hands-on work with post-quantum libraries (for example liboqs, AWS-LC, or formally verifiedML-KEM and ML-DSA implementations)Nice to have• One to three years out of government, ideally with time at a vendor or defense contractor since• Contributions to standards work (NIST, IETF, NIAP Technical Communities)• A strong network across the federal cryptography community• A strong computer science foundation in algorithms, data structures, operating systems anddistributed systems• A track record of delivering software products to market, from design through release andcustomer adoptionThis role is not for you if you'd rather only lead or only code. This role does both, every day.Candidates must be clear of any post-government employment restrictions that would bar this work.