Lead DevOps Engineer - Contract

• This position is open to U.S.-based candidates only, applications from other regions will not be considered.

• Contract Duration: Initial 2–3 month contract with the potential for long-term extension or full-time conversion based on performance and company fit.
  
  Our client — an early-stage fintech startup — is building a blockchain-based payment system designed to enable real-time, 24/7 digital money movement across traditional finance and digital asset ecosystems. Their mission is to create a new category of financial infrastructure that brings cash on chain through tokenization, while powering the full spectrum of payments for institutions, exchanges, and the customers they serve.

We’re looking for a Lead DevOps Engineer (Contract) to architect and manage the cloud infrastructure behind this blockchain-powered payment network. This role involves building highly resilient systems that support blockchain nodes, Node.js services, smart contract deployments, and real-time financial operations with 99.99% uptime.

About the Role

You’ll report directly to the CTO and take ownership of the cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and blockchain node operations. You’ll design automated deployment systems for both smart contracts and backend services, implement robust monitoring and security frameworks, and leverage AI-driven DevOps practices to maintain an infrastructure capable of handling billions in transaction volume. This is a greenfield opportunity — you’ll build everything from the ground up.

What You’ll Do

• Design and implement infrastructure as code for multi-region, high-availability cloud environments

• Develop CI/CD pipelines for smart contract and Node.js microservice deployments

• Implement zero-downtime deployment automation and testing workflows

• Set up observability systems for blockchain events, transactions, and system performance

• Use AI tools for optimization, anomaly detection, and automated incident management

• Establish robust security controls, secrets management, and compliance automation

• Design disaster recovery and data backup strategies

• Define DevOps best practices: GitOps, infrastructure automation, and AI-enhanced operations

• Manage scalability and cost efficiency while maintaining 99.99% uptime

Qualifications

• 8+ years of DevOps/SRE experience with strong AWS expertise

• Advanced skills in Kubernetes, Docker, and large-scale container orchestration

• Proficiency in Terraform, CloudFormation, or Pulumi

• Experience with CI/CD for both TypeScript/Node.js and Solidity smart contracts

• Familiarity with AI-driven DevOps tools

• Deep knowledge of monitoring stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK) and distributed tracing

• Experience with real-time, high-throughput systems (WebSocket, message queues)

• Strong background in security and compliance (SOC 2, PCI DSS)

• Expertise in PostgreSQL, Redis, and data pipeline management

• Proven success building reliable infrastructure at scale