Chief Technology Officer

We are a stealth-mode, seed-stage startup building a next-gen payments protocol that bridges traditional finance and the digital asset ecosystem. Our founding team brings decades of experience across DeFi, FinTech, banking regulation, and financial services. We?re looking for a Chief Technology Officer to lead the technical vision, design, and execution of our protocol?from prototype to production deployment. In the early stages, you?ll work hands on to build the prototype while laying the foundation for a best-in-class engineering organization.

About The Role As an early employee, you will be at the forefront of developing an innovative protocol that unlocks the potential of decentralised technologies to transact privately and securely across the regulated banking and crypto ecosystems. As a CTO, you?ll be responsible for setting our technical direction, making foundational architecture decisions, and writing critical code. You?ll own the buildout of our permissioned L2 protocol and related on- and off-chain infrastructure and ensure our design meets the performance, compliance, and security needs of a regulated financial ecosystem.

This role is ideal for a senior engineer ready to take the next step into technical leadership, or a CTO with prior founding experience in DeFi or FinTech.

What You?ll Do - Own the end-to-end technical design of our blockchain stack, including:

• State transition logic and execution environment for a permissioned L2.
• Custom smart contracts and bridge logic for integration with public L1s.
• Off-chain messaging and fiat settlement logic between network participants.
• Data availability and consensus mechanisms tailored for a closed, regulated network.
• Contribute to the writing and deployment of code for the various stages of our product, with direct responsibilities to code for initial prototype to MVP and then transition to an oversight role once the solution is ready to deploy in production.
• Collaborate with the founding team to align technical design with regulatory, legal, and partner requirements.
• Define integration approaches with L1 chains, custodians, partner banks, exchanges and other infrastructure providers.
• Build and evolve internal tooling, testing infrastructure, and deployment pipelines to support secure, production-grade development.
• Participate in vendor selection, partner evaluations, and external code audits or compliance reviews.
• Grow and lead a world-class engineering team over time, establishing processes, standards, and culture.
• Stay ahead of the curve on blockchain scaling, token standards, and permissioned L2 architectures.
• Represent us in technical discussions with partners, potential investors, and external stakeholders.

Qualifications - Based in the U.S. with the ability to travel domestically (up to 25%) for internal and external partner meetings.

• Bachelor?s degree in computer science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience in systems programming, infrastructure engineering, or distributed systems at a B2B or institutional environment.
• Proficient in one of or all of following low level programming languages - Rust, Go, or C++
• 4+ years of experience building or leading blockchain protocols, with a strong understanding of L1/L2 architectures and rollup mechanics.
• Demonstrated track record both as a leader of engineering teams and as an individual contributor developing secure, scalable, and modular software.
• Experience in TradFi not required but a plus.
• Clear communicator who can engage effectively with technical teams, C-suite executives, and partner stakeholders.
• Comfortable navigating both the innovation demands of crypto and the technical rigor of regulated financial services.
• Ability to work effectively and collaboratively in a fast-paced startup in its earliest days.

What We Offer - Competitive compensation: salary, bonus, and equity

• Full medical, vision, dental benefits
• 401(k), with matching program
• Flexible vacation policy (PTO) and remote-first work environment
• Opportunity to help build a market-defining protocol with a seasoned, high-integrity founding team
• Influence and ownership in shaping the technical and cultural DNA of the company from day one

Compensation & Package

Comp package also includes target cash bonus, target equity, benefits, and 401(k) matching.

Interview Process

Behavioural Interview

Initial screening (30 minutes)

Technical Interview

deep dive interviews with founding team (2 or 3 total, 1-hour each)

Founder / CEO Interview

final interview with CEO (30 minutes)

Final Interview

Offer negotiation

(Note that this is TBD, but they may ask that the final interview be in person in DC, but they will pay for travel, etc.) Skills: go,systems programming,infrastructure,l1/l2 architectures,go (golang),blockchain protocols,blockchain,c++,infrastructure engineering,rust,distributed systems