Head of Blockchain & AI Engineering

About TerraStakes TerraStakes is a UAE-based blockchain and AI technology company building regulated infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets, starting with real estate.

We are early stage and pre-launch, which means the person in this role sets the architecture of the instrument layer rather than inheriting it, inside a security and infrastructure design already laid down by the Chief Technology Officer.

About the role The Head of Blockchain and AI Engineering owns the technology that issues, transfers and services tokenized real-world assets safely: the smart contracts and the registry logic around them, their integration with licensed custodians and the company's own systems, and the reconciliation that proves ledger, custodian and bank records agree before value moves.

The role applies AI where it measurably speeds up diligence and compliance, always under human control. This is a build role. The chain, the token standard and the custody vendor are selected on evidence through a structured evaluation this role runs and the Chief Technology Officer decides, with Legal holding a veto.

Key responsibilities1. Smart contracts and the token lifecycle

• Own the design, delivery, testing and external audit of smart contracts across the full lifecycle: issuance at allotment, transfer controls (eligibility, restrictions and the actions Compliance may require), income distributions and other corporate actions, and cancellation where the offering terms require it.

• Design for continuous issuance: several instruments by construction, with reusable investor identity across issuances.

• Design the split between on-chain and off-chain state, with event sourcing and an independently rebuildable read model, confirmation depth and reorganization handling. 2. Registry reconciliation and controls

• Build the reconciliation between on-chain and off-chain records that must agree before any allotment or distribution, with break tolerance, aging and escalation.

• Implement maker-checker on every privileged action, immutable audit trails, and evidence that can be shown to an auditor or regulator after the fact.

• Enforce the ordering on which the product rests: no instrument exists before the underlying asset is secured and the conditions in the offering documents are met. 3. Custody and vendor integration

• Integrate with licensed custodians and wallet-infrastructure providers: APIs, approval policies, key management and reconciliation. The company holds no keys to investor assets.

• Run vendor evaluations and technical diligence for chain, standard, custody, identity and screening providers, on merit and on total cost at real volumes (continuous issuance, tens of thousands of wallets, periodic distributions).

• Keep the distinction between key management software, a licensed custodian and a trading venue explicit in every design and every contract. 4. Security

• Own blockchain security: role-based access, multisig and timelocks, upgrade governance, threat models and incident response, within the group's security architecture and alongside the infrastructure and security lead.

• Take every contract through external audit and close findings before deployment. 5. AI in diligence and compliance

• Deliver AI use cases such as document review, property data extraction and KYC and AML triage, each tied to a cost or risk the company actually carries, with measured evaluation, guardrails and full audit trails.

• No AI system makes a regulated decision alone: eligibility, screening outcomes, valuation and anything touching investor money stay under human maker and checker control. 6. Team and communication

• Build and lead the blockchain and AI team from one person upward, working closely with Compliance, the Head of Tokenization and Issuance and the infrastructure and security lead.

• Write clearly for regulators, auditors and investors, who will read your work. Standards that bind the role

• Nothing touching the company's instruments, offerings or