How to Intern with Index Coop

We’re excited to announce the first-ever Internship program at Index Coop! This program represents a unique opportunity for non-crypto natives to get exposure and training from one of the top DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) in DeFi.

Interns will work directly with one of our distinct functional areas (Working Groups) to develop their knowledge and understanding of Index Coop. Through hands-on experience and guided learning, interns will be immersed in all things crypto, DeFi, and DAOs! By the end of their internship, we will have equipped our interns with the context and skill to hit the ground running and transition into a regular contributor role.

Why are interns important for a DAO?

Identifying and deploying top talent is a key priority for Index Coop. By running an internship program, we hope to expand our approach to talent management in three main areas:

• Diversity

• Formalized training pathways for new contributors

• Recruitment of in-demand skill sets (e.g, Engineering)

DeFi is a global revolution and we are committed to offering opportunities for people from all walks of life. Diversity is a priority at Index Coop, and we hope to use this internship program to recruit candidates who are underrepresented in crypto. We’ll do this by promoting the program with specific organizations, including She256 and student blockchain organizations. We have structured the application and selection process to avoid discrimination on the basis of age, location, timezone, gender, religion, or other identities.

So, what’s in it for me?

Are you crypto-curious, but hesitant to take the first step into contributing, or not sure how your skills will translate? This is a perfect opportunity!

In addition to the learning and experiential benefits, interns will be paid 3000 USDC in 500 USDC increments every Friday, for the duration of the 6-week internship. After this time, we hope that you will transition into our contributor program and the standard process of payment through contributor rewards.

Over the course of 6 weeks, we will take interns across Business Development, Growth, Community, Org & People, Analytics, and Product. The program will provide education on all things DeFi and equip the interns with the skills and knowledge to be impactful Coop contributors. To help our interns apply to the Working Group that best fits their interests and skills, we’re including a short description of each Working Group below.

Business Development: The Business Development WG works externally across the DeFi space to grow the business through exchange listings and partnerships and integrations. They also maintain good investor relations with new and existing partners.

Growth: Somewhat analogous to traditional marketing orgs, our Growth WG focuses their efforts on increasing awareness of our DPI product as well as Index Coop more generally.

Community, Org & People: Our newest Working Group focuses on powering up the entire Index Coop DAO through new joiner training, onboarding, strategic recruiting, and community development.

Analytics: Provides data analytics across the entire Coop organization; including, product methodology analysis, treasury management, growth opportunities, liquidity management, and more!

Product & Dev: Working Groups which are focused on identifying and launching market-leading Index products for our customers. They provide analysis and customer research needed to informing our product roadmap, provide the engineering input required to develop our indexes and support our overall product launch and liquidity mining strategies.

Regardless of Working Group placement, we expect that interns will contribute at least 15 hours per week. Working hours are flexible — as a DAO, we regularly coordinate work across a globally distributed team.

Internship Program Structure

The internship will begin on August 9th and run for 6 weeks. We are keen to make this program a global leader in DeFi and DAO training — something we will achieve through our unique “four pillar” approach to learning. The “four pillars” include Self-study, Coaching, Challenge Cycles, and Contribution.

Self Study

We’ve organized a reading list and regular “book club” discussion of the suggested materials. We’ve also set up a series of guest lectures with external resources through our Conversations with the Coop program. Finally, we’ll conduct Index Coop masterclasses: recorded sessions with different community members providing specific training on their area of specialization.

Challenge Cycles

For a hands-on experience, we’re offering “Challenge Cycles” that will kick off every week or two. These Challenge Cycles are designed to encourage interns to challenge the “status quo at the Coop” and identify things we should be doing better and encourage interns to come up with solutions. These Cycles will require interns to conduct their own research and network and interview other members of the Coop.

A few examples of potential Challenge Cycles are below.

• Week 1: Present for 20 minutes on Index Coops competitive advantage.

• Week 3: Assess the success of Index Coops project management tools. Develop specific tools on Notion to aid with the planning for your area.

• Week 6: Identify one major area Index Coop can do better, and outline a proposed solution.

Contributions

Interns will be expected to contribute on ad-hoc projects through their Working Group. This will be coordinated and directed by the assigned People Manager for that Working Group.

Coaching

Finally, all interns will be partnered with a mentor for the duration of the program. The mentor will help the interns maximize the value they get from the program, and offer other pastoral support. Interns have the opportunity to ask their mentor questions, bounce ideas off them, and seek direction in their DeFi journey.

Application Process

Applications will open on Monday, July 12th, and close on Friday, July 23rd. We’ll update this post with a link to the application when available.

We will be running a name-blind recruitment process, with selection decisions made based on the responses to four written questions, including one working group-specific question. The Internship Coordination Team will develop a shortlist of candidates, which will then be evaluated by the Working Group Lead & People Manager for final selection.

We appreciate that demand for the program will be high and we may not be able to offer positions to all applicants.

• Unsuccessful applications will have their submissions shared with other DAOs who have stated an interest in taking on interns

• Everyone who submits an application will be added to a number of webinars we are hosting with key influencers in the DeFi space.

• We will keep your details on file so that we can let you know about the next round of internships

• All applicants are welcome to join our DAO as contributors.

Interested in applying?

You can find the application here.

We take pride in following our Guiding Principles. We will stay true to these guiding principles at all times and expect the same of our interns.

We look forward to learning more about you in this application process!