Sr. Distinguished Engineer - Digital Assets Security

Early Warning® • Chicago, IL

2d • $248,000 - $363,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose As a Sr. Distinguished Engineer you will lead the technical design, development, and delivery of Early Warning’s next-generation cross-border consumer money movement platform. This new solution will leverage a range of technologies, including stablecoins, to provide fast, secure, and compliant global transfers. This is a hands-on technical leadership role, you’ll be both a visionary architect and an active builder. You will define the technical strategy and architecture for the platform, collaborate across product, risk, and compliance teams, and set the engineering standard for secure and scalable digital asset infrastructure.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems, Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science, or equivalent professional experience
• Minimum 15+ years of software engineering experience
• Minimum 10+ years of leading efforts or processes in a Technology organization, with deep experience architecting or scaling payment systems, digital asse
• Minimum 5+ years of experience dealing with large scale systems
• Minimum 5+ years of experience implementing application solutions/services in the Cloud using containerization, CI/CD, automated testing, and compliant security guidelines t infrastructure, or blockchain-based settlement solutions in regulated environments
• Expertise with blockchain consensus mechanisms, settlement models, cryptographic primitives, and tokenization
• Demonstrated experience with payment networks, FX, liquidity, and reconciliation systems
• Experience with smart contract design, auditing, threat models, and security best practices
• Experience building systems that meet ISO 20022, NACHA, MAS/TRM, PCI-DSS, or similar regulated frameworks
• Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership through large scale system designs, upgrades, and releases
• Ability to resolve highly complex architectural debates and align diverse technical opinions
• Superior leadership and management skills combined with strong business acumen
• Proven ability to mentor and energize teams, showcasing technical and leadership skills
• Experience with state of the art technology, architecture, design concepts, open-source operating systems, database systems, computer networking, and security
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in cross-functional groups and generate results
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills; conveys competence with internal customers, staff, peers, senior management, and vendors
• Work experience demonstrating a strong sense of ownership, urgency, and drive
• Background and drug screen required

Responsibilities

• Own the security architecture for Early Warning’s cross-border money movement solution, designing for scalability, security, and regulatory compliance
• Design and implement key components, from wallet management and transaction orchestration to liquidity and settlement services
• Lead the technical evaluation and integration of blockchain technologies, stablecoin protocols, and digital asset service providers
• Influence the evolution of stablecoin and blockchain protocols by contributing technical thought leadership internally and externally
• Represent Early Warning in industry collaborations, standards groups, and regulatory/technical working groups related to blockchain, digital identity, and stablecoin settlement frameworks
• Continuously evaluate emerging protocols, digital asset custody models, and zero-knowledge technology for applicability to Early Warning’s roadmap
• Collaborates closely with Engineering leaders, Architecture, Security, and external partners
• Build and advocate for engineering best practices around smart contract security, transaction traceability, and system observability
• Mentor and guide engineering teams, elevating technical standards and fostering a high-performance culture
• Identify opportunities to ship value to production quickly and in incremental chunks
• Builds and deliver well considered scaling solutions via strong relationships with key cross-functional stakeholders across the organization
• Partner with Product, Risk, Architecture, and Security teams to ensure end-to-end compliance (AML, KYC, OFAC, etc.) and operational integrity
• Defines technical patterns, governance, and operating models
• Serve as the final escalation point for complex technical decisions
• Prototype new settlement paths, wallet models, and interoperability mechanisms
• Rapidly test and validate hypotheses with proof of concepts and performance benchmarks
• Performs other related duties as assigned

Benefits

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off – Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.
• And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees