Solution Architect

Xapo seeks a Senior Solution Architect to lead architectural decisions, drive standardisation across engineering teams, and support AI strategy. The role is fully remote, reports to the CTO, and requires deep hands-on experience in distributed systems, security-first design, and modern software development practices.

The Solution Architect role reports directly to the CTO and is embedded within the engineering function. It involves hands-on technical work, including coding and building production-grade proofs of concept, while leading architectural governance through the Architectural Advice Forum. The position supports cross-functional teams with full ownership of design, development, testing, and operations, and plays a key role in shaping Xapo’s AI strategy and engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the Architectural Advice Forum (AAF), promoting decentralized decision-making documented through ADRs.
• Develop production-ready proofs of concept to validate new architectural approaches and reduce technical risk.
• Collaborate with the CTO on AI strategy, identifying valuable use cases and guiding engineering teams in responsible AI adoption.
• Drive standardisation across backend, web, and mobile engineering, covering design patterns, observability, security, testing, and delivery practices.
• Set and maintain high engineering quality standards across all platforms, including testing, code reviews, observability, security, performance, and production readiness.
• Integrate security-first principles into all product architectures, including threat modeling and secure-by-default patterns.
• Advocate for Domain-Driven Design and Event-Driven Architecture as core foundations for system modeling.
• Coordinate with the SRE team on reliability, capacity planning, incident response, observability, and internal developer platform improvements.
• Mentor and guide engineers across SATs, platform, and enabling teams through influence and inspiration.
• Identify and resolve systemic technical risks, technical debt, and cross-team dependencies before they impact production.
• Maintain Xapo’s engineering principles and Tech Radar, and contribute to architecture-related discussions on regulatory, security, and risk matters.
• Help create an excellent work environment for talented individuals and support innovation centered on Bitcoin.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in an Architect, Staff, or equivalent senior individual contributor role.
• Proven experience as a hands-on engineer who continues to actively read, write, and review production code.
• Extensive experience designing, building, and operating distributed, event-driven systems in production, preferably at scale and under regulatory oversight.
• Practical knowledge of Domain-Driven Design, including strategic elements like bounded contexts and context mapping, as well as tactical patterns.
• Familiarity with decentralized architectural governance, including Architectural Advice Forums, RFCs, and ADRs.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence rather than formal authority.
• Experience in regulated fintech, payments, or banking environments.
• Strong background in designing security-first architectures, threat modeling, secure-by-default patterns, defense in depth, and identity and secret management.
• Solid understanding of modern AI/ML, LLMs, agents, and applied AI in production, including responsible integration practices.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to write ADRs and explain technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong grasp of cloud-native architecture, microservices, container-based 12-factor applications, and patterns for fault tolerance, security, and resilience.
• Proficiency in CI/CD, automated testing (unit, service, and end-to-end), and overall SDLC best practices.

Nice to have

• Experience working with crypto, Web3, custody, or blockchain-based systems.
• Familiarity with Team Topologies and how Stream Aligned, Platform, and Enabling teams interact.
• Background in standardising across multiple platforms, including backend, web, and mobile.
• Experience contributing to SRE or platform engineering, including SLOs, error budgets, and developer experience improvements.
• History of open-source contributions or external thought leadership (e.g., talks, articles, OSS projects).
• Familiarity with Python, as it is a significant part of Xapo’s technology stack.

What the company offers

• 100% remote work from anywhere in the world.
• Flexible work schedule and generous PTO plan supporting a healthy work-life balance.
• Annual budget for personal learning and development goals.
• Commitment to consumer protection, regulatory compliance, fair treatment, transparency, and ethical conduct.

About the company

Xapo emphasizes consumer protection and regulatory compliance while fostering innovation, autonomy, and collaborative teamwork. The company supports continuous learning and development, encouraging engineers to grow and contribute to cutting-edge solutions built around Bitcoin.

• Prioritizes consumer protection and regulatory compliance.
• Encourages innovation, autonomy, and teamwork.
• Supports continuous learning and professional development.