Nu is the leading digital bank in Latin America, serving 135 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. The company has been leading an industry transformation by leveraging data and proprietary technology to develop innovative products and services.
Guided by its mission to fight complexity and empower people, Nu caters to customers’ complete financial journey, promoting financial access and advancement with responsible lending and transparency. The company is powered by an efficient and scalable business model that combines low cost to serve with growing returns.
Nu’s impact has been recognized in multiple awards, including Time 100 Most Influential Companies, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and Forbes World’s Best Banks.
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Nu is building secure, compliant crypto infrastructure that will expand financial access for millions of people across Latin America. As we open our Silicon Valley engineering hub, we’re looking for a Lead Software Engineer, Crypto who thinks adversarially, builds defensively, and operates at the intersection of cryptography, distributed systems, and financial regulation.
You’ll be part of a focused crypto team in Palo Alto, collaborating with security, compliance, and product teams across our global offices. Our crypto engineering culture values correctness above all. We design systems assuming they will be attacked, and build accordingly. We move deliberately, with a high bar for security reviews and code quality.
In this role, you’ll own cryptographic systems, protocols, or blockchain infrastructure for your domain (key management, signing flows, consensus mechanisms, and on-chain integrations). You’ll ensure correctness, security, and regulatory compliance, and you’ll be the person who says “no, that’s not safe” and makes it stick.
Own cryptographic systems, protocols, or blockchain infrastructure for your domain, including key management, signing flows, and on-chain integrations.
Design and implement secure, compliant crypto infrastructure that meets the highest standards for correctness and reliability.
Think adversarially: design systems assuming they will be attacked, conduct threat modeling, and build defensive architectures.
Navigate the intersection of cryptography, distributed systems, and financial regulation, ensuring all systems meet compliance requirements.
Lead security reviews and code quality processes for crypto-related systems, enforcing a high bar for production readiness.
Collaborate with security, compliance, and product teams to ensure crypto features are both safe and user-friendly.
Mentor peers on crypto engineering best practices and contribute to the team’s security-first engineering culture.
Required
Track record of building and operating cryptographic systems, blockchain infrastructure, or secure financial systems in production.
Deep understanding of cryptographic primitives, key management, signing protocols, and consensus mechanisms.
Strong software engineering fundamentals with experience in languages used in crypto infrastructure (e.g., Go, Rust, Java, Python).
Experience designing systems with an adversarial mindset: threat modeling, security reviews, and defensive architecture.
Understanding of financial regulation as it applies to crypto and digital assets, with experience building compliant systems.
Demonstrated ability to make high-stakes engineering decisions where correctness and security are non-negotiable.
Experience collaborating with security, compliance, and legal teams on system design and review processes.
Nice to have
Experience with specific blockchain protocols (e.g., Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana) and their integration patterns.
Background in DeFi protocols, custody solutions, or institutional crypto infrastructure.
Experience in fintech, payments, or other financial services environments with strict regulatory requirements.
Familiarity with HSMs, secure enclaves, and hardware-backed key management systems.
Proficiency with AI-assisted development tools and a thoughtful approach to leveraging AI in security-critical engineering.
Palo Alto, United States
Opportunity of earning equity at Nu
Medical Insurance
Dental and Vision Insurance
Life Insurance and AD&D
Extended maternity and paternity leaves
Nucleo – Our learning platform of courses
NuLanguage – Our language learning program
NuCare – Our mental health and wellness assistance program
401K
Saving Plans – Health Saving Account and Flexible Spending Account
Work-from-home Allowance
Relocation Assistance Package, if applicable
Hybrid 2-3 times/week: Our hybrid work model brings us to the office at least twice a week, on strategic days designed to maximize team connection and collaboration. For more details, visit https://building.nubank.com/nu-hybrid-work-model/
Explore how we build technology at Nubank:
🔗 youtube.com/@building.nubank
Our recruitment process may involve the use of artificial intelligence–enabled tools, such as automated interview transcription and analysis, to support the evaluation process. Artificial intelligence is not used to make final hiring decisions; all decisions are made by human reviewers.
Will AI replace this role?
Check AI displacement risk, transferable skills, and career alternatives for Lead Software Engineer (Crypto, SV) - US - IC6 - 2026
The Lead Software Engineer (Crypto, SV) - US - IC6 - 2026 position at Nubank is based in Palo Alto. This is a hybrid position.
The Lead Software Engineer (Crypto, SV) - US - IC6 - 2026 position at Nubank is a Full time role.
Key skills for the Lead Software Engineer (Crypto, SV) - US - IC6 - 2026 position at Nubank include: rust, java, python, ai.
