Lead Engineer

Who We Are:

Nika is building the future of wealth management—a platform that simplifies digital asset investing for everyone. 

Our vision is bold: become the one-stop shop for asset management. 

Our mission is clear: democratize access to professional-grade solutions and empower wealth creation for all.

We’re backed. We have audited products. We move fast. 

What We Value:

• Move fast, argue hard, disagree transparently
• Precision over polish
• Relentless self-learning
• Extreme ownership and accountability
• DeFi-native thinking meets first-principles engineering
• Be selective to be effective
• Seek excellence
• Build dream teams

What You’ll Do:

• Own and scale Nika’s technical foundation—smart contracts, backend, frontend, etc.
• Architect chain-agnostic infrastructure across VMs (EVM, SVM, etc.)
• Write production-grade contracts (Solidity/Rust), backend services, middleware, and frontend apps
• Set up and manage DevOps: CI/CD pipelines, observability, multisig ops, RPC failover, and security infra
• Drive strategic and technical decisions on product architecture, tradeoffs, and roadmap
• Hire and lead a high-performance engineering team
• Set the bar on speed, security, and culture
• Work directly with the founder—challenge and be challenged 
• Architect, ship, and iterate—fast

Who You Are:

Mindset & Execution

• Operate at founder speed—high agency, high output
• Thrive in ambiguity and under pressure
• Think from first principles and break down complex problems quickly
• Execute without permission and solve problems without drama
• Own outcomes—no excuses
• Comfortable debating hard questions with conviction
• Love solving complex problems and thrive on ownership
• Resilient, agile, and proactive—you don’t wait to be told 
• Security first mindset and startup energy
• You can lead but also ship
• Determination—when presented with a challenge, you solve it

Technical Must-Haves

• Built or architected real DeFi systems (vaults, lending, AMMs, etc.) or TradFi Equivalents
• Deep experience writing secure, optimized smart contracts
• Architected full-stack or protocol infrastructure (contracts, backend, DevOps, etc.)
• Familiar with security best practices: multisigs, key management, monitoring, incident response
• Understand contract patterns: MEV resistance, upgradeability, oracles, bonding curves, etc.

Bonus Points:

• Previous founder or founding engineer
• Quant, math, or HFT background
• Strong network to recruit world-class engineers
• Contributor to DeFi protocols or tooling
• Understanding of market microstructure: AMMs, order books, derivatives, etc.
• Fluent in Rust, Solidity, Go, TypeScript, Python
• Experience with tools like Foundry, Hardhat, Kubernetes, Tenderly, Grafana, Dune, Safe, Snapshot

Why Join Us?

• Full ownership—you own the tech, end to end
• Massive surface area—smart contracts, infra, architecture, product, hiring, etc.
• Skin in the game—shape what gets built, why, and how fast
• Foundational role—this is the beginning of the future, you’ll be core to it
• Limitless upside—complex problems, true autonomy, real growth
• Fast iteration—ship at the speed of light
• Meaningful equity & competitive salary
• Paid travel

*This role is onsite and requires candidates to be authorized to work in the U.S.

*We also offer a $5,000 referral bonus for successful hires—feel free to reach out for details.

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