CTO / Technical Lead - Cashen

Cashen, backed by Ergonia, is building an institutional borrow / lend protocol on Canton Network. We have an operational mainnet validator, existing smart contract code, and active counterparty relationships with institutional participants. We are looking for a CTO/Technical Lead to take ownership of the protocol architecture, inherit and evolve our existing codebase from an external dev shop, and build the engineering team as the company scales.

The Role

This is a co-builder position. You will own the full technical surface of a financial protocol: from DAML smart contracts on a distributed ledger, through the backend settlement and accounting layer, to the institutional-grade frontend dashboards. You are equally comfortable auditing inherited code, designing a new module, and closing a senior engineer hire. The four pillars below define what we need.

Responsibilities:

1. Financial System Architecture

Cashen is a financial protocol, not a typical web app. Every data model, state transition, and API must be designed with the rigor of a system that manages real institutional positions.

• Design and own the position lifecycle engine: origination, funding, accrual, partial repayment, recall, and closure
• Architect a shared accounting layer that serves multiple lending modules
• Model settlement flows, collateral custody, yield attribution, and reconciliation for bilateral agreements
• Ensure correctness guarantees throughout: idempotency, audit trails, and immutable state history

2. Fullstack Engineering (NestJS + Next.js)

Our stack is NestJS on the backend, a Rust indexer for ledger events, and React/Next.js on the frontend. You will inherit an existing codebase from an external dev shop and decide what to keep, refactor, or rebuild.

• Audit the inherited backend and frontend codebase; determine the refactor-vs-rewrite strategy
• Own the backend services layer: RESTful APIs, settlement engine, accounting services, WebSocket feeds
• Extend and optimize the Rust indexer for new on-chain event types
• Guide frontend architecture for data-dense institutional dashboards (portfolio views, real-time position tracking, yield analytics)
• Establish CI/CD, testing standards, and code quality practices across the full stack

3. Smart Contract Architecture (DAML / Canton)

The protocol layer runs on DAML, a Haskell-based smart contract language on Canton Network. DAML experience is extremely rare and not required, but direct experience is a major plus. What matters is strong functional programming instincts and the ability to ramp quickly. A production Haskell or Scala engineer can be writing DAML in weeks.

• Lead DAML smart contract design for lending and staking modules
• Define on-chain vs. off-chain boundaries: what the smart contract enforces vs. what the backend handles
• Collaborate with Canton ecosystem partners on staking protocol design and network-level integration
• Bring strong functional programming depth (Haskell, Scala) and apply it to contract modeling, type safety, and state machine correctness.

4. Small Team Management

You will hire and lead a team of 2-4 engineers. This is not a management-layer role where you delegate and review. You are hands-on, writing code daily, while also recruiting, unblocking, and setting technical direction.

• Hire a Senior Backend Engineer and a Senior Frontend Engineer in the first 4-6 weeks
• Manage knowledge transfer from the existing external dev shop to your in-house team
• Run sprint planning and translate product requirements into engineering execution
• Partner directly with the CEO on product-to-engineering decisions, sequencing, and tradeoffs

Requirements

• 8+ years in fullstack or backend engineering, with at least 2-3 years in a technical lead or architect role
• Production functional programming experience (Haskell, Scala, OCaml, or equivalent)
• Background in financial services, fintech, or high-growth startups building systems with correctness requirements
• Hands-on with TypeScript/NestJS or Rust; comfortable owning both backend and frontend
• Experience hiring and managing small, growing engineering teams
• Smart contract or distributed ledger experience (any chain) is a strong plus
• Passionate about building from zero to one. You thrive in early-stage environments where speed, ownership, and resourcefulness matter more than process and hierarchy

Benefits

• Co-founder energy: Meaningful equity with full architecture ownership from day one
• Real and operational: Live mainnet validator, existing code, active counterparty relationships - this is not a whiteboard project
• Canton ecosystem: Backed by Ergonia with access to Canton ecosystem resources and partners
• Institutional demand: Counterparties are ready. You are building for real users, not hypothetical ones
• Lean team, high leverage: Every architectural decision you make defines the protocol
• Competitive salary and benefits
• Equity with long-term upside aligned to the success of Cashen.