What hiring managers look for in a smart contract audit CV

Tool lists don't differentiate anymore

Almost every audit CV we see lists the same tools — Slither, Echidna, Foundry, Mythril. At this point, listing them is table stakes, not a differentiator, and hiring managers tend to skim right past that section.

Lead with disclosed findings, not tools

What actually gets attention is two or three disclosed findings, linked directly, with a plain-language description of the root cause. A hiring manager should be able to understand what went wrong and why it mattered without needing to dig through a GitHub issue thread themselves.

Show a proof of concept, not just a description

For your strongest finding, include a working proof-of-concept exploit alongside the write-up. This does more to demonstrate real technical depth than any amount of tool-listing, because it proves you can go from 'this looks suspicious' to 'this is exploitable' — which is the actual job.

Communication is part of the evaluation

Auditors spend a meaningful part of their time on client calls explaining findings to founders and engineers who are often stressed and defensive. Hiring managers will specifically evaluate whether you can explain a critical vulnerability calmly and clearly, without either minimizing it or causing unnecessary panic — so it's worth practicing that explanation out loud, not just writing it down.