Principal Architect - Money and Payments R&D

The Federal Reserve

Actively hiring
Boston, MA · San Francisco, CA · Dallas, TX Posted 22 days ago $178,600–$223,200 / year
View original post Log in to save

At a glance

AI generated

TL;DR

Join the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as a senior engineer on their cutting-edge Research and Development team, focusing on the future of money and payments. You will architect high-throughput distributed payment systems, design EVM virtual machine infrastructure, and implement smart contracts in Solidity while optimizing transaction processing for extreme loads. Additionally, you’ll build cryptographic protocols like zero-knowledge proofs and establish code quality standards. This role involves creating cloud-native platforms with multi-region resilience, implementing GitOps workflows, and building CI/CD pipelines. You will also drive AI-assisted development practices, mentor engineers, and connect technical concepts to business value for executive stakeholders. Required skills include expertise in distributed systems, smart contracts, cryptography, AI/ML for payments, Kubernetes, DevOps, and observability tools. Ideal candidates have a background in high-performance financial systems and experience translating business problems into AI-native solutions.

Skills

Solidity Kubernetes Terraform Python Go Docker CI/CD Prometheus Grafana ArgoCD Flux GitOps Merkle trees Zero-knowledge proofs EVM Smart contracts DevOps AI-Assisted Development GitHub Copilot Jaeger Tempo Helm charts Service mesh technologies Consensus protocols Distributed tracing Advanced cryptography Machine learning Agentic AI systems

What you'll do

  • Architect high-throughput distributed payment systems with strong consistency guarantees.
  • Design and implement EVM virtual machine infrastructure for parallel execution.
  • Build cryptographic protocols, including zero-knowledge proofs for privacy-preserving validation.
  • Translate payment system challenges into AI-native capabilities to modernize workflows.
  • Establish governance and best practices for responsible AI usage in production systems.

What we're looking for

  • Deep knowledge of distributed systems, consistency models, and concurrency control.
  • Expertise in smart contracts, Solidity programming, EVM architecture, and gas optimization.
  • Experience with cryptography, including zero-knowledge proofs, Merkle trees, and digital signatures.
  • Background in AI/ML for financial systems, such as fraud detection and intelligent routing.
  • Proficiency in Kubernetes, cloud-native platforms, DevOps practices, and observability tools.
  • Demonstrated leadership in translating business requirements into technical architectures.
  • Advanced degree in Computer Science, Distributed Systems, Cryptography, or Machine Learning.

Market check

Salary context

This $178,600–$223,200 range sits above 47% of similar postings on FindRole.

Peer median band

$163,000–$257,000

Median floor and ceiling across peers.

Typical midpoint (25–75%)

$170,000–$246,900

Middle half of comparable postings.

Based on 240 comparable postings.

* 240 is the maximum number of comparable postings sampled.

Employer

About The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States—one of the world's most influential, trusted and prestigious financial organizations.

The Federal Reserve currently has 32 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $160,000–$212,700 across 27 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at The Federal Reserve

More like this

Similar roles

Principal Architect, R&D PLM

Johnson & Johnson

Remote (Us121 Nj Raritan - 1000 Highway 202 S, US) 9 days ago $122,000–$211,025
Windchill PLM Product Data Management Document Management Engineering Change Control BOM Configuration Engineering Workflows Integration Platforms APIs Cloud Patterns Event-Driven Architecture Data Platforms CAD Integrations Regulatory Compliance Quality Management UDI Processes Digital Thread Concepts Architecture Governance Tactical Planning Technical Credibility
Remote

Principal Architect

CVS Health

Remote (Work At Home-Connecticut, US) 15 days ago $144,200–$288,400
Python Java C# JavaScript AI ML Agentic AI Generative AI Kubernetes Docker AWS Azure GCP CI/CD Terraform PostgreSQL MongoDB APIs Microservices Event-driven Architecture Cloud Infrastructure Data Platforms C4 Model Agile Methodology SAFe Practices
Remote

Specialist Solutions Architect, Payments

Stripe

US 83 days ago $239,900–$359,900
ISO RESTful APIs Stripe Python JavaScript SQL AWS Kubernetes Docker CI/CD PostgreSQL Prometheus Grafana Git Swagger OAuth PCI DSS API Gateway Webhooks GraphQL

Principal Solution Architect

LPL Financial

Fort Mill/Charlotte, US 18 days ago $155,942–$259,869
AWS React Angular Terraform GitHub Actions CI/CD API design Data integration DevSecOps Infrastructure as Code Kubernetes Docker Prometheus Grafana PostgreSQL MongoDB OAuth OpenID Connect RESTful APIs GraphQL

Chief Architect

Cigna

Remote (Ct, Bloomfield, 900 Cottage Grove Rd Wilde Bldg, US) 38 days ago
Cloud-Native API-First Event-Driven DevSecOps Agile Kubernetes Docker CI/CD AWS Azure GCP Terraform Python Java SQL NoSQL PostgreSQL MongoDB ResponsibleAI DataGovernance
Remote

Principal Solution Architect-Director

Citi

Remote (Nc-Charlotte (Ballantyne), US) 19 days ago $170,000–$300,000
Oracle SaaS General Ledger (GL) Accounting Hub Cloud Service (AHCS) Data Flow Architecture BA AR Ledger Balances Cloud Governance Architectural Principles Risk Management Executive Communication Cross-functional Alignment Mentorship Technical Guidance
Remote