CTO & Co-Founder | FinTech Startup | Real-Time Routing (No Salary, Equity Only)

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

We're building a dynamic multi-token provisioning and real-time payment orchestration platform that solves the rigidity at the heart of modern card payments — turning a single payment instrument into a multiplexed, multi-network, multi-brand routing engine.

Our architecture programmatically generates, assigns, and contextually selects among cryptographically distinct payment tokens bound to a single PAN — each token mapped to a discrete network, brand, or routing option. The system dynamically optimizes token-based routing for every transaction based on cost, latency, security, acquirer policy, and merchant preference — delivering enhanced transactional security, network cost-efficiency, and unprecedented flexibility for issuers, acquirers, merchants, and digital wallets.

We're entering the global payments infrastructure market at a moment when card networks are fragmenting, payment costs are under unprecedented merchant scrutiny, and tokenization standards (EMVCo, Network Tokens, payment cryptograms) have matured to the point where dynamic multi-token orchestration is finally possible. Retailers, subscription businesses, and digital wallet operators all need what we're building — and the incumbents aren't equipped to deliver it.

This is a co-founding opportunity for a technical leader who wants to own what they build. As a founding member, you'll hold meaningful equity and shape every dimension of the product, technology, and company from day one.

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THE ROLE

As CTO \& Co-Founder, you will architect and roadmap the platform's dynamic multi-token provisioning and real-time routing infrastructure — leading system design from MVP through scalable, high-availability production deployment. You'll own the technology strategy, security posture, and engineering organization that turns a category-defining payment architecture into mission-critical infrastructure for issuers, acquirers, and merchants worldwide.

Your core responsibilities:

• Define and own the cloud-native microservices architecture across the platform's core modules — token provisioning, routing engine, lifecycle management, and merchant/acquirer integration layers.
• Architect the cryptographic foundation — HSM-integrated APIs, key lifecycle management, payment cryptogram generation, and tokenization standards alignment (EMVCo, Network Tokens).
• Lead MVP delivery of the dynamic token provisioning service, real-time routing engine, intelligent token selection algorithm, and PCI-compliant secure storage.
• Engineer for high availability, sub-second routing decisions, and the 24/7 uptime SLAs that payment infrastructure demands.
• Establish DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and a security-first engineering culture from day one.
• Drive PCI DSS Level 1 readiness, EMVCo compliance, PSD2 and Open Banking conformance, and SOC 2 Type II certification — with a clear path to additional regional payment regulatory frameworks.
• Architect integration strategy with card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover), acquirers, processors, issuers, and digital wallet providers.
• Design API and SDK strategy for issuer, acquirer, merchant, and wallet integration partners.
• Own IP and patent strategy for core architectural innovations — particularly around multi-token provisioning, dynamic routing, and contextual token selection.
• Build and lead a 24/7 operations engineering team capable of running mission-critical payment infrastructure at global scale.
• Recruit, lead, and mentor founding engineering, security, payments, and platform teams toward design partner deployments and commercial launches.
• Partner with the CEO on investor technical diligence, product roadmap, and go-to-market infrastructure.

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REQUIREMENTS

• 10\+ years of software engineering leadership, with at least 5 years in a CTO, VP Engineering, or Principal Architect role at a fintech, payments, or financial infrastructure company.
• Proven experience architecting and operating payment systems, payment orchestration platforms, tokenization services, or card processing infrastructure at meaningful scale.
• Deep expertise in cloud-native microservices — Golang, Java, or equivalent — running production systems with 99\.99%\+ uptime requirements.
• Strong cryptographic engineering background — HSM integration, key management, payment cryptograms, tokenization, and end-to-end encryption.
• Hands-on experience with payment industry standards — EMVCo specifications, Network Tokens, ISO 8583, ISO 20022, PSD2, and Open Banking.
• Demonstrated track record achieving PCI DSS Level 1 certification as a technical leader, with deep understanding of card brand compliance regimes.
• Strong cloud architecture expertise across AWS, GCP, and/or Azure — including Kubernetes, service mesh, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Experience designing and shipping enterprise-grade APIs and SDKs adopted by external integration partners.
• Deep understanding of the payments value chain — issuers, acquirers, processors, networks, gateways, merchants, and digital wallets.
• Track record of building and leading high-performance distributed engineering teams, including 24/7 operations capabilities.
• Startup "zero-to-one" mindset — you thrive with ambiguity, scarce resources, and the operational discipline that payment infrastructure demands.
• Exceptional communication skills — you can translate complex payment and cryptographic concepts to investors, regulators, and partner executives with equal clarity.
• Fluent English. Additional languages and international payments market experience are a strong plus.

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NICE TO HAVE

• Prior founding experience with a successful exit or significant fundraising track record in fintech, payments, or financial infrastructure.
• Background at a leading payments, tokenization, or card-issuing company (Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Adyen, Marqeta, Galileo, Checkout.com, Worldpay, Fiserv, FIS, Thales).
• Published research, patents, or open-source contributions in payments, tokenization, cryptography, or financial infrastructure.
• Experience operating under direct card network certification programs (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, JCB, UnionPay).
• Familiarity with emerging payment standards — instant payments, account-to-account (A2A) rails, real-time payments (FedNow, RTP, SEPA Instant), and crypto/stablecoin settlement infrastructure.
• Experience with international payment regulatory regimes — UK FCA, EU PSD2, Singapore MAS, APAC and LATAM market frameworks.
• Background in HSM vendor relationships (Thales, Utimaco, Entrust) and key management at financial-grade scale.

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COMPENSATION \& EQUITY

This is an equity-only opportunity — no salary at this stage. As a co-founder, you will receive a significant equity stake reflecting your role as a founding technical leader. This is for builders who want true ownership in a venture they help create from the ground up.

What's on the Table:

• Meaningful co-founder equity with vesting.
• Direct influence on company direction, culture, and strategy.
• The opportunity to define the technical DNA of a company from its very first line of code.
• A product solving one of the highest-stakes infrastructure problems in global commerce — with massive merchant pull, issuer demand, and a defensible architectural moat.

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WHY THIS VENTURE

• A clear, defensible technical moat at the intersection of dynamic tokenization, real-time payment orchestration, and cryptographic key management.
• A massive and growing addressable market across global card payments, digital wallets, and subscription commerce — measured in trillions of dollars in annual transaction volume.
• Real-world use cases already mapped: retail cost optimization, digital wallet flexibility, and subscription payment resilience.
• A founding team with deep experience in entrepreneurship, product development, and go-to-market strategy.
• A patent-grade platform approach with significant IP and commercial upside.