Lead, Engineering

Context and rationale The Pôle Digibank & Fintech operates Mixx mobile money services in Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and the Comoros, and is developing the cluster’s digital banking proposition. The 2030 strategy commits the cluster to revenue beyond the wallet and to the transition from mobile money towards financial services. Stablecoin settlement and digital asset services form part of that trajectory and are at present the only component of it with no dedicated structure, no licence and no team. A dedicated operating company is accordingly being established within the cluster to deliver three capabilities on a single infrastructure: settlement between the cluster’s markets and the corridors serving them, regulated access to United States dollar holdings for customers in soft-currency markets, and payout, collection and treasury services for merchants, platforms and institutional partners. The entity will not operate a trading venue, issue a token or hold a proprietary position. Within this framework, the Lead, Engineering designs, builds and operates the infrastructure on which the entity holds and moves client value. This comprises custody, the ledger, blockchain integrations, the interfaces to the cluster’s existing platforms, and the security posture of the whole. The entity has no technology estate, and the position therefore begins with architecture rather than with maintenance. The post is a hands-on engineering role during its first year. The jobholder builds and operates the initial system personally while recruiting a small team, rather than directing delivery through others. The position also carries the principal operational risk in the entity, since the custody design determines whether client assets can be lost. The Lead, Engineering will be principally responsible for technical production: architecture, custody, ledger, integrations and security. The position works in a group of three alongside the Lead, Licensing, responsible for authorisation and market access, and the Lead, Business and Operations, responsible for corridors, counterparties, treasury and the commercial result. The scope of the licence determines what the infrastructure may hold, and architecture decisions are accordingly taken jointly with the Lead, Licensing. Examples of matters handled: selection between third-party custody and self-custody, key generation and recovery design, signing quorum definition, double-entry multi-asset ledger construction, automated reconciliation against blockchain state, network and stablecoin selection, node and remote procedure call strategy, integration with the Mixx wallets and the digital banking core, threat modelling and penetration testing, incident response, and the audit trail required by a supervisory authority. Principal missions – Architecture and sourcing decisions: definition of the target architecture and a documented build or buy position for each component, setting out cost, dependency and risk. The Group holds no settled position on custody, the ledger, compliance tooling or the on-ramp and off-ramp arrangements, and expects a reasoned recommendation on each. – Custody and key management: selection between a provider using multi-party computation or hardware security modules and self-custody, and definition of key generation, splitting, storage and recovery, signing authority and the quorum required to move client value. – Ledger: construction of a double-entry, multi-currency and multi-asset ledger that is idempotent and auditable, and that reconciles automatically against blockchain state and against partner statements. – Blockchain and asset integrations: selection of supported networks and stablecoins, node and remote procedure call strategy, fee and congestion handling, finality assumptions by network, and the treatment of chain reorganisations and failed transactions. – Integration with the cluster: delivery of interfaces to the Mixx wallets, the digital banking core and the existing payment and customer identification systems, documented to a standard that cluster teams can build against. – Security and resilience: threat model, segregation of duties, secrets management, access control, signing ceremonies, penetration testing, incident response, and the audit trail required by the supervisory authority and the external auditor. – Engineering delivery and team: environments, continuous integration, release process, observability and on-call arrangements, and recruitment of the initial engineering team. Key deliverables – Target architecture and build or buy recommendations, with cost and timeline. – Security model documented to a standard suitable for inclusion in the licence application. – Custody and ledger infrastructure in production, with automated reconciliation against blockchain state. – Integration with the first Mixx market, followed by the second. – Penetration test and security audit reports, with a documented closure record. – Operational documentation covering monitoring, alerting, on-call and incident response. Education and experience – Postgraduate qualification (master’s level or equivalent) in computer science, engineering or a related discipline, or an equivalent record of delivery. – Confirmed experience (eight years or more) building and operating production systems that move money, of which at least two years on blockchain or digital asset infrastructure. – Demonstrable experience delivering and operating a custody or wallet system holding client value. Candidates will be asked to describe the custody model, the signing quorum and an incident encountered in production. – Experience acquired at a licensed custodian, a stablecoin issuer, a payment infrastructure provider or a regulated financial institution is a strong advantage. Technical skills – Construction of a double-entry ledger, or substantial experience working within one, with reconciliation treated as a primary design concern rather than a downstream activity. – Direct experience of stablecoin settlement and the networks on which it operates, including fee behaviour, finality, failed and stuck transactions, and the operation or consumption of nodes. – Security engineering as a principal competence: key management, hardware security modules or multi-party computation, threat modelling, and experience of a security audit or a live incident. – Ability to document technical decisions for a non-technical audience, including a supervisory authority and an external auditor, in English and ideally in French. – Experience operating within a regulated environment and producing the evidence required by a regulator or an auditor. – Experience integrating with mobile money platforms or a core banking system in Africa, and building for intermittent connectivity and low-specification devices, is appreciated. Personal qualities – Willingness to operate as sole engineer during the entity’s early months, and to recruit rather than inherit a team. – Judgement in balancing time to market against long-term control and cost. – Rigour, attention to detail and an exacting standard where client assets are concerned. – Integrity and discretion appropriate to custody of client assets. Working environment – A newly created entity within the Pôle Digibank & Fintech, with no existing team, licence or technology estate, and three founding positions to be filled. – A multi-entity and multi-jurisdiction perimeter, principally Indian Ocean and Africa (Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo, Comoros), with the licensing jurisdiction expected in the Gulf or in Pakistan. – A close working relationship with the Lead, Licensing and the Lead, Business and Operations, under the Chief Operating Officer of the cluster and alongside the Head of Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions and Fintech Future. – A distributed team, with approximately one week of travel per month across the cluster’s markets, the licensing jurisdiction and Group.

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