Principal - Deep tech cryptography and web3 infrastructure

About Masterkey VC

Masterkey Venture Capital is a global, early-stage, thesis-driven venture capital firm supporting the growth of infrastructure for technological breakthroughs. We back category-defining founders across deep tech, advanced cryptography, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), AI, and the intersection of blockchain and fintech.

Capital is where we start, not where we stop. Every company we back gets access to our services: venture capital investment and direct financing; business consulting across fundraising, partnerships, go-to-market, and team building; and technology consulting in computer hardware, software, artificial intelligence, and blockchain.

The Role

We are looking for a Principal to join our investment team. The Principal works within the firm's investment thesis, which is set by the Partners, and owns the execution of deals against it: sourcing companies that fit the thesis, running due diligence end-to-end, and presenting findings and recommendations to the Investment Committee (IC). The IC makes the investment decision.

This is a senior role. The Principal reports to the Managing Partners and works closely with them.

Responsibilities

Deal sourcing

• Build and maintain a pipeline of early-stage companies that fit the firm's investment thesis in deep tech, cryptography (ZKP, FHE, MPC), verifiable computing, and blockchain infrastructure.
• Develop relationships with founders, university research labs, cryptographic researchers, accelerators, and co-investors in Israel and abroad.
• Screen inbound and outbound deal flow and lead first meetings with founders.

Due diligence

• Lead due diligence: architecture, cryptographic assumptions, codebase quality, security, benchmarks, and developer activity.
• Lead commercial and financial due diligence: market sizing, competition, business model, unit economics, tokenomics and incentive design where relevant, cap table, and financing needs.
• Coordinate external experts, references, and legal and financial advisors.

Investment Committee

• Write clear, structured investment memos summarizing findings, risks, downside scenarios, and return potential.
• Present findings and a recommendation to the Investment Committee and answer the committee's questions.

Deal execution

• Support negotiation of term sheets and definitive documents (SAFEs, priced rounds, token warrants) together with the Partners and legal counsel.
• Coordinate closing with founders, co-investors, and advisors.

Portfolio support

• Act as day-to-day point of contact for portfolio companies.
• Support follow-on financings, token generation events (TGEs), customer and partner introductions, and hiring.
• Track portfolio performance and report to the Partners.

Firm building

• Represent Masterkey VC at domestic and global industry events and conferences.
• Contribute to the firm's research output and public presence, including on X/Twitter.
• Maintain the deal pipeline and diligence workspaces in Notion and work with the firm's AI tooling for research, benchmarking, and memo review.

Requirements

• 4+ years of relevant experience in early-stage venture capital, investment banking, proprietary trading, or engineering/product roles at a venture-backed deep tech or Web3 startup.
• B.Sc. or higher in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, MBA, Accounting or a related quantitative field.
• Strong understanding of cryptographic mechanisms (SNARKs, STARKs, MPC, FHE), consensus algorithms, distributed systems, and hardware acceleration (GPUs, ASICs, FPGAs).
• Proven ability to run a diligence process independently and produce clear, defensible investment memos.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English.
• Comfortable working with a lean, AI-native operating stack: Notion, Google Workspace and Google Cloud Platform, Claude, and open-source developer tooling (GitHub).
• Based in or willing to relocate to the Tel Aviv area (hybrid).

Advantages

• Prior experience presenting to an Investment Committee or leading deals end-to-end.
• Hands-on experience with Web3 protocols, smart contract auditing, or cryptography research (published work a plus).
• Board Observer experience.
• Existing network among founders, researchers, and investors in the crypto and deep tech ecosystems.
• M.Sc. or Ph.D. in a relevant field.

What We Offer

• Base Salary: Market-competitive base salary and annual performance bonus, benchmarked against tier-1 funds.
• Carried Interest: Direct carry participation in our active and future funds, driven by our belief in the power of true ownership.
• Co-Investment Rights: Opportunity to co-invest personal capital alongside firm investments on a fee-free, carry-free basis.
• Work Flexibility: Hybrid work model based in Tel Aviv, balancing regular in-person collaboration with remote work flexibility.

Location

Tel Aviv, Israel (hybrid).