Wallet Custody Operations Director

Role Overview

The Wallet Operations Director is responsible for the end-to-end operational integrity of the exchange's digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure. This role sits at the intersection of operations, security, compliance, and engineering, ensuring assets are safe, accessible, and correctly accounted for at all times. The role requires deep technical knowledge of blockchain infrastructure combined with operational discipline and regulatory awareness.

Key Responsibilities

Wallet Operations & Rebalancing

• Own and execute the daily operational cycle of hot, warm, and cold wallet management across all supported assets and networks
• Define and maintain rebalancing thresholds and triggers — ensuring hot wallets hold sufficient liquidity for withdrawals while minimising exposure
• Monitor wallet balances in real time; respond to alerts for low-balance, large outflows, or anomalous patterns
• Execute and authorise inter-wallet transfers (hot → warm → cold and vice versa), including multi-sig coordination with custodians or internal key holders
• Maintain SOPs for routine rebalancing operations and escalation procedures for off-cycle events
• Track gas/fee reserves across networks (ETH, BTC, TRON, Solana, etc.) and ensure fee wallets are topped up
• Coordinate with the treasury/finance team on asset flow reporting and reconciliation

Wallet Structure Advisory for Regulated Sites

• Provide operational inputs during licensing applications or regulatory reviews — documenting how client funds are segregated, custodied, and protected
• Design and recommend wallet architectures that meet jurisdictional requirements — including cold storage minimums, custodian approvals, and client asset segregation rules
• Work with legal and compliance teams to prepare wallet-related documentation for regulators (e.g., asset safeguarding policies, custody arrangements, asset-liability matching)
• Assess custody provider options (Fireblocks, Copper, Ceffu, BitGo, etc.) against regulatory expectations for each jurisdiction
• Flag operational risk or structural gaps ahead of audits or regulatory inspections
• Ensure wallet structures are scalable and adaptable as the exchange expands into new regulated markets

Proof of Reserves (PoR) Setup & Operations

• Lead the design and implementation of PoR programmes for each site/entity — from methodology selection through to public publication
• Select and engage third-party auditors or verification partners; manage the relationship and audit cycle
• Define the PoR data scope: which assets, which wallets, which liabilities (snapshot definitions)
• Coordinate on-chain signing and Merkle tree construction with the engineering team to verify user liability coverage
• Build and maintain internal tooling or workflows to generate PoR snapshots on schedule (monthly, quarterly, or ad hoc)
• Respond to questions from users, auditors, or regulators on PoR methodology and results
• Stay current on evolving PoR standards and update methodology accordingly
• Ensure PoR results are consistent with internal reconciliation reports and finance records

Wallet Team & Security Collaboration

• Serve as the operational counterpart to the Wallet Engineering and Security teams — translating business requirements into technical specifications and vice versa
• Participate in wallet infrastructure design reviews: new chain integrations, MPC/HSM upgrades, multi-sig policy changes, smart contract wallet deployments
• Drive the operational readiness checklist for any new wallet setup — key ceremony procedures, signing policies, access controls, DR/BCP scenarios
• Collaborate on key ceremony planning and execution (cold wallet creation, custody onboarding, signing authority changes) — ensuring proper documentation and witness procedures
• Conduct regular operational reviews with security: address findings from penetration tests, internal audits, or incident post-mortems
• Contribute to and review the Threat Model for wallet infrastructure; identify operational mitigations where technical controls are not sufficient
• Champion ongoing enhancements — proactively identifying process inefficiencies, latency bottlenecks, or risk gaps in the current setup

Risk, Controls & Incident Management

• Own the wallet-related operational risk register; assess, track, and mitigate risks
• Define and enforce transaction approval limits, dual-control requirements, and segregation of duties across the wallet ops team
• Act as incident commander for wallet-related issues (stuck transactions, incorrect sends, suspected compromise) — lead the triage, contain the impact, and drive the post-mortem
• Maintain a 24/7 on-call escalation framework for critical wallet events
• Ensure all wallet movements are logged with full audit trails; support forensic investigations as required

Reconciliation & Reporting

• Ensure wallet balances reconcile with exchange ledgers and on-chain state on a daily basis
• Partner with finance and product to resolve discrepancies, failed transactions, or asset suspension events
• Produce regular management reporting: wallet utilisation, rebalancing activity, PoR status, cold/hot ratio, incident log
• Support external audits (financial, security, regulatory) by providing wallet-related data and documentation

Team Leadership & Development

• Recruit, manage, and develop a team of wallet operations analysts/engineers
• Set team KPIs, OKRs, and performance standards
• Build a culture of operational rigour, security-first mindset, and continuous improvement
• Create and maintain runbooks, SOPs, and training materials to ensure operational resilience and knowledge retention
• Foster strong cross-functional relationships with Tech, Compliance, Legal, Finance, Risk, and Customer Support

Skills & Experience Required

• 4–8+ years in digital assets, crypto exchange, or institutional crypto custody
• Strong understanding of blockchain mechanics, UTXO vs account-based models, MPC, HSM, multi-sig
• Hands-on experience with Fireblocks, Copper, BitGo, Ceffu, or similar
• Familiarity with key ceremony procedures, cold storage operations, access control frameworks
• Exposure to regulated entity requirements (CMA, MICA, VARA or similar); understanding of client asset segregation
• Strong SOP authorship, incident management, reconciliation discipline
• Proven track record managing a small-to-mid-size ops team
• Comfortable with on-chain data, dashboards, and basic scripting for data pulls (SQL/Python a plus)

Key Performance Indicators

• Zero unplanned wallet outages or rebalancing failures
• Hot wallet exposure maintained within defined thresholds (% of total AUM)
• PoR published on schedule with zero material findings
• Reconciliation breaks resolved within SLA
• Regulatory wallet documentation accepted by all relevant regulators