Nathnael Fikru

Leading decentralized infrastructure for blockchain node orchestration, building an Actively Validated Service (AVS) on EigenLayer that decentralizes node infrastructure for partners like Infura and MetaMask.

• Architected and delivered partner onboarding platform using Next.js, successfully onboarding all 16 AVS operator partners across testnet and mainnet on Ethereum
• Led a month-long enablement program with partners, including live technical sessions, 1:1 troubleshooting calls, and personalized channel-based support, achieving 100% partner onboarding success.
• Manage operator partnerships across 30+ blockchain networks, supporting half a billion daily requests.
• Design and implement protocol systems, including operator registration, service qualification, network routing logic, and automated qualification workflows.
• Build provider testing infrastructure, health monitoring via the Watcher API, and SLA enforcement through data integrity monitoring.
• Coordinate cross-functional delivery with blockchain providers, auditing firms, and the DIN community to hit Testnet and Mainnet milestones.

Led enterprise billing transformation, serving 1.2M+ customers, requiring extensive stakeholder collaboration and technical enablement.

• Led the billing platform migration from Stripe to Maxio, architecting event-based credit unit billing that supports millions of events per minute.
• Successfully migrated 1.2 million customers with zero downtime.
• Created a Golang billing SDK, enabling internal teams to access Kafka-based aggregation and queuing systems.
• Drove project completion across product management, engineering, and QA, coordinating requirements and timelines with stakeholders.
• Integrated billing into the NetSuite GL accounting platform and designed billing plan structures within the new system.

Progressed from IC to team lead over 2.5 years, building fraud/risk systems while expanding into cross-functional leadership and partner engagement.

• Led weekly scope and requirements meetings with the Risk Analyst team, ensuring cross-team alignment via Confluence and Jira.
• Architected and oversaw the development of enterprise risk integrations, requiring collaborative product requirement gathering across multiple teams.
• Researched and championed DeFi blockchain integration, project-managing a cross-functional team, including Executive, Legal, and Senior Engineering stakeholders.
• Connected with third-party DeFi providers, setting up meetings, and evaluating partnership opportunities.
• Built Sezzle's automatic merchant fraud detection system and automatic merchant application decisioning system in Golang.
• Improved React-based admin dashboard for an enhanced fraud/risk data experience for analysts.
• Full-stack development on credit/risk and fraud decisioning engines using Golang, Python, and React/Redux.
• Mentored and led Merchant Risk Engineers, providing guidance to help them grow and succeed.

• Built internal web applications and APIs using Python, Flask, Django, and React.js.
• Served as the primary Azure Cloud Administrator, creating, configuring, and deploying VMs and VPNs.
• Dockerized applications, and created Docker Compose and Kubernetes deployments.
• Implemented continuous deployment pipelines for containerized applications.

• Developed and maintained an Express.js web API using the Swagger specification, hosted on AWS Lambda.
• Built a complete alerting and monitoring system with metric thresholds across AWS and GCP services.
• Set up a data pipeline from Firebase to AWS Redshift via Firebase triggers, API Gateway, Kinesis, and Lambda.
• Created a database schema and rulesets for document-style NoSQL Firebase, integrating real-time data from live APIs.
• Authored architectural overview and process documentation for application release processes.