Head of Global Blockchain Research & Development

At EY, we’re all in to shape your future with confidence.

We’ll help you succeed in a globally connected powerhouse of diverse teams and take your career wherever you want it to go.

Join EY and help to build a better working world.

Disruption is changing the way the world works. It’s happening quickly and it creates opportunity if you can keep up and even get ahead of it. That’s why we established a dedicated Global Innovation team focused on understanding external forces changing our world and how to do things differently in 6 months, 3 years, 10 years and beyond.

In this shifting landscape, we challenge ourselves to embrace disruption and think differently for our clients. How? By combining the deep experience of our global Tax, Accounting, Advisory and Transactions professionals with start-up thinking. This approach applies an entirely new mindset for today's challenges.

Our global network of EY teams and innovation centers are creating powerful ideas and solutions for organizations and ourselves, especially around opportunities coming from artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics and data and analytics.

The opportunity

You will be a key member of our Global Blockchain Leadership team, an innovative and collaborative group of software engineers, cryptographers, mathematicians, and business strategists who are dedicated to the application of blockchain technology and the development of world-class products. At EY, you will help our clients, some of the most influential companies, explore emergent applications and transform the way the world does business. As Head of Blockchain Research and Development, you will lead a world-class team of mathematicians and software engineers, working to deliver cutting edge EY Blockchain products.

Essential Functions of the Job:

• Work as a member of the Global Blockchain leadership team to define the long and short business goals.
• Define and execute the organization’s blockchain research and development strategy, contributing to cutting edge EY Blockchain Products.
• Manage and support the R&D team to develop new blockchain privacy and scalability technologies, while working as an integral part of the team and making personal contributions.
• Be a thought leader in blockchain and zero knowledge proof (ZKP) technology.
• Work with the individual Product Owners for each development team to support their technical roadmaps with appropriate solutions.
• Foster a culture of collaboration across product teams and other functions to ensure the alignment between technology strategy and other functions of business.
• Provide input to the budgeting process (both quarterly and annually) for the R&D team.
• Be aware of wider developments in the field and adjust your strategic approach accordingly.
• Ensure that the R&D team delivery is compliant to the firm’s standards for quality, risk management and independence.
• Set performance based KPI’s for the team and drive technical and R&D effectiveness. Work to ensure efficient resource allocation.

Blockchain Technology is a complex emerging capability that is far from mature. Above and beyond any of the “essential” skills for this job, you must have a love of learning and experimentation with new technologies and a passion for learning by doing and leading by example.

This is not purely a management role. You will also be expected to have the technical skills and understanding necessary to be a thought-leader in the field and to make contributions as part of the R&D team.

Analytical/Decision Making Responsibilities:

• Lead by example promoting a proactive approach to identifying issues and presenting solutions and options, and where appropriate, leading to resolution.
• Encourage and support innovation in others by allowing error, e.g., allowing people to try something new, being open to new ideas.
• Ability to clearly articulate both problems and proposed solutions.
• Create an inclusive and flexible environment where people feel they are a valuable part of the team, can communicate openly and constructively challenge one another.
• Ability to prioritize personal and team workloads to best meet organizational objectives.
• Provide leadership and direction. Empowered to make decisions and recommend approach based on the results from quality reviews.

Skills and attributes for success

• ZKP Mathematics: Able to develop and use the mathematics of elliptic curve pairing, KZG commitment schemes, inner product arguments, folding, accumulation and other state of the art ZKP technology.
• Proven ability to provide thought leadership in this field.
• Development: Able to program advanced mathematics in Rust, making full use of Generics and producing professional, reusable code.
• Software engineering: Able to design and manage the delivery of a ZKP-enabled blockchain application of production grade.
• Cryptography: hashes, including modular field hashes, PKCS standards, X509, signatures, elliptic curve cryptography.
• STEM background, likely to be PhD qualified, although relevant experience is equally acceptable.
• Previous development/management experience in Agile teams.
• Understand the volatile nature of the blockchain industry and manage the expectations and work based on the ups and downs.
• Strong communication skills across all levels of the organization.
• Blockchain: understand the detail of the Ethereum blockchain: how it works, EIPs, Tokens, popular DeFi solutions, advanced Solidity programming including assembly
• 10-15 years of technical work experience across various technical departments including proven experience in public blockchain development.

Other Requirements:

• We follow a hybrid work structure, and the resource is expected to work from the London office 2-3 days in a week. Travel to the office is not paid for and full-time remote is not offered.
• Occasional work-related travel to other locations.

Job Requirements:

Ideally, you’ll also have:

Passion for technology and applying it to business solutions with a strong interest in blockchain and associated concepts.

What we look for

We’re interested in self-motivated individuals with excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to prioritize shifting workloads in a rapidly changing industry. Someone who can easily function in a collaborative, high demand, performance-driven environment. In addition, we’re looking for people who recognize the accomplishments of the team before the individual and are sought after as people developers. If you’re passionate about problem-solving and helping our clients with some of their most complex issues, this role is for you.

What we offer you  

At EY, we’ll develop you with future-focused skills and equip you with world-class experiences. We’ll empower you in a flexible environment, and fuel you and your extraordinary talents in a diverse and inclusive culture of globally connected teams. Learn more .

Are you ready to shape your future with confidence? Apply today.  

To help create an equitable and inclusive experience during the recruitment process, please inform us as soon as possible about any disability-related adjustments or accommodations you may need. 

EY | Building a better working world

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