Chief Technology Officer - Digital Asset & Fintech

About Changer.ae

Changer.ae Limited is a regulated institutional-level virtual asset financial services provider and custodian operating under the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). Located in Abu Dhabi, the company offers secure digital assets custody, over-the-counter liquidity, and real-time cryptocurrency to fiat payment infrastructure.

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled and hands-on Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who excels as a software engineer, system architect, and security auditor. This role requires active involvement in coding, reviewing, and maintaining the core infrastructure powering our institutional digital asset custody systems, exchange engines, and banking integrations. The CTO will engage directly with coding, auditing smart contracts, and managing cloud infrastructure without relying on delegation or vendor management.

Key Responsibilities

• Engage actively in software engineering by developing and optimizing critical microservices around swap engines, ledger management, and payment processing.
• Ensure exactness in financial computations by eliminating floating-point math errors and performing detailed ledger audits.
• Conduct comprehensive, line-by-line code reviews prioritizing security, concurrency, and performance before deployment approvals.
• Audit Web3 smart contracts, verify on-chain transactions, and assess security mechanisms including signature verification and router logic.
• Scrutinize multiparty computation (MPC) and hardware security modules (HSM) configurations alongside wallet segregation to comply fully with ADGM FSRA custody standards.
• Review and validate API inputs for transaction tracking and compliance with FATF/IVMS101 Travel Rule regulations.
• Inspect and troubleshoot backend interfaces connecting to banking partners, payment rails, and virtual IBAN routing systems.
• Develop and verify enterprise-grade lightweight SDKs and REST/WebSocket APIs for seamless B2B merchant integrations.
• Perform thorough audits of AWS infrastructure setups utilizing EKS, Terraform, Docker, and multi-availability zone networking to ensure near-perfect uptime.
• Manage security controls including firewall rules, zero-trust access, encryption key management, and lead efforts for ISO 27001 and regulatory compliance audits.
• Integrate advanced AI technologies such as large language model APIs, automated testing tools, and log analysis bots directly into CI/CD workflows.
• Lead the engineering team by example with coding excellence, pair programming, rigorous testing, and system design standards without heavy administrative overhead.

Candidate Requirements

• Expertise in at least two backend programming languages such as Go, Node.js/TypeScript, Python, C++, Rust, or Solidity with the ability to complete live coding and architectural assessments.
• In-depth experience with Web3 cryptography including signature schemes (secp256k1, ecrecover), smart contract logic inspection, and RPC debugging without third-party abstractions.
• Hands-on proficiency in cloud infrastructure management including authoring Terraform code, managing AWS EKS clusters, configuring ingress controllers, and production container troubleshooting.
• Proven track record in performing security and performance code audits, resolving memory leaks, concurrency issues, and maintaining financial precision.
• Advanced knowledge of PostgreSQL/SQL with a focus on ACID compliance, parameterized queries, and creating immutable audit trails.

Preferred Qualifications

• Over 8 years of software development experience including at least 3 years in senior leadership roles such as CTO, VP Engineering, or Lead Architect within crypto exchanges, digital asset custodians, or regulated payment providers.
• Experience working in regulated environments with familiarity of ADGM FSRA, VARA, CBUAE, MAS, HKMA, or FCA technical standards.
• A passion for hands-on engineering without reliance on delegation, prioritizing system stability and clean architectural design.
• Expertise in embedding AI tools into development workflows to accelerate feature delivery, automate testing, and enhance smart contract security audits.
• Practical experience building AI-driven internal applications including automated contract vulnerability scanners, real-time log analysis tools, and anomaly detection pipelines.
• Demonstrated success in building digital asset, core exchange, or payment infrastructure from inception through mainnet launch, scaling, and passing regulatory audits.