Senior Lead, Digital Assets Wholesale Banking First Abu Dhabi Bank FAB

Understand strategic business needs and plan for growth; analyse and design digital solutions and technical models appropriate for wholesale banking in the UAE and international locationsspan>./span>

10+ years in technology or product delivery within banking/financial services; 4+ years in blockchain, digital assets, or real time payments; Bachelor s in CS/IT/Engineering (Master s preferred).

Certifications valued: Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP), Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF), Security (CISSP/CISM), Blockchain/DLT (Hyperledger, Corda, CBP), Agile (PMI ACP/Scrum).

2+ year experience in one of the major programming languages like Java, .Net , Python

Deep knowledge of DLT platforms and smart contracts; expertise in custody architectures, HSM/MPC, and key ceremonies.

Proficiency in secure integration patterns (APIs, event streaming/Kafka), encryption standards (TLS/PGP), and key management.

Experience with performance tuning, throughput optimisation, and operational resilience for distributed platforms.

Excellent stakeholder management, executive communication, and vendor governance; data driven decision making.

Specific Accountability

• Tokenised Deposits & On Chain Payments: Help Deliver MVP then scale digital assets platform, settlement flows, ledger events, and reconciliation across DLT and core systems
• In depth knowledge of Distributed Leger and blockchain.
• Digital Custody & Key Management: stand up enterprise wallets with HSM/MPC
• Hands on knowledge of one of the major programming languages like Java, .Net , Python
• Asset Tokenisation: Token standards (e.g., ERC 20/1400) and chain strategy (public/permissioned); govern smart contract libraries and lifecycle events (issuance, transfers, corporate actions, redemptions).
• Client Onboarding & Service Operations: oversee secure onboarding and support for institutional clients using custody, tokenisation, and on chain payment channels; maintain high availability and integrity of tokenisation, custody, and settlement pipelines; drive throughput, error handling, and resilience improvements; define SLAs and monitor KPIs.
• Knowledge of design for scalable reference architectures for custody, key management, nodes, and smart contracts; ensure robust integration with core banking, payments, data, and security platforms via APIs and event streams.
• Risk, Controls & Compliance: embed AML/KYC, Travel Rule, sanctions, market conduct, operational risk, data privacy, and records management controls; align to CBUAE and ADGM/FSRA guidance; lead incident management, RCA, and preventive controls.
• Operations & Resilience: define SLOs/SLAs, observability, incident response, and DR for digital asset platforms; strengthen cyber and key management hygiene; continuously improve reliability, cost, and performance.
• Stakeholder & External Engagement: Co-ordination with business and vendor.
• People Leadership: Lead a cross functional teams