Head of Blockchain & AI Engineering

About TerraStakesTerraStakes is a UAE-based blockchain and AI technology company building regulated infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets, starting with real estate. We are early stage and pre-launch, which means the person in this role sets the architecture of the instrument layer rather than inheriting it, inside a security and infrastructure design already laid down by the Chief Technology Officer.About the roleThe Head of Blockchain and AI Engineering owns the technology that issues, transfers and services tokenized real-world assets safely: the smart contracts and the registry logic around them, their integration with licensed custodians and the company's own systems, and the reconciliation that proves ledger, custodian and bank records agree before value moves. The role applies AI where it measurably speeds up diligence and compliance, always under human control.This is a build role. The chain, the token standard and the custody vendor are selected on evidence through a structured evaluation this role runs and the Chief Technology Officer decides, with Legal holding a veto.Key responsibilities1. Smart contracts and the token lifecycle

• Own the design, delivery, testing and external audit of smart contracts across the full lifecycle: issuance at allotment, transfer controls (eligibility, restrictions and the actions Compliance may require), income distributions and other corporate actions, and cancellation where the offering terms require it.
• Design for continuous issuance: several instruments by construction, with reusable investor identity across issuances.
• Design the split between on-chain and off-chain state, with event sourcing and an independently rebuildable read model, confirmation depth and reorganization handling.2. Registry reconciliation and controls
• Build the reconciliation between on-chain and off-chain records that must agree before any allotment or distribution, with break tolerance, aging and escalation.
• Implement maker-checker on every privileged action, immutable audit trails, and evidence that can be shown to an auditor or regulator after the fact.
• Enforce the ordering on which the product rests: no instrument exists before the underlying asset is secured and the conditions in the offering documents are met.3. Custody and vendor integration
• Integrate with licensed custodians and wallet-infrastructure providers: APIs, approval policies, key management and reconciliation. The company holds no keys to investor assets.
• Run vendor evaluations and technical diligence for chain, standard, custody, identity and screening providers, on merit and on total cost at real volumes (continuous issuance, tens of thousands of wallets, periodic distributions).
• Keep the distinction between key management software, a licensed custodian and a trading venue explicit in every design and every contract.4. Security
• Own blockchain security: role-based access, multisig and timelocks, upgrade governance, threat models and incident response, within the group's security architecture and alongside the infrastructure and security lead.
• Take every contract through external audit and close findings before deployment.5. AI in diligence and compliance
• Deliver AI use cases such as document review, property data extraction and KYC and AML triage, each tied to a cost or risk the company actually carries, with measured evaluation, guardrails and full audit trails.
• No AI system makes a regulated decision alone: eligibility, screening outcomes, valuation and anything touching investor money stay under human maker and checker control.6. Team and communication
• Build and lead the blockchain and AI team from one person upward, working closely with Compliance, the Head of Tokenization and Issuance and the infrastructure and security lead.
• Write clearly for regulators, auditors and investors, who will read your work.Standards that bind the role
• Nothing touching the company's instruments, offerings or regulatory position is finalized without the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer.
• No yield figures, return projections or promotional language in any client-facing, investor-facing or partner-facing material.
• No external statements on technology, vendors or partners before they are approved for disclosure.RequirementsEssential
• Six or more years in software engineering, including three or more in production blockchain, with mainnet contracts or repositories you wrote and shipped.
• Production smart contract development on at least one major ledger, including fuzz and invariant testing, upgrade patterns, multisig and timelocks (for example Solidity with Foundry or Hardhat, or an equivalent toolchain on another ledger).
• Working experience with identity-aware security-token or permissioned-asset standards, or an equivalent regulated ledger model, including transfer restrictions and compliance hooks.
• At least one contract taken through an external audit, with the findings fixed.
• Integration with a custodian or wallet-infrastructure provider: APIs, approval policies, reconciliation.
• At least one LLM or retrieval-augmented system in production, with evaluation and guardrails.
• Built for a regulated product (KYC and AML, VARA, ADGM, DFSA or an equivalent regime elsewhere).
• Led a team of engineers.Preferred
• Real-world asset or security-token launches, in particular with income distributions to holders.
• Layer 2 networks, indexing and event pipelines.
• Direct interaction with UAE regulators.
• Experience building a technical function from one person upward.What success looks like in the first year
• Contracts pass external audit with no critical or high findings open at deployment.
• Reconciliation across on-chain and off-chain records is proven and holds under adverse conditions.
• The first issuance runs correctly, and every state change can be explained afterwards.
• At least two AI capabilities are in production with a measured effect on cost or cycle time.
• No security incident involving keys, investor data or investor assets.
• The function is staffed and no longer depends on one person.Engagement and compensation
• Senior roles start part-time and convert to full-time when the seed round closes. Base compensation for the initial period is deferred on terms agreed in writing before start.
• Compensation is benchmarked to financial services market data for the exact job title and expressed as basic salary plus allowances, in line with UAE practice.
• Equity participation in the company's share plan.
• Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Hybrid working during the initial period.How to applySend your CV to founders@terrastakes.com with the role title in the subject line, links to contracts or repositories you wrote, and a short note on the system you are proudest of shipping and what broke along the way. Shortlisted candidates are invited to an initial interview; detailed information about the company follows a mutual non-disclosure agreement at second stage. TerraStakes is an equal opportunity employer.