Blockchain Engineer/Architect - Digital Asset Platform - Vice President

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Job Overview

Citi is seeking a highly experienced and visionary Blockchain Engineer/Architect – Digital Asset Platform to join the Citi Integrated Digital Assets Platform (CIDAP) engineering team. This is a senior individual contributor and technical leadership role for a hands-on architect who thrives at the intersection of enterprise software engineering and cutting-edge blockchain technology.

The successful candidate will be responsible for defining and driving the technical architecture of our digital assets platform, leading engineering decisions, and mentoring a team of talented engineers. You will work closely with product, business, and technology stakeholders across Citi to shape the strategic direction of our blockchain infrastructure and digital asset capabilities.

We are looking for a candidate who combines deep enterprise software engineering expertise with a strong command of web3 and blockchain technologies. You must be equally comfortable whiteboarding distributed system architectures and writing production-grade code.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and design scalable, resilient, and secure blockchain-based solutions for Citi's Digital Asset Platform, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards and regulatory requirements
• Lead end-to-end technical delivery of complex blockchain and digital asset features, owning architecture decisions from inception through production deployment
• Define and enforce engineering best practices, coding standards, and design patterns across the team for both enterprise and web3 application development
• Drive technical strategy for the platform, evaluating and recommending emerging blockchain protocols, frameworks, and tooling relevant to Citi's digital asset roadmap
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders — including product owners, business leads, risk, compliance, and infrastructure teams — to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions
• Mentor and guide junior and mid-level engineers, conducting code reviews, providing technical direction, and fostering a culture of engineering excellence
• Lead the evaluation and integration of third-party blockchain networks, smart contract platforms, tokenization frameworks, and digital asset custody solutions
• Ensure platform reliability, scalability, and performance through proactive design, observability, and operational best practices
• Contribute to and own technical documentation, architecture decision records (ADRs), and platform runbooks
• Represent the engineering team in cross-functional forums, architecture review boards, and senior leadership discussions
• Identify, manage, and escalate technical risks and blockers to ensure on-time, on-budget, and high-quality delivery

Qualifications / Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; MS or PhD is strongly preferred
• 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with a strong focus on backend and distributed systems development
• 7+ years of hands-on experience with Java/Spring backend development in enterprise-grade production environments
• 3+ years of experience in blockchain and web3 application development, including smart contract integration, tokenization, or digital asset infrastructure
• Demonstrated experience architecting large-scale, high-availability distributed systems in a financial services or similarly regulated environment
• Deep expertise in microservices architecture, API design, event-driven systems, and asynchronous programming patterns
• Proven experience with smart contract platforms (e.g., Ethereum, Hyperledger, Corda, or equivalent) and associated tooling
• Strong familiarity with web3 libraries (Web3J, Web3JS, Ethers.js) and blockchain SDKs
• Experience with Solidity or other smart contract languages; ability to review and audit smart contract code
• Solid understanding of cryptographic primitives, digital signatures, key management, and wallet infrastructure
• Experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes/Helm), and cloud-native deployments
• Familiarity with financial industry regulations and compliance considerations relevant to digital assets (e.g., tokenized securities, CBDCs, stablecoins) is a strong plus
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments with distributed global teams

Competencies / Skills

• Technical Leadership: Proven ability to lead architectural decisions and drive engineering strategy in a senior individual contributor or lead capacity
• Deep Engineering Expertise: Mastery of software engineering fundamentals — data structures, algorithms, design patterns, system design — with the ability to translate them into elegant, production-ready solutions
• Blockchain Fluency: Comprehensive understanding of blockchain protocols, consensus mechanisms, tokenization standards (ERC-20, ERC-721, etc.), and DeFi/TradFi integration patterns
• Communication & Influence: Exceptional ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, including executive stakeholders
• Problem Solving: Strong analytical mindset with a track record of solving ambiguous, high-complexity engineering challenges in regulated environments
• Mentorship: Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and elevate the capabilities of engineering teams
• Delivery Focus: Proven track record of delivering high-quality, mission-critical software on time and at scale
• Tooling Proficiency: Expert-level command of engineering toolsets including Git, Jira, Jenkins, Helm Charts, Kubernetes, and observability platforms
• Innovation Mindset: Ability to identify disruptive opportunities and translate them into actionable engineering initiatives with measurable commercial impact

Development Value

This is a high-visibility, high-impact role at the forefront of Citi's digital assets strategy. As a Blockchain Engineer/Architect, you will:

• Play a defining role in shaping the architecture and future direction of one of Citi's most strategically important technology platforms
• Gain broad exposure to Citi's global technology, business, and risk functions, building a strong internal network across the firm
• Work alongside world-class engineers and business leaders who are pioneering the future of institutional digital finance
• Have direct access to Citi's executive management team and senior technology leadership, with significant visibility across the organization
• Be at the cutting edge of blockchain, tokenization, and digital asset innovation within a globally systemically important financial institution
• Benefit from Citi's investment in continuous learning, with access to emerging technologies, industry conferences, and cross-functional innovation programs