At Artkai, we help mid-market and enterprise businesses modernize software, automate business processes, and build AI-driven solutions grounded in robust security and corporate governance. Powered by the synergy of senior engineering and AI, our approach delivers measurable business outcomes across every project.
Position Type: Full-Time
Duration: Permanent strategic ownership
Location: On-site in Dubai, UAE
Seniority: 12+ years of software engineering & infrastructure experience / Executive level
We are seeking an experienced Head of Infrastructure & Security who operates with the execution strength and operational rigor of a Senior Engineering Manager / Delivery Lead. The ideal candidate will take hands-on ownership of classic, cloud-native, and DeFi infrastructure for a low-latency digital asset trading platform across multiple regulated entities.
In this role, you will lead the architecture, security model, and continuous operations of hybrid environments (AWS/Azure), high-throughput message buses (Kafka/Redis), trading execution pipelines (MT5/oneZero/C++ adapters), and Web3/DeFi custody systems.
Key Onsite Requirement: This position requires regular, full-time physical presence on-site in Dubai to work closely with executive stakeholders and lead a multicultural team.
Core Responsibilities * Hybrid Cloud & Infrastructure Ownership: Lead classical and cloud-native infrastructure across Azure and AWS (EC2, Lambda, S3, CloudFront, EventBridge, SQS), ensuring low latency, continuous availability, and cost optimization. * Trading Platform Resilience: Ensure maximum uptime and performance for synchronous order execution and event-driven read systems (MT5, oneZero, FIX APIs, C++ adapters, ClickHouse, Redis, Kafka with SASL/SCRAM and mTLS). * DeFi & Web3 Architecture: Extend the operating model to support Web3 capabilities: manage self-hosted and RPC node infrastructure (EVM + additional chains), wallet signing controls (HSM/MPC), hot/warm/cold wallet segregation, and on-chain security monitoring. * Security & Regulatory Compliance: Enforce zero-trust network segmentation, access controls, secrets/KMS, vulnerability management, and disaster recovery aligned with international standards and local financial regulations. * Operational Leadership & Transition: Drive the operational transition during the initial 3–6 month stabilization period, mentoring senior engineers and establishing robust DevOps, GitOps, and observability practices.
Candidate Profile & Qualifications * Experience Level: 12+ years in infrastructure, cloud/platform engineering, SRE, or production operations, with 5+ years leading engineering managers/teams. * Industry Context: 3+ years supporting regulated high-availability financial, online trading, payments, or crypto platforms. Production Web3/DeFi and blockchain infrastructure exposure is required. * Cloud & DevOps Stack: Deep expertise in Azure, AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform (IaC), CI/CD, GitOps, Linux, and zero-trust network design. * Data & Messaging Systems: Proven experience operating Kafka, Redis (Streams/Hash), PostgreSQL, ClickHouse, and high-load API Gateways. * DeFi & Security Expertise: Hands-on experience with EVM transaction mechanics, node infrastructure, MPC/HSM signing, gas/nonce/reorg handling, and PKI/KMS secrets management. * Soft Skills: Pragmatic, evidence-based decision-maker with executive-level communication skills, comfortable escalating technical launch risks early and managing multicultural engineering teams. * Language: Advanced to Fluent English (B2—C2 level).
Nice to Have * Direct experience operating FX/CFD brokerages, MT5 EC2 resilience, or low-latency market-data infrastructure. * Familiarity with SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, NIST CSF, or UAE virtual-asset regulatory controls. * Experience with MEV/private transaction routing, Chainlink or other oracle nodes, and on-chain analytics platforms (Chainanalysis, TRM).
Interview Process * HR Interview — Initial screening & cultural fit. * Interim CTO Interview — Architecture breakdown, infrastructure design, and technical depth. * Client / Executive Stage — Final alignment with executive leadership. (No test assignment required)
