Staff Rust Engineer (freelance contract, remote United Kingdom)
Posted 1 day ago by Zero to One Search | Recruitment Agency
Negotiable
Undetermined
Remote
Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Summary: The role is for a Staff Rust Engineer on a freelance contract basis, focusing on developing decentralized digital identity solutions for a technology company. The position requires deep expertise in Rust and involves enhancing a multi-component platform while collaborating with various teams. The engineer will also influence architectural decisions and ensure high-quality, secure, and performant backend systems. The role can be performed remotely or in London and is expected to last between 3 to 6 months.
Key Responsibilities:
- Build and deliver secure, high-quality features and improvements using Rust.
- Create standards-compliant world-class software systems and components, most of which will be open-sourced.
- Influence architectural direction while staying hands-on with development.
- Design and implement solutions to complex, large-scale technical challenges.
- Identify and drive the most critical improvements in product quality, security, and performance.
- Guide the team to build well-tested, secure, and performant services.
- Establish and refine best practices for high-scale distributed systems.
- Collaborate closely with product, security, and engineering peers in a fast-paced, iterative environment.
Key Skills:
- Proven experience with performance optimization and diagnosing system bottlenecks.
- Strong backend development skills with Rust as core expertise.
- Deep knowledge of TypeScript/Node.js; Dart experience strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with C# or Go is a plus.
- Expertise in cloud computing (AWS) and cloud-native environments.
- Proven track record in designing and deploying distributed systems using modern design patterns.
- Skilled in technical documentation (C4 Model, ADRs) and clear communication of architectural decisions.
- Strong advocate for privacy by design, security-first principles, and high-performance systems.
- Expertise in applying asynchronous cryptography in production-grade products.
- Experience with authorization/authentication domains; knowledge of identity, verifiable credentials, or secure data exchange is a strong plus.
- Comfortable thriving in autonomous, fast-moving startup environments and collaborating across global teams.
Salary (Rate): £85.00/hr
City: Greater London
Country: United Kingdom
Working Arrangements: remote
IR35 Status: undetermined
Seniority Level: undetermined
Industry: IT
Location : London (or remote)
A team is English-speaking
3-6 month freelance contract
Our client is a technology company that builds decentralized digital identity solutions. They believe that everyone has the right to own and control their data, and they are committed to creating a trusted digital credentials ecosystem that empowers businesses and individuals to securely exchange data and services across borders and industries.
They are in search of a solution-oriented Rust Software Engineer (Backend) with deep, demonstrable expertise and experience in Rust, to work on secure, scalable, and high-performance backend systems. You will be responsible for the continued enhancement and development of a multi-component platform, where your expert skills in designing, architecting, and building quality systems will intersect with your hands-on coding, performance testing, and integration experience.
Responsibilities:
- Build and deliver secure, high-quality features and improvements using Rust . Experience in TypeScript and Dart will set you above other applicants for this role
- Create standards-compliant world-class software systems and components, most of which will be open-sourced.
- Influence architectural direction while staying hands-on with development
- Design and implement solutions to c omplex, large-scale technical challenges
- Identify and drive the most critical improvements in product quality, security, and performance
- Guide the team to build well-tested, secure, and performant services
- Establish and refine best practices for high-scale distributed systems
- Collaborate closely with product, security, and engineering peers in a fast-paced, iterative environment
Requirements:
- Proven experience with performance optimization and a track record of diagnosing and preventing system bottlenecks
- Strong backend development skills with Rust as a core expertise
- Deep knowledge of TypeScript/Node.js; Dart experience strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with C# or Go is a plus
- Expertise in cloud computing (AWS) and cloud-native environments
- Proven track record in designing and deploying distributed systems using modern design patterns
- Skilled in technical documentation (C4 Model, ADRs) and clear communication of architectural decisions
- Strong advocate for privacy by design, security-first principles, and high-performance systems
- Expertise in applying asynchronous cryptography in production-grade products
- Experience with authorization/authentication domains; knowledge of identity , verifiable credentials , or secure data exchange is a strong plus
- Comfortable thriving in autonomous, fast-moving startup environments and collaborating across global teams