Head of Security Architecture & Cryptography (Global Fintech)

A global payments and technology platform is hiring a Head of Cryptographic Systems & Assurance to build the cryptographic trust architecture that makes its systems provably compliant — not trust-based, but mathematically verifiable.

This is one of the most technically distinct roles in the organisation. The mandate is to replace assumption-based compliance with cryptographic proof — designing systems where regulators, auditors, and counterparties don't have to take the platform's word for it. Don't trust us, verify us is the design philosophy. Your job is to make that a technical reality.

You will own the global cryptographic architecture for cross-border payment systems — including Key Management Systems, key sovereignty, encryption standards across data at rest, in transit, and in use, and tamper-proof logging and immutable audit trails. A core part of the remit is enabling independent, real-time verification of system behaviour and transactions — building verifiable-by-default infrastructure that holds up under the most rigorous regulatory inspection.

The role also pushes into emerging territory: evaluating and deploying Trusted Execution Environments, secure enclaves, and privacy-preserving computation — with scope to explore techniques such as zero-knowledge proofs and verifiable computation where applicable.This is not a pure security engineering role. You will translate complex cryptographic architecture into regulator-understandable assurance — supporting audits, inspections, and independent validation, and integrating cryptographic controls into compliance platforms and DevSecOps workflows.

We're looking for candidates with 10+ years in security engineering, cryptography related experience or applied cryptographic systems, with strong experience in financial-grade or highly regulated environments. The differentiator will be the ability to operate at the intersection of deep cryptographic expertise and regulatory credibility — someone who can build systems that are both technically rigorous and demonstrably audit-ready.