Software Engineer Blockchain (Hybrid)

• "Do you have a passion for software engineering and are interested in working in the Blockchain space, Rakuten Blockchain Lab could be the perfect job for you! In return Rakuten offers a competitive salary, hybrid working model of 3 days working from home and 2 days in the office with excellent company benefits"!

   

  This is a great opportunity to work as a Software Engineer on a modern, cloud, blockchain-based platform delivering solutions for a global leader in internet services with more than 1.2 billion members around the world. 

  The Rakuten Blockchain Lab team in Belfast builds secure, high availability enterprise platforms that allow the many Rakuten Business/Developers to create solutions that take advantage of the benefits of distributed ledger or blockchain technologies without having to be concerned about the complexities of implementation.  Our platforms follow a microservice architecture where services are developed in Node.js and deployed as docker containers into a cloud-based Kubernetes environment.  There are integrations with relational databases, 3^rd party APIs as well as specialised cryptographic services, and of course blockchain networks.

  ABOUT THE TEAM AND ROLE

  This position is located at the Rakuten Blockchain Lab in Belfast city centre. We currently have an engineering team of 20 and need to grow the team to deliver a number of very exciting Rakuten HQ projects in 2021/2022.  The existing team collectively has many years of experience in building secure, high availability enterprise platforms for financial services, health, and consumer electronics sectors.  The projects are both interesting and challenging, providing an environment that should satisfy any engineer’s career aspirations and growth opportunities. 

  This is an exciting opportunity to be at the core of delivering blockchain-based solutions and integration services that will enable the transformation of Rakuten businesses. You will work in small agile teams creating solutions for individual Rakuten companies as well as common platforms and services to be used across the organisation We need software engineers who are interested in the "full stack”. That is, you need to be comfortable working with all the technologies required to bring an idea to production. We don’t expect you to be an expert in everything and believe that everyone brings their own specializations and competencies to the team, but we want you to be enthusiastic about “getting your hands dirty” in all of it. You will have the opportunity to work on emerging blockchain frameworks and learn from the experienced blockchain engineers in the team.

  At the Blockchain Lab we pride ourselves on employee engagement and development. From the moment you send your CV and apply for our exciting roles your career journey continues.

  "What we can offer you within your first year at joining the Rakuten Blockchain"

  

  At Rakuten Blockchain Lab we offer:   

  • Flexible working 3 days wfh/ 2 days office
  • 25 days annual leave plus NI national holidays   
  • Pension matched up to 6%   
  • Private health insurance for medical and dental   
  • Life Assurance & Critical Illness
  • Income Protection
  • Employee Assistance Programme
  • Great work/life balance 
  • Discounted gym membership 
  • Cycle to work scheme
  • Stock Option Programme (options granted annually)
  • Performance-related annual bonus scheme
  • Opportunity to telework upto 20 days per annum at alternative location

  TECHNICAL STACK

  In the Rakuten Blockchain Lab, we take ownership of the full end-to-end solution from inception through to production and beyond. We have a micro-services architecture and our services are built using Typescript & Node.js with various relational databases.  We work with multiple public and private blockchain protocols & frameworks depending on the requirements. We package our services with Docker and use Google Kubernetes for automating deployment, scaling, and management of these containers in both public and private cloud environments. We value short feedback loops and have implemented a CI/CD pipeline as well as automated unit, integration, and acceptance tests.

  ABOUT YOU

  We are looking for an experienced software engineer who is passionate about using technology to solve real-world problems. You need to have an interest in new and emerging technology and be eager to take on new challenges outside of your comfort zone. You will understand that delivering great software requires a high degree of collaboration both internally and with other stakeholders. You will need to be comfortable with an approach to delivery that encourages experimentation as well as taking ownership. You will be motivated to improve the overall process of software delivery from coding best practices and continuous integration/delivery to performance engineering and analytics. 

   JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Play a full and active role in release and sprint planning
  • Define and estimate sprint backlog items
  • Translation of backlog items into engineering design and logical units of work
  • Propose solutions and evaluate technical feasibility
  • Implementation of backlog items
  • Write and verify code that adheres to the acceptance criteria
  • Write unit & integration tests
  • Application of product development best practices
  • Create automated build and deployment pipeline code
  • Promote learning and knowledge sharing through design/code reviews
  • Proactively provide support to junior engineers
  • Build, release and configuration management of test and production code
  • System troubleshooting and problem solving across platform and application domains
  • Propose architecture improvements, recommending process improvements
  • Evaluating new technology options and vendor products
  • Assist project and product leaders in making risk-managed planning and release decisions

  EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR THE ROLE

  Essential

  • Must be eligible to work in the UK (Visa sponsorship is not available)
  • 2+ years of solid commercial development experience, working with Typescript, Java or Node.js on Linux (experience with other object orientated or functional languages such as .NET, Python or Ruby will also be considered)
  • Experience in working with object-relational databases such as Postgres
  • Experience with a DevOps approach to software delivery where you are involved not just in writing code, but also in making sure it gets deployed and runs correctly in test and production environments.
  • Solid understanding of source code management, build automation, and continuous integration tools such as Maven, npm, Jenkins, and Git/Bitbucket is essential
  • Experience of working in an agile development environment
  • Ability to diagnose, analyze and resolve complex software application issues.
  • A basic understanding of blockchain fundamentals

  Preferred

  • Experience in delivering REST APIs and micro-service based architectures
  • Practical experience in creating deployment and release pipelines.
  • Experience of application containers such as Docker and container orchestration technologies such as Docker Swarm or Google Kubernetes
  • Experience in delivering cloud-based systems (i.e. deploying and running in AWS, Azure, OpenStack, Google Compute Environment, etc.)
  • Previous experience of working with blockchain frameworks such as Hyperledger Fabric or Multichain
  • Knowledge and practical experience of OWASP secure coding standards
  • Prior experience of working with high availability, secure enterprise platforms in the financial services sector