Founder-Led · AI & Web3 Recruiting

BUILD YOUR AI & BLOCKCHAIN TEAM WITH RECRUITERS who've done it before at Polygon & beyond

Former recruiting leaders from Polygon labs, Walmart, and Accenture helping AI labs, blockchain protocols, and DeFi teams hire exceptional engineers, researchers, and GTM talent - globally.

150+ senior hires closed · 30+ countries · No junior recruiters, ever.

PG
Founded by
Ex-Polygon Recruiting Lead
150+
Track record
Senior Hires Closed
7d
Speed
Avg. First Shortlist
Promise
Founder-Led. No Juniors.
0+
Senior Hires
Placements Closed
0
Average
First Shortlist
0+
Countries
Global Talent Reach
0%
Rate
Offer Acceptance
Why Zolve Talent

We didn't read
about this space.
We hired for it.

Zolve Talent was founded by a former Recruiting Lead at Polygon Labs - one of the most talent-intensive blockchain engineering organisations in the world. Before that, recruiting leadership roles at Walmart and Accenture built the operational rigour to run searches at scale.

That means when you brief us on a ZK engineer, an LLM Alignment researcher, a Founding AI Engineer or a DeFi quant - we're not Googling what those roles mean. We already know the talent pool, the comp benchmarks, and which candidates are actually worth your time.

Every search is run personally by the founder — not handed to a junior recruiter after the kickoff call.
We partner through retained and contained search engagements — dedicated search models designed for strategic, hard-to-fill hiring.
Our network spans AI labs, L1/L2 protocols, DeFi teams, and research institutions across 30+ countries.
First shortlist delivered within 7 days of brief sign-off. Always.
What We Place

Three Verticals.
Zero Generalism.

We operate exclusively in AI, blockchain infrastructure, and DeFi. Every search is run by someone who has lived in your talent market - not learned it on the job.

01 · AI
Foundation Model & LLM Research
Pre-training engineers, RLHF leads, post-training researchers, and scaling scientists. We access talent from Anthropic, DeepMind, and OpenAI alumni networks - most of them not on any job board.
02 · AI
AI Infrastructure & MLOps
GPU cluster engineers, CUDA/Triton specialists, inference optimisation leads, and ML platform architects. The people who make billion-parameter models run fast and cost-efficient at scale.
03 · AI
AI Safety & Alignment
Interpretability researchers, red-teamers, constitutional AI leads, and policy engineers. As frontier labs race to deploy, this is simultaneously the most critical and most under-supplied talent category.
04 · BLOCKCHAIN
Protocol & L1/L2 Engineering
Consensus layer engineers, ZK circuit developers (Circom, Halo2), EVM-equivalent builders, and cross-chain architects. We built this network at Polygon - it goes deeper than any search firm's database.
05 · BLOCKCHAIN
Smart Contract & Security
Solidity and Rust engineers, formal verification specialists, and audit-track security researchers. We find the builders who write contracts that hold - even under adversarial conditions.
06 · DeFi
DeFi Protocol, Quant & DeFAI
AMM designers, MEV strategists, on-chain quants, liquidity engineers, and tokenomics architects. Plus our fastest-growing vertical: DeFAI - AI-native protocol builders who think natively in both model inference and on-chain execution.
How We Work

Retained search.
Founder-run.
Every time.

We don't do contingency. We don't hand your search to a junior. Every engagement is run personally — with full accountability from brief to close.

01
Technical Deep Brief
We embed into your technical context — model architecture, consensus design, protocol stack — so we evaluate candidates the way your own engineering team would. Not from a job spec. From understanding.
02
Live Talent Intelligence
We maintain active maps of AI researchers, L1/L2 protocol engineers, and DeFi builders globally. We know who is shipping, who might move, and what it would take. Most of our best candidates aren't applying anywhere.
03
7-Day Shortlist
3–5 candidates, fully assessed on technical depth, culture fit, and compensation alignment. Delivered within 7 days of brief sign-off. You see signal — not volume. No CVs without context.
04
Close & 90-Day Guard
We manage offers, token vesting conversations, counter-offers, and equity negotiations. Then we stay engaged for 90 days post-hire. Our 94% offer acceptance rate is the proof.
Active Mandates

We're always hiring
across AI, Blockchain & DeFi.

Our mandates move fast and change often — so instead of listing roles that may already be closed, we keep this simple.

50% · AI
Foundation Models · Safety · MLOps
Pre-training engineers, alignment researchers, inference optimisation leads, and ML infrastructure architects at frontier labs and AI-native companies.
25% · Blockchain
Protocol · ZK · Smart Contracts
Consensus layer engineers, ZK circuit developers, Solidity and Rust engineers, and security researchers for L1s, L2s, and infrastructure protocols.
25% · DeFi
Quants · AMM Design · DeFAI
On-chain quantitative strategists, MEV researchers, liquidity engineers, and DeFAI architects for protocols moving serious TVL.
Looking for a role in AI, Blockchain or DeFi?
Our mandates update weekly. Ping us with your background and we'll match you to an active search — or keep you in mind for the next one.
Telegram →
Success Stories

From the Labs,
Chains & Trading Desks

"
Chethan was a pleasure to work with as I switched roles - connecting me with a position that was a great match for my abilities. It was a major decision for me and he helped me every step of the way, being responsive and informative.
RM
Rez M.
Core Blockchain Engineer · Berachain
"
I was recruited by Chethan! An absolute star given the commendable recruitments he did while I was at Polygon. Always grateful.
AT
Ashutosh Tripathi.
DevRel Engineer · Ava Labs
"
I had a wonderful experience working with Chethan as a candidate (during my hiring and onboarding process) and on an everyday recruiting basis at Polygon Labs. I’ve always been impressed by Chethan’s industry knowledge, friendliness, and responsiveness from initial screening to hiring. Every interaction has been a pleasure! If you seek an excellent recruiting partner who combines warmth with professionalism and delivers results, I wholeheartedly recommend Chethan.
SS
Sabrina Smith.
Executive Business Partner · Polygon Labs
Start a Search

Building an AI lab,
protocol, or DeFi desk?

Tell us what you're building — model architecture, chain stack, or liquidity design. We'll scope the search, give you a talent market briefing, and deliver a shortlist within 7 days. First call is always free.

✓ Founder-led every search
✓ 7-day first shortlist
✓ No contingency, no spam

Opens Calendly Calendar · Pick a time that works for you

or reach us directly
Telegram Email

Response within 12 hours · chethan@zolvetalent.com