Lead Engineering Manager; Blockchain & Tokenization - Executive Director

At Morgan Stanley, we advise, originate, trade, manage and distribute capital for governments, institutions and individuals, and always do so with a standard of excellence. We are a leading global financial services firm that conducts its business through three principal business segments – Institutional Securities, Wealth Management (WM), and Investment Management. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries.

Middle Office is a dynamic and fast‑paced area within the Firm's WM Technology Division. We are responsible for creating innovative technology solutions for Core Brokerage, one of the strategic growth areas of the Firm. Middle office is a core foundation for Morgan Stanley. It provides the platform with key capabilities to support customer digital journey from opening an account, funding the account, trade and order management, portfolio/balances, and risk management on all digital channels.

It also provides the capabilities for Morgan Stanley B2B stock plan business to manage participants lifecycle. If you are an exceptional individual who is interested in solving complex problems and building sophisticated solutions in a dynamic team environment, Middle office is the place for you.

We are seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead our blockchain engineering team focused on building scalable, secure, and regulatory‑compliant solutions for digital assets, tokenization, and decentralized finance (DeFi). This role combines deep technical expertise in blockchain systems with strong leadership to deliver enterprise‑grade products for global markets.

• Lead and mentor a cross‑functional team of blockchain engineers, smart contract developers, and backend/frontend developers.
• Define the engineering roadmap for blockchain infrastructure, tokenization platforms, and digital asset services.
• Oversee design, architecture, and implementation of blockchain‑based solutions, ensuring security, scalability, and compliance with applicable regulations.
• Collaborate with product, compliance, and operations teams to define technical requirements.
• Evaluate and integrate blockchain protocols (Ethereum, Polygon, Hyperledger, Canton, etc.) based on product needs.
• Manage the release lifecycle, CI/CD pipelines, and production reliability.
• Implement and enforce best practices for code quality, testing, and security.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, emerging standards, and evolving regulatory frameworks in digital assets.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3+ years in blockchain and tokenization.
• 5+ years in an engineering leadership role managing distributed teams.
• Strong knowledge of blockchain architecture, consensus algorithms, smart contracts, and cryptographic primitives.
• Experience with Solidity, Rust, Go, or similar languages for blockchain development.
• Familiarity with custodial and non‑custodial wallet infrastructure, key management, and secure signing.
• Understanding of token standards (ERC‑20, ERC‑721, ERC‑1400, etc.) and on/off‑chain settlement workflows.
• Proven track record of delivering enterprise‑grade software systems at scale.

• Experience in regulated financial services or fintech.
• Knowledge of DvP (Delivery versus Payment) and tokenized securities workflows.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure) and Dev Ops tools.

We are committed to maintaining the first‑class service and high standard of excellence that have defined Morgan Stanley for over 89 years. Our values – putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back – aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what’s best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries.

At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and…