Tech Observer is hiring a

Blockchain Architect and Developer

Job Title: Lead Blockchain Architect and Developer

Location: Hybrid/Jersey City, NJ (2 DAYS A WEEK)

Duration: FTE

Job Description:

Primary Responsibilities:

• Define and drive technical architecture and strategy for digital asset platform components across smart contracts, integrations, and infrastructure

• Lead design reviews, establish coding standards, and ensure architectural consistency across the digital asset technology stack

• Mentor and develop team members across blockchain engineering, QA, and platform development disciplines

• Serve as escalation point for complex technical issues spanning smart contracts, blockchain integrations, and platform services

• Collaborate with enterprise architecture, security, and infrastructure teams to ensure alignment with RBC standards

• Research, evaluate and recommend blockchain protocols, consensus mechanisms, custody solutions, and related technologies

• Interface directly with business leaders, product managers, and stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical roadmaps

• Lead technical due diligence for vendor selections, protocol evaluations, and technology partnerships

• Establish and enforce security practices including threat modeling, code review processes, and secure development lifecycle

• Drive DevOps maturity, CI/CD pipeline optimization, and operational excellence across environments

• Participate in cross-functional working groups, architecture review boards, and regulatory/compliance discussions

• Own technical planning, sprint planning coordination, and delivery forecasting in partnership with Project Managers

Key Relationships:

• Engineering team members across smart contracts, blockchain integration, QA, and platform development

• Enterprise Architecture, Security Architecture, and Infrastructure teams

• Product Managers, Business Analysts, and Executive Stakeholders

• Production Support, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), and Operations teams

• Vendor technical teams and blockchain protocol foundations

• Regulatory, Compliance, and Legal teams

• PMO, Finance, and Budgetary teams

• External consultants and technology partners

Required Education/Experience:

• University degree in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent work experience

• 8+ years software engineering experience with 3+ years in technical leadership roles

• Deep technical expertise across distributed systems, blockchain technologies, and platform engineering

• Proven track record leading complex technical initiatives from conception through production

Preferred Education/Experience:

• Degree in Computer Science or related field

• Extensive experience with blockchain protocols (Ethereum, Canton, Solana, or similar)

• Experience in financial services, capital markets, or regulated environments

• Track record building and scaling engineering teams

• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks (MiFID II, EMIR, CFTC, SEC requirements for digital assets)

Technical Competencies:

• Blockchain architecture patterns and protocol design

• Smart contract platforms and security (Solidity, Rust, Move, DAML, etc.)

• Distributed ledger technologies and consensus mechanisms

• Digital asset custody solutions and key management systems

• API design and event-driven systems

• Security best practices including cryptography, secure coding, and threat modeling

• Performance optimization and scalability patterns

Regulatory technology considerations for digital assets

BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPER

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, test, and maintain integration services connecting blockchain networks with RBC's digital asset platform

• Build and optimize blockchain node infrastructure, RPC connections, and network monitoring solutions

• Develop middleware APIs and services that abstract blockchain complexity for platform consumers

• Implement transaction construction, signing, submission, and confirmation tracking mechanisms

• Create robust error handling, retry logic, and circuit breaker patterns for blockchain connectivity

• Build data indexing and event streaming pipelines from blockchain networks to enterprise data stores

• Research and evaluate blockchain protocols, node implementations, and infrastructure providers

• Collaborate with smart contract engineers to understand on-chain requirements and design appropriate integration patterns

• Work with security teams to implement secure key management, transaction signing, and access control

• Implement monitoring, alerting, and observability solutions for blockchain integrations and node health

• Translate business and functional requirements into technical specifications for blockchain connectivity

• Document integration architectures, API specifications, and operational runbooks

• Mentor team members on blockchain integration patterns, node operations, and troubleshooting techniques

• Conduct code reviews and ensure adherence to security and quality standards

• Follow DevOps practices including automated testing, continuous integration, and infrastructure as code

• Collaborate on resolving production incidents related to blockchain connectivity or network issues

• Work with Project Managers and stakeholders on integration roadmaps and delivery timelines

Key Relationships:

• Smart contract engineers and platform developers within the digital asset team

• Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering, and Site Reliability teams

• Security Engineering and Cybersecurity teams

• Project Managers, Business Analysts, and QA engineers

• Production Support and Application Support teams

• Blockchain protocol teams and node infrastructure providers

• Offshore and remote development teams

• Technology working groups and architecture forums

Required Education/Experience:

• University degree in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent work experience

• Strong software engineering background with experience in distributed systems

• Experience integrating with external APIs, protocols, or third-party systems

• Solid understanding of networking, APIs, and data pipelines

Preferred Education/Experience:

• University degree in Computer Science or related field

• Hands-on experience running and operating blockchain nodes (Ethereum, Bitcoin, or other protocols)

• Experience with Web3 libraries and blockchain SDKs (ethers.js, web3.js, bitcoinjs, etc.)

• Familiarity with blockchain indexing solutions (The Graph, custom indexers)

• Experience with message queues, event streaming, and async processing patterns

• Knowledge of DevOps practices, containerization, and cloud infrastructure

• Understanding of cryptographic primitives and secure key management

Technical Competencies:

• Blockchain node operation and infrastructure (Geth, Erigon, Bitcoin Core, validators, etc.)

• RPC protocols and blockchain APIs

• Web3 libraries and blockchain SDKs across multiple languages

• RESTful and GraphQL API design and development

• Message queuing systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS SQS)

• Database technologies (SQL and NoSQL) for blockchain data indexing

• Programming languages: Go, Rust, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, or Java

• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Monitoring and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, etc.)

• Blockchain transaction lifecycle and confirmation mechanics

• Cryptographic signing and secure key management patterns

• Network protocols and troubleshooting (TCP/IP, WebSockets, etc.)

CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code (Terraform, Ansible)

Apply Now: