Co-Founder

Role Summary

We’re building a payment platform that lets businesses accept and settle funds while leveraging blockchain (Polygon/zkEVM) for backend traceability. As our Technical Co-Founder/CTO, you’ll own the architecture, lead development of our MVP, and shape our long-term tech strategy.

Success in this position looks like:

• Launching a fully functional MVP within 4 months.
• Demonstrating live GBP flows via Open Banking, with fees auto-split and logged on the Polygon testnet.
• Building a production-ready codebase (Node.js/TypeScript backend, Next.js frontend, Solidity contracts) and DevOps pipelines.
• Establishing automated on-chain logging, fee-swap microservices, and CI/CD so that every transaction is auditable and future-proof for Web3 integrations.
• Laying the technical groundwork for FCA EMI license applications and scalable operation.

In this founding role, you’ll report directly to the CEO/founder, set sprint cadences, hire and mentor engineers (onshore/offshore), and collaborate with compliance, product, and operations to ensure we hit aggressive milestones.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Strategy & Architecture

• Define and evolve the end-to-end system architecture: Open Banking integration, EMI sponsor APIs, fee-splitter microservice, on-chain audit contracts, and dashboards.
• Choose frameworks, languages, and cloud services (AWS/GCP) that balance agility, security, and cost-efficiency.

2. MVP Delivery & Hands-On Development

• Build critical components:

o Open Banking payment initiation and webhook handlers.

o Sponsor EMI integration for virtual accounts and payouts.

o Fee-split microservice that calculates fees, triggers fiat→USDC swaps (Transak/Ramp), and calls our Polygon audit contract.

o Smart contract development and deployment on Polygon zkEVM (Solidity + Hardhat).

o Frontend modules (Next.js) for merchant onboarding, customer checkout widget, and real-time dashboards.

3. Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Recruit, onboard, and mentor a small engineering team (remote/offshore), setting coding standards, CI/CD pipelines, and code-review processes.
• Coordinate closely with product, design, and compliance, ensuring feature requirements, UI/UX designs, and regulatory checklists are implemented in sprint cycles.
• Delegate tasks effectively while remaining hands-on for critical path items, especially around payment flows and on-chain logic.

4. DevOps & Security

• Architect and maintain secure, scalable infrastructure: Dockerized services, Kubernetes or AWS Fargate/ECS, managed PostgreSQL, Redis, and S3.
• Implement robust ESLint/Prettier (JS/TS) in CI, automated tests (Jest, Hardhat), and vulnerability scanning (Snyk or GitHub CodeQL).
• Ensure all API keys and secrets live in AWS Secrets Manager or GCP Secret Manager, with least-privilege IAM roles.
• Set up monitoring, logging, and alerts (CloudWatch, Sentry, Datadog) for payment failures, on-chain errors, and low-gas wallet balances.

5. Compliance & Regulatory Support

• Work with the CEO and legal advisors to translate FCA licensing requirements into technical specifications: data encryption, audit trails, KYC/KYB integrations (Sumsub, ComplyAdvantage), and GDPR compliance.
• Help draft and maintain documentation (architecture diagrams, runbooks, security policies) required for FCA sandbox applications and EMI license submissions.

6. Roadmap & Scalability

• Continuously refine the technical roadmap, balancing immediate MVP requirements with long-term scalability (batching on-chain logs, multi-chain support, loyalty tokenization).
• Evaluate emerging Layer 2 solutions (zkSync Era, Arbitrum Nova) and modular SDKs for potential future cost or performance gains.

Qualifications & Skills

Technical Skills

• Blockchain/Web3 Expertise (Required):
• 2 years or more in writing, testing, and deploying Solidity contracts (0.8.x) on Ethereum or EVM-compatible Layer 2s (Polygon, zkEVM).
• Experience with Hardhat (or Truffle) for contract development, testing (Waffle/Chai), and on-chain verification.
• Proficiency with Ethers.js (or Web3.js) for building on-chain services and reading/writing events.

• Open Banking & Fintech Integration (Strongly Preferred):
• Hands-on experience integrating TrueLayer, Yapily, or similar PSD2 APIs for Payment Initiation.
• Familiarity with sponsor EMI partners (Modulr, Railsr) and their REST API workflows: virtual account creation, payments, payouts, webhooks.

• Backend Development (Required):
• 3 years or more in building scalable backend APIs with Node.js + TypeScript (Express.js or NestJS) or FastAPI (Python).
• Expertise in relational databases (PostgreSQL), caching/queues (Redis, BullMQ or Celery), and advanced SQL (joins, indexes, migrations).
• Experience building microservices architectures, Docker, and CI/CD.

• Frontend Development (Strongly Preferred):
• Proficiency in Next.js (v13+), React (Hooks), TypeScript, and TailwindCSS (or equivalent CSS framework).
• Experience building dynamic dashboards with data-fetching libraries (SWR or React Query).

· Leadership & Soft Skills

• Entrepreneurial Mindset: You thrive in high-uncertainty environments, move fast, and continuously iterate.
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written skills to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders (investors, compliance, product).
• Collaboration: Proven track record of leading or mentoring remote/offshore teams; fosters a culture of code quality, documentation, and shared ownership.
• Problem-Solving: You proactively identify gaps in architecture or security, propose solutions, and drive implementation.
• Domain Knowledge: Passion for fintech and Web3—able to stay on top of FCA regulations, PSD2 guidelines, and evolving Layer 2 ecosystems.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4 plus years of professional experience in software engineering, with at least 2 + years in blockchain/Web3.
• Previous startup or early-stage experience is a plus (you know how to build MVPs with lean teams).
• Prior leadership roles or evidence of scaling engineering processes.

🎉 How This Role Fits Into the Organization

As CTO and co-founder, you’ll be the technical force multiplier for our company. You will:

• Set the Technical Vision: Drive all engineering decisions, from MVP architecture to production maturity.
• Build the Core Team: Recruit, mentor, and inspire engineers who share our mission of frictionless, Web3-powered payments.

3. Align Tech & Business: Work hand-in-hand with the CEO/founder on fundraising, product iterations, and go-to-market strategy.

Your success directly impacts our ability to raise subsequent rounds (Series A) by demonstrating that we can handle regulated money flows, maintain compliance, and deliver a superior customer/merchant experience.

Compensation & Equity

• Equity-First Structure: This is an equity-based, co-founder role. You will receive a meaningful ownership stake commensurate with a founding CTO position.
• Deferred Salary: Until we close our pre-seed round, there will be no cash salary for this position.

Post-Raise Compensation:

• A competitive CTO salary (market rate for UK fintech CTOs) will be initiated upon successful funding.
• Salary progression and performance bonuses will be defined in your co-founder agreement.
• Equity Vesting: Standard 4-year vesting schedule with a 1-year cliff. Additional equity grants may be awarded based on performance and milestones.
• Benefits (post-raise): Full medical coverage, pension contributions, and budget for training and conferences.

To Apply

If you’re excited to co-found a fintech startup that marries Open Banking and blockchain, please send us an email to contact@blocknetica.io, attaching the following :

• Your LinkedIn profile and CV
• A brief note on why you’re passionate about payments and blockchain
• Links to GitHub repos or code samples (smart contracts, APIs, dashboards)

We look forward to building the future of payments with you.