San Francisco federal bank eyes CBDC system development, reveals job posting

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is looking for a software engineer to help develop and implement systems related to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

On Feb. 18, the San Francisco Fed posted a job opening for a “senior application developer – digital currency.” The candidate is expected to aid the Federal Reserve in designing and implementing systems critical to CBDC research. Revealing its intention, the Fed’s post read:

“Given the dollar’s important role, Federal Reserve System seeks to further understand the cost and benefits of the potential technologies for central bank digital currencies, and how the system better understand this emerging field.”

Key responsibilities include developing systems related to CBDCs, identifying improvements and mitigating risks, to name a few. The job location is in San Francisco, California, with a base salary ranging from $110,300 to $176,300.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco job posting for senior application developer for CBDC. Source: LinkedIn

At the time of writing, 45 applicants have shown interest in joining the federal government to build an in-house CBDC.

“The software engineer engages directly with management, other developers on the team, development operations teams, and vendors to ensure the Federal Reserve is well-positioned to design, develop, and implement technology to support a CBDC as may be required by the Board of Governors,” the job posting states.

Related: Russia to roll out CBDC pilot with real consumers in April

As major economies across the world test CBDCs, India onboarded 50,000 users and 5,000 merchants to test out its recently launched digital rupee CBDC.

Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Rabi Sankar stressed that the government plans to proceed with CBDC testing in the smoothest way possible. He said:

“We want the process to happen, but we want the process to happen gradually and slowly. We are in no hurry to make something happen so quickly.”

India’s CBDC project is currently active across five cities, with nine more cities potentially gradually joining the pilot soon.