The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT), which is a part of Fidelity Labs, the financial giant’s incubator for Fintech startups, is reportedly looking for Bitcoin (BTC) mining engineers for a “new business opportunity.”
The proposal has been put forward by the team working at Fidelity Digital Asset Services (FDAS), the digital asset trading division of Fidelity Investments, a Boston-based multinational financial services corporation managing around $2.5 trillion in assets.
The new hires will be tasked with supporting Fidelity’s Bitcoin mining business, which may be associated with its partnership with Blockstream. The company had reportedly leased out two major data centers, in June 2019, from the Bitcoin-focused development firm.
Fidelity is looking for a professional with around three to five years of experience in a software engineering or DevOps (developer operations) position. The DevOps term is used to refer to software architects who are able to bridge the technical gap between software and hardware development, by being able to handle the deployment of updates on servers (as an example).
The job posting from Fidelity doesn’t list any specific requirements regarding previous experience engaging in Bitcoin mining. There’s only one line in the job advert that says “interest in researching topics related to Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining” is a desired skill.
The new candidate will, however, need to have previous experience working in management positions dealing with large hardware installations and related software tools. Advanced troubleshooting skills are a strong preference for the new role.
The Bitcoin-related job offering from Fidelity reportedly opened on January 20, 2020, however, it seems the company has not been able to find the right professional yet.
Fidelity has been seriously involved in the crypto-asset sector for a few years. The company introduced a Bitcoin (BTC) trading desk, in 2018, specifically for institutional investors such as hedge funds.
Since then, Fidelity’s digital assets unit has been expanding its business operations. The company introduced its cryptocurrency custody services in October 2019, in order to compete with similar products offered by Bakkt and Coinbase Custody. In November of last year, the firm acquired the relevant license from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).