Lead Backend Engineer – Distributed Systems / Blockchain

🌍 Remote | 💰 Up to $150k (paid in stablecoins)

Saxon is working with one of our portfolio companies to hire a Lead Backend Engineer to help architect and build next-generation financial infrastructure on the Canton Network.

This is a senior technical role focused on designing and building distributed backend systems that power complex financial workflows, token mechanics, and on-chain economic systems.

The platform is being developed as a high-performance distributed application built around Canton Network infrastructure and DAML-based workflows, designed to enable advanced coordination between participants across shared financial systems.

You will play a key role in defining the technical architecture, building core backend services, and ensuring the platform scales reliably as the product evolves.

This is not a standard Web3 smart contract role. The work sits at the intersection of distributed systems engineering, financial infrastructure, and modern blockchain networks.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Lead Backend Engineer will take ownership of core backend architecture and system design. You will work closely with product teams, frontend engineers, and infrastructure partners to design and implement backend services that support complex multi-party financial workflows.

The role requires strong systems thinking and the ability to design reliable backend architecture for distributed environments.

You will also be responsible for reviewing contractor contributions, maintaining engineering standards across the codebase, and ensuring long-term maintainability of the platform.

Because the product involves financial workflows and distributed transaction coordination, the backend architecture needs to balance performance, correctness, and security.

The ideal candidate is someone who enjoys designing systems rather than just implementing features, and who is comfortable working in early-stage environments where engineering decisions have long-term impact.

Distributed Backend Systems

Design and implement backend services responsible for transaction orchestration, allocation logic, and distributed workflow execution across network participants.

Financial Logic & Reward Systems

Build systems responsible for reward distribution, economic logic, and financial allocation models that operate across distributed infrastructure.

Vault & Asset Logic

Design services that manage asset flows, accounting logic, and token-related system behaviour.

Blockchain Integration

Develop backend components that interact with Canton Network infrastructure and DAML-based workflows.

Off-Chain Services

Build and maintain services that coordinate off-chain application logic with on-chain or distributed network state.

System Architecture

Define architectural patterns that support scalability, maintainability, and high reliability across the application stack.

Engineering Standards

Review external developer contributions and ensure code quality, documentation, and architectural consistency.

Technical Ownership

Act as a key technical voice in the engineering team, helping guide architecture decisions and technical direction.

The engineering stack combines modern backend development with distributed application architecture.

Technologies may include:

• Go
• Rust
• TypeScript
• Python
• JVM languages (Scala, Java, Kotlin)
• Functional programming paradigms
• Distributed system architecture
• DAML (Digital Asset Modeling Language)
• Canton Network infrastructure
• Smart contract and blockchain integrations

Engineers with strong distributed systems backgrounds or functional programming experience often adapt particularly well to DAML-based development environments.

Strong Backend Engineering Experience

You have significant experience designing and building backend systems in production environments.

Distributed Systems Knowledge

You understand how to build reliable services across distributed architectures.

System Architecture Thinking

You enjoy designing system structure and thinking through how components interact.

Production-Grade Development

You have experience building software that operates reliably under real-world conditions.

Strong Communication

You are comfortable working with cross-functional teams and explaining technical decisions clearly.

Ownership Mindset

You take responsibility for the systems you build and care about long-term quality and maintainability.

Startup Comfort

You are comfortable operating in fast-moving early-stage environments where priorities evolve quickly.

NICE TO HAVE

While not required, the following experience would be valuable:

• Experience with DAML or Canton Network infrastructure
• Functional programming experience (Haskell, Scala, etc.)
• Blockchain protocol or smart contract development
• Experience building DeFi or financial infrastructure systems
• Token mechanics or tokenomics modelling experience
• Experience working with regulated financial systems
• Familiarity with validator infrastructure or blockchain nodes

WHY THIS ROLE IS INTERESTING

This role offers the opportunity to help design and build foundational financial infrastructure, rather than simply contributing to application features.

You will be working on a system that involves:

• distributed multi-party coordination
• financial transaction logic
• advanced backend architecture
• blockchain-based infrastructure

Engineers who enjoy systems design, financial infrastructure, and complex backend problems will find the work particularly rewarding.

The team operates in a highly collaborative environment with a strong focus on building robust and scalable systems.

🚀 Stage: Early-stage product with significant technical ownership

This role offers the opportunity to take a leading technical position within a growing engineering team working on cutting-edge infrastructure.

If you're a backend engineer interested in distributed systems, financial infrastructure, and blockchain-based platforms, we'd be happy to speak with you.

Apply directly or message for more information.