Staff Rust Engineer (freelance contract, remote United Kingdom)
Posted Today 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. The position requires deep expertise in Rust and involves enhancing a multi-component platform while collaborating with cross-functional teams. The engineer will tackle complex technical challenges and contribute to the architectural direction of the systems. The role can be performed remotely or in London, offering flexibility in working arrangements.
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/preventing 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 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.
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.